The Responsibility of Macbeth
Shakespeare has been known to be one of the best literature writers of all time. His storylines and character archetypes come back in our recent stories, movies, and life regularly. He uses character traits everyone can relate to. Macbeth by Shakespeare is best known for the sane man of Macbeth transforming into a bloodthirsty, mad ruler. But what leads Macbeth to his fatal tragedy? Guilt. Guilt is when you know you committed wrong, and are worried of the punishment that will entitle you because you are a responsible person. I believe Macbeth shows the natural human characteristic of being responsible very well, for it drove him to his grave.
Macbeth is a very responsible person. He is responsible for defending his king and being a good host. In the beginning of the tragedy he did just that. He killed Macdonwald for King Duncan and
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invited his respected king over for a feast. Once the weird sisters showed him he would have the responsibility of being king one day, he killed King Duncan. He felt the guilt, for his responsibility was broken with his king. “Who can be wise, amazed, temp’rate, and furious,- Loyal, and neutral, in a moment? No man. Th’ expedition of my violent love- Outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan” (2.3.102-105). Now Macbeth had a new responsibility though. Now his responsibility was to stay king himself. Macbeth’s responsible nature and guilt from lack of responsibility led to his demise. If someone is responsible they tend to have an obligation to complete a job. If said responsibility is not met it leads to guilt. Everybody shows guilt in their lives from the time we are young. When little kids break a vase they try and hide it or blame it on the dog. Guilt is a natural human emotion that shapes how our mind works. This is why sociopaths may lead to becoming murderers and committers of crimes, they do not feel guilt. Whether we choose to ignore it, or if we let guilt consume us, guilt changes people’s lives. Many stories and evidence point to guilt turning people crazy. A strong supporter and visualist of this was Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. His most famous one is the Tell Tale Heart. The murderer in the story was responsible of taking care of the old man of the house. Once he kills him, he hears the heartbeat of the old man from the guilt of the murder. This leads him to go mad and admit himself to the murder. “´Villains!´ I shrieked, ´dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!´” The murderer had the character trait of being responsible. He was suppose to be taking care of the old man, the old man trusted him. He was responsible for him, and he let the old man down. Claude Frollo was also a responsible character from the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
He took it to be his responsibility to try and take charge and destroy what he believed was ¨evil¨ in his culture. Even if he was very racist towards the gypsies blaming them for all the said evil in the world, Claude Frollo believed he was responsible for what he thought was bad. When he wanted to take advantage of one of the gypsy girls, he felt his responsibility broken. Frollo becomes very guilty about his thoughts. He sings, “It’s not my fault- I am not to blame- It is the gypsy girl- the witch who sent this flame- It’s not my fault- If it’s God’s plan- He made the devil- so much stronger than a man.” (Hunchback of Notre Dame). Frollo’s responsible and narrow minded nature becomes guilty for he believes he is falling in the “devil’s” trap. He is using psychology’s Sigmund Freud's defense mechanism of projection. This means he is feeling guilty inside for his evil actions, so he attributes his actions onto other people. If he blames other people for being worse than he is, his responsible personality feels better
inside. From Frollo to Macbeth to any leadership position, all leaders have to have the character trait of being responsible in order to get anything done. But responsible people have to deal with the negative effect of being responsible, which is to feel guilt. This feeling and this character trait is shown in many stories and our lives everyday. Shakespeare has let us have a sense of it in his stories as well, as he shows many other everyday life characters, adventures, and how to deal with you troubles and emotions.
In the story of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is one of the main characters. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is very loyal and honorable. By the end of the play Macbeth is insane and has no remorse for the sin he commits against the king.
Macbeth is put together with many character traits. He is a very complex character. In the beginning Macbeth was brave and loyal. He won the battle of Norway and became the Thane of Cawdor. For brave Macbeth disdainding fortune with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution( ACT1 SC2 LNS18-20). Macbeth is also a gullible man, when he runs into the witches he believes them when they say, all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter(act1 sn2 line 50) . He is so gullible to what these witches said that he killed his best friend Banquo and nearly kills Banquo's son. Macbeth also was convinced by his wife to kill Duncan. Macbeth conscious becomes guilty after he kills Duncan when he said, will all great neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?(act2 sn2 lines 79-80). He is thinking that nothing can take back the murders he had committed.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play. Macbeth’s rise to the throne was brought about by the same external forces that ensure his downfall.
Firstly, the protagonist of the play is a monster due to the murders he committed. Throughout the play, we encounter that he has killed Duncan for power, Banquo and more. To prove this, Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,/ And chastise with the valour of my tongue/ All that impedes thee from the golden round” which indicates that his
William Shakespeare had tragedy in Macbeth. Macbeth had been a Thane, which is a noble. Lady Macbeth wants to be Queen of Scotland in Macbeth wants to be king no matter what it takes Macbeth was going be king and Lady Macbeth was going to be queen. Lady Macbeth was a very strong mind person. Lady Macbeth suffered from the effect of bipolar and schizophrenia.
William Shakespeare is the most performed and read playwright whose works captured the complete range of human emotions. He wrote various types of plays including comedies, romances, tragedies, and tragicomedies. Macbeth, is one of his most famous tragedies he wrote between 1599-1606. The dramatic alterations made by Shakespeare bear little resemblance to the facts, leading us to conclude to three main purposes. The first being the dramatic. Hoping to capture the attention of his audience Shakespeare changed the plot making it much more dramatic than found in his Holinshed source. Second, the thematic affect. He wanted to create a more complex characterization of Macbeth.
Firstly, Macbeth had an extremely active conscience and recognition of human moral values. His conscience put up a great deal of resistance to the prospect of murder, and after the act it continued to torment him until his death.
Shakespeare uses the title character of Macbeth to effectively develop the theme of guilt and conscience in his play. Several times in the play we see Macbeth’s character crumbling as a result of a guilty conscience. At the beginning of the play he meets the witches with Banquo, and this prompts the first step toward killing the King. This helps in developing the theme because we get the idea that Macbeth does not trust the witches, nor does he fully believe them. Unfortunately his ambitious nature gets the better of him and causes him to listen carefully to how he might acquire his kingship. Macbeth feels guilty that he is thinking about killing the King because he’s basing his entire thought upon belief in the ‘evil creatures’. We see this when Macbeth has a soliloquy in which he says, “Cannot be ill, cannot be good” and also asks himself why the thought of becoming King makes his “seated heart” knock against his ribs.
William Shakespeare's play Macbeth is a five-act drama that shows a clear example of how pride, greed, and power can alter a man's actions and personality. The taste of power blinds the story's main character, Macbeth. Sparked by Lady Macbeth, he becomes heartless and cruel as he kills anyone who is a threat to his power due to his paranoia of losing the throne. This fear ironically leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. The theme of the story is deceit and evil and how they affect a man's decisions.
In the play there are many evil deeds that Macbeth committed. These include the murders of Duncan and Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son. Macbeth is also responsible for Scotland's disorder. Macbeth plays the main role in each incident, with the other characters being only minor and undeveloped; acting as vehicles for Macbeth's actions. It is possible that it is not entirely Macbeth's fault for the evil deeds in the play.
Macbeth’s visions and the prophecies of the witches cause Macbeth to make poor decisions, which lead him to his eventual downfall. Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power hungry and overzealous. A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders.
Throughout the play of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is supposed to be a likeable character until he kills the king. By committing this heinous act, Macbeth instantly becomes a villain and continues to commit murderous acts, all stemming from his first terrible mistake. One of his motives consists of choosing power over integrity, therefore he kills the king. Another reason why Macbeth is a villain is because he continued to kill innocent people to hide his doings. Lastly, since Macbeth is a villain and murderer, he deserves to be condemned and disdained.
The tragic downfall of Macbeth can be contributed to several key factors. Macbeth’s downfall can be attributed to his blind ambition, the influence of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s own insecurities and misgivings. Blind ambition combined with immoral goals, with Lady Macbeth’s influence and Macbeth’s personal doubts all lead to his inevitable downfall.
Shakespeare clearly explores the themes ‘Fate and Free Will’, and ‘Ambition’ within this tragedy. Shakespeare weaves these themes around the character of Macbeth, showing us the depth of his insight into human society. Macbeth fell victim to his interpretation of supernatural prophecies and the influence from his wife. His impatience for the throne led to his crimes, subsequent guilt and acknowledgement of his sins. Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s life to his audience as a moral tale, warning them how men should be careful how they regard the ideas of fortune and fate and how in the end, evil intents and actions bring with them their own punishment.
There were many wrongs committed in "MacBeth." But who should bear the major responsibility for these actions? The witches' prophesising? Lady MacBeth's scheming and persuasion? Or should MacBeth himself be held responsible? No doubt the witches and lady MacBeth influenced MacBeth in the course of action he took in his rise to power, but ultimately he must bear the major responsibility for his fate.