In William Shakespeare’s plays, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and The Tragedy of Macbeth, the main characters are visited by supernatural beings. These beings share with Hamlet and Macbeth insights of life-changing events. Macbeth immediately starts planning his actions. His obsession for power begins after seeing the three witches. Hamlet reacts in an opposite manner. He has an inability to make decisions and even contemplates suicide, after seeing the ghost of his father. Both characters are presented with life changing news, but their actions and pursuits differ greatly. Both Macbeth and Hamlet make life-changing decisions after being visited by spirits, but each character reacts to their encounter differently; Macbeth takes …show more content…
Macbeth learns that he will become the king. “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! /All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (Macbeth 1.3.7.48-50). Macbeth is driven into action by the temptation of becoming king. “Macbeth chooses to force the pace, to bend time to his will, by his decision, man of action ever, to take the life of the king” (Tonkin). He takes direct action and plots the murder of Duncan the king. He is able to follow through with his plans. “I have done the deed” (Macbeth 2.2.14). After this, he becomes power hungry and fears that the second part of the witches’ prophecy will come true. The witches address Banquo saying, “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”. Naturally, Macbeth cannot let this happen, he has Banquo and most of his family successfully killed; there is only one survivor, Fleance. When this life altering prophecy is told to Macbeth, he is not indecisive when taking action; he is not afraid to get his hands …show more content…
Hamlet struggles when he is placed under the pressure of carrying out actions. “A heavy deed is placed on a soul which is not adequate to cope with it (Von Goethe). Hamlet indirectly takes action by creating a play in a play. He plans to act out the murder and see how his uncle reacts to the play. Hamlet is not willing to directly confront his uncle until late in the play. Even though Hamlet knows that is father cannot rest until his murderer is dead, he still has trouble diving in and conquering his
Both Banquo and Macbeth are introduced as loyal captains in the king`s army, but as the play progresses, Macbeth is overcome with the desire of power due to his reception of the prophecies. Upon hearing, Banquo does not become greedy for power, but, alternatively, he is suspect and cautious begins wondering if “we [Macbeth and Banquo] eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?” (1.3). Realizing the witches were simply trying to make him ambitious, Banquo remains loyal to his king and his country, despite knowing that he will have a dynasty to rule Scotland. Despite having the motivation, Banquo does not commit treason against his king but rather wants to “keep my [his] bosom franchis'd and allegiance clear” (2.1), meaning that he has no desire to betray the king for personal gain. Conversely, upon hearing the witches’ prophecies, Macbeth becomes ambitious for power and follows them blindly. He is curious about the witches’ prophecies and demands they “stay… [and] tell me [him] more” (1.3). When he hears that the prophecy that his heirs will rule Scotland he will be king, Macbeth`s ambition is born and his thoughts instantly turn to murder, even though the witches had not mentioned murdering King Duncan which shows that Macbeth has previously thought about murdering his king. As a result, Macbeth has no loyalty to neither his king nor his country and commits treason. While both Banquo and Macbeth hear the witches` prophecies that promised power, only Macbeth conceded to their prophecy and became overcame with ambition. Macbeth is a direct antithesis to the honorable, dependent Banquo. He transforms into a greedy man who is obsessed with his
Macbeth is the remaining contributor to turning himself into the power-hungry animal he is before he is finally taken down. Macbeth let himself get talked into killing Duncan; he rationalizes with himself to kill Banquo. He is too ambitious. As soon as the witches cast the prophecy that he would be King, Macbeth lets himself be jealous. Once it is an option, he realizes how divine it would be to be King. Now, Macbeth will do what is necessary to get there, even if he suffers terrible consequences. After killing Duncan, Macbeth suffers by not being able to speak. “As they seen me with these hangman’s hands,/List’ning their fear. I could not say ‘Amen’/When they did say ‘God bless us’” (2.2.38-40). Macbeth cannot utter the sacred words of God; moreover, this illustrates to the reader how terrible the consequences are psychologically for this murder. Macbeth is also jealous of the prophecy Banquo gets, which also drives him to kill Banquo. Soon after he kills Banquo, Macbeth hosts a banquet, where Banquo’s seat is left empty. Only Macbeth truly knows what has happened to Banquo. However, he hallucinates that Banquo is at the table with all the guests when Macbeth says, “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee./Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold;/Thou hast no speculation in those eyes/Which thou dost glare with” (3.4.113-116). Macbeth is seeing Banquo at his banquet even after he ordered murders to kill Banquo and Fleance, Banquo’s son. Macbeth cannot believe his eyes, he is shocked at the sight of Banquo and he is losing his mind. Macbeth endures horrific hallucinations, falling into the depths of insanity. These two quotations in the play are very important because they emphasize how Macbeth has turned into a mon...
Throughout the play, Hamlet speaks several times regarding the significance of his duty, however struggles to back up his words with action when the time comes. Because Hamlet does not utilize his opportunities, he becomes increasingly desperate and brash in his actions. As the play goes on, Hamlet’s attempts begin to have an impact on others, causing a
Sometimes, when people are asked to complete a deed, they are unable to do so until they are able to find an ideal set of circumstances. Shakespeare explores this very issue in his play Hamlet, Hamlet is a young man whose been asked to do something; however, Hamlet delays carrying out this deed, causing there to have been many discussions over the centuries on why Hamlet delays, but some theories are more prevalent than others. Hamlet vows to avenge his fathers death at the hands of Claudius; however, he procrastinates throughout the play and does not seek revenge until the end, when Hamlet finally acts by his instincts, and kills his fathers murderer. Hamlet is stopped in seeking revenge by a number of
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is described as being “valiant”. He is a skilled warrior, who is loyal to his king and his country. Almost single-handedly, he wins the war for Scotland. He defeats many of the enemy soldiers, including a traitor, all in the name of his king. But, when three witches encounter Macbeth and his friend Banquo, Macbeth’s ambition begins to grow. They tell Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor and King. Soon after, Macbeth meets with King Duncan. He informs Macbeth that he is the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is astonished, and from then on he is obsessed with being king. His ambition begins to become ruthless when Duncan proclaims that his son Malcolm is the Prince of Cumberland, and therefore, the heir to the throne: “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, /For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;/Let not light see my black and deep desires:/The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be/Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.” (I,iv,48-53) At this moment, Macbeth, realizing that they stand in the way of the witches’ prophecies, decides that both Duncan and Malcolm need to die for him to be king. As soon as Macbeth kills Duncan, he enters into a world of evil. Later in the play, Macbeth’s ambition becomes increasingly ruthless. He kills his best friend Banquo, and almost kills Banquo’s son, Fleance, because he believes they would stand in the way of his reign. The witches told Banquo “Thou shall get kings, though thou be none.” (I,iii,67) This means that Banquo himself would not be a king, but that his successors would be. Macbeth tries to prevent this by killing Banquo and his son Fleance.
Hamlet’s inner course of action was further intensified with his encounter with the ghost. The information that Claudius murdered Hamlet’s father, was given to Hamlet by ways of the mysterious spirit, and this immediately provoked animosity in himself. In Act I, scene v, line 29-31, Hamlet states, “Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift/ as meditation or the thoughts of love,/ may sweep to my revenge”. This statement shows the rage and fury of Hamlet wanting to seek full revenge on his uncle; He still does not act upon this as quickly as he proclaims, which shows his inability to step into action.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
instill in him the need to be King. Still, desire is not enough for Macbeth and he is thus driven "to seek certainty as his one objective. He wants certainty from the witches . . . at whatever cost" (Campbell 228). Macbeth, however, is not completely lost yet; honour and justice remain in him, and although it takes him some time to fully consider the consequences of the witches' words on him, he rejects his horrible thoughts of murder and postpones all action: "If chance will have me king, why,chance may crown me, / Without my stir" (I. iii.143-144). For the time being, Macbeth's true essence is in control, that of loyalty and honour.
Macbeth could've easily accepted the new title and waited patiently for the title of king to come along; however,his 'pushover' attitude, eventually changed him into a power-hungry psychopath. An example of him being a pushover/easily influenced comes only a few scenes later when he is talking to his wife about killing Duncan in his sleep. "We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of later, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of peoples" ( Macbeth 1.7.31-33), at first he refuses the idea, but with only a few minutes of convincing from his wife he changes his mind to go through with the plan. All it takes is a little nudge for Macbeth's underlying ambition and hope for him to agree with her plan. This also shows how Macbeth thinks little for himself at this point, had he refused her he would've become king on his own time. How ever ,is determination morphs from 'become to king' to 'maintain the king status no matter what it takes', starting with the murder of Banquo. Banquo makes Macbeth feel unsafe, as the witches prophecies said Banquo would spawn a whole line of
Macbeth is captured by his wild ambition at the opening of the play when he and Banqou meet the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and later will be king. They tell Banquo that his sons will be kings. Instantly Macbeth started to fantasize how he is going to be king. He understood that in order for him to become king he has to kill Duncan. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(Act 1 Sc. 3, p.23). He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan.
Macbeth optionally chooses to act upon the prophecy, by wanting to kill Banquo and his son, for his jealousy of greed. Additionally, even though Macbeth already has the power of the king, he wants even more power, because he is jealous of Banquo’s power (line of kings). Macbeth’s need for power makes him irrational, resulting in him making foolish acts, despite the fact that no one had forced him.
...le Macbeth tells them that ‘every man be master of his time’ so that he can ‘keep alone’. By choosing to isolate himself and not inform Lady Macbeth of his plans to murder Banquo we see how Macbeth feels as if he can’t even trust his closest companions. After turning his back on Lady Macbeth, Macbeth becomes fixated not only on the prophecies of the witches but when he hints to Lady Macbeth that ‘a deed of dreadful note’ will fall upon Banquo and his son he talks like the witches. This shows how Macbeth has turned his back on seeking council from his lords and advisors and begins to act as a king who instead of rationally thinking things out, he chooses to justify his reasons on prophetic predictions from a world of sorcery.
Though tentative at first, it is clear the Macbeth desires to be king. As explained by Hunt, his current, newly appointed title is not enough for him as “ the augmentation of titles cannot appease the insatiability of desire, which never rests content with the new title but continues to feel the pain of existential hunger, of mortal incompleteness.” (hunt), leading him to desire for greater power. While the witches mention Macbeth’s possible rise to kingship through the death of Duncan, it is Macbeth who jumps to the possibility of the king’s murder saying, “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings. (1.3.138-142).” There are many ways that the king could die, yet it is his desire for power leads him to pick the speediest path to the king’s end. Macbeth does in fact end up killing the king, as well as his best friend to protect his claim to power. From there he quickly becomes drunk with his rule and starts to terrorize the land, forgetting his morals and saying that he’ll just do whatever he feels when ever he feels like it. These actions lead to his death along with the many others who starve or bleed under his rule. Because of his desire for power, Macbeth causes the destruction of his soul, the end of his life
Furthermore, as the Witches prophesize Banquo’s descendants becoming Macbeth’s predecessors to the throne, he feels his position being threatened. Macbeth aims to prevent the prophecy from coming true, and would “rather than so come fate into the list/and champion me to th’utterance” (Mac 3.1.74-75). He hopes he did not commit Duncan’s murder in vain–willing to challenge fate and plans to battle and fight until his death. A sign of the developing stages of his overconfidence, believing he has the right to the throne and will not have anything stand in his way. Subsequent prophecies by the Witches, acquired by ambition, result in Macbeth’s overconfidence, as he believes he is invincible.
Supernatural events play a huge role in both Hamlet and Macbeth. Both plays begin with the visitation of a supernatural character(s). In Hamlet, the ghost of King Hamlet shows up to the castle to Marcellus, Horatio and Barnardo. In Macbeth, the 3 witches enter talking about Macbeth and later telling him he will be king. Although in Hamlet, Hamlet tries to show the ghost to Gertrude and explain but Gertrude cannot see the ghost and thinks Hamlet is crazy. On the other hand in Macbeth, anyone and everyone can see the witches. Both the ghost and the witches come to give the main characters important information. The ghost (King Hamlet) tells Hamlet that Claudius had murdered him. “Now, Hamlet, hear. 'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forgèd process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown.”. (Act 1, Scene 5, Page 2) King Hamlet wants his son Hamlet to seek revenge on Claudius for killing him. The witches tell Macbeth that he is going to be King. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (Act 1, Scene 3, Page 3) This leads Macbeth to go and kill a bunch of people to get the