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Macbeth “The play is about identity, not good and evil. Macbeth is a character developed far more than any other, and his destruction is truly tragic.” Can you describe the play in these terms? One of the main questions that comes up when thinking about Macbeth is do the characters occupy the play to tell a historical story, or does the drama exist as a prop to explore the physiological nuances of the character Macbeth. It could be argued that the character of Macbeth, his complex physiological states, his weakness of character, the part that people around him and his wife play in the development of character, and destiny are truly the central themes of the play. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is praised by many people and looked up to as a war hero. “For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name” 1:2:16. He is well respected by the king and even chosen by him to be the new Thane of Cawdor. Even Macbeth knows that he is at a good point in his life “I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people” 1:7:33. So we form an opinion that he is a great man. We are able to make a connection with Macbeths because Shakespeare takes us into his mind. When Macbeth is equivocating about killing King Duncan we can see that he has a working conscience and that he is not a bad guy. Macbeth is the only character in the play that we can be sure has an active conscience. Shakespeare presents all the other characters with faults. Macduff leaves his family to be murdered and in act 4:3 Malcolm lies to Macduff and tells him it was the only lie he ever told. If the play was about good and evil the good characters would not be given these vices and we would not get to see Macbeth’s conscience. Macbeth’s weakness of character is ... ... middle of paper ... ...cbeth started making decisions to kill people he was finally thinking for himself and taking control. He is becoming a strong decisive king that knows what he wants. By the time he has to fight Macduff Macbeth has grown into an honourable person. When he threw down his shield it was a sign that he was fighting for himself and was not afraid anymore. Macbeth was not evil he was just a man struggling with his identity and trying to be something he was not. He new nothing other than how to be a soldier and he was good at it. In the end he realised it was the only way he could win his battle. “I’ll fight till from me bones me flesh be hacked. Give me my armour.” 5:3:33. Even though Macbeth had become hated and thought of as a tyrant to others he had won his own battle. This becomes clear when at the end of the play Macbeth feels proud to say “My name’s Macbeth.” 5:8:6.
Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" is considered one of his great tragedies. The play fully uses plot, character, setting, atmosphere, diction and imagery to create a compelling drama. The general setting of Macbeth is tenth and eleventh century Scotland. The play is about a once loyal and trusted noble of Scotland who, after a meeting with three witches, becomes ambitious and plans the murder of the king. After doing so and claiming the throne, he faces the other nobles of Scotland who try to stop him. In the play, Macbeth faces an internal conflict with his opposing decisions. On one hand, he has to decide of he is to assassinate the king in order to claim his throne. This would result in his death for treason if he is caught, and he would also have to kill his friend. On the other hand, if he is to not kill him, he may never realize his ambitious dreams of ruling Scotland. Another of his internal struggles is his decision of killing his friend Banquo. After hiring murderers to kill him, Macbeth begins to see Banquo's ghost which drives him crazy, possibly a result of his guilty conscience. Macbeth's external conflict is with Macduff and his forces trying to avenge the king and end Macbeth's reign over Scotland. One specific motif is considered the major theme, which represents the overall atmosphere throughout the play. This motif is "fair is foul and foul is fair."
Initially MACBETH is seen as a great soldier, a fearless fighter who has loyally defended his King against a treacherous rebellion. However, he is corrupted by evil in the form of three witches and their supernatural prophecies, and by ambition, not so much his own at first but by Lady Macbeth's ambition for him to murder Duncan, thus attaining the crown of Scotland.
“The Tragedy of Macbeth” goes into the darkest and deepest morals of any Shakespearean play. Each character in the play portrays a very important role and each character gives off their own form of sincerities towards the advancing plot. Macbeth
Macbeth is like every other human being. He has the potential to do evil. He has a tragic flaw, or an Achilles Heel. [[ although I agree with you it’s worth keeping in mind the fact that many other people might not like to think of themselves like this – you may need to argue a little more to explain how we are all caught up in this web of evil]]Macbeth’s is Ambition and Greed. Anyone that spurs his intent and ambition will create a chain of deadly consequences. In this case, the witches triggered the evil and hatred that exists within.
After Macbeth committed a dreadful crime at the start of the play, he realizes that by killing even more people he can get what he wants whenever he wants. Macbeth reaches a point where he is too busy fulfilling his own ambitions that he was not fulfilling his obligations as king. “Those he command move only in command, / Nothing in love…” (5.2.22-23). His obsession with power caused him to murder his good friend Banquo, and Banquo’s son. Macbeth’s out of control ambition has caused him to lose his emotion. He progressively sta...
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
Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth was a brave, noble warrior. “For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name… Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chop and fixed his head upon our battlements” (Act I, Scene 2, lines 2). He was one of the last people anyone would expect to kill King Duncan. Shakespeare chooses a noble character such as Macbeth, to emphasize how greed and power can alter a person’s good morals. In Act one we start to see Macbeth’s desire for more power rise. “Stars, hide your fires; Let no light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hond yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done to see” (Act I, Scene 4, lines 52- 55). His desire for power is at war with his good morals. He wants to become king but does not want to kill Duncan.
Macbeth was certainly no villain to begin with. He is introduced to us as a man of great honour, nobility and strength of morals. He is held in high regard by King Duncan, who addresses him as “valiant cousin, worthy gentleman';- so highly, in fact, that Macbeth is granted a promotion over Banquo (who seems to be of an extremely worthy and loyal character). But there is a fatal difference between Macbeth and Banquo- Macbeth’s ambition and lust for power. He is a man with an unsurpassable desire to advance himself. He himself identifies this quality while he contemplates an action that he is wholly repulsed by; “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting Ambition which o’erleaps itself, And falls on th’ other.'; This “Vaulting Ambition'; is what makes Macbeth vulnerable and leads him to commit possibly the most vile deed he can imagine, setting him on a path of destruction. There is a temptation to use the fact that he could comprehend the vileness of his deed as a reason as to why we should condemn Macbeth as even worse a villain. But this is a simple view that does not take into account Macbeth’s later torment or give credit to Shakespeare’s intention to create a true – to-form tragedy. Macbeth is not a ruthless, callous villain devoid of all pity and humanity, and there are several issues in the play that serve to illustrate this.
Macbeth is swaying between the forces of good and evil. He wants to stop killing but he also wants to become king and in his mind the only way to do that is to kill whoever is in his path, saying “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (3.4.168-170). Macbeth is already deep into this situation and if he were to turn back now, it would cause him greater hardship than relief. Macbeth has been dealing with this inner conflict ever since he was told by the weird sisters that he is fated to become king. This conflict ties everything together, between fate versus free will and sane or insane. Macbeth started the play as being a glorified war hero, however as time moved on he transformed into a bloodthirsty tyrant. Macbeth has gone through so much that he has shifted into a guilty man haunted by nightmares and hallucinations but will not stop until he gets what he came for. Macbeth has gone so far into the void of guilt that his name has now fell into infamy, as shown by quote by Young Siward saying “The devil himself could not pronounce a title/ More hateful to mine ear.” (5.7.10-11). Macbeth had already grown a name for himself while he kept his innocence, however with all the killings macbeth has made, he has done nothing but shame his name. Macbeth name to others is more hateful and there is nothing that Siward would rather do than to end Macbeth’s life, thus ending all the guilt and evil inside
Macbeth’s life is a tragic story about how he was deceived and molded into an evil man. His evil, sparked by lady Macbeth, began with the murder of king Duncan. Macbeth’s heart couldn’t handle the sin but Lady Macbeth forced him to change his mind. Macbeth’s evil was a result of his overconfidence, guilty conscience, and his human nature, all of which are traits that could be seen in any person in search of power.
Macbeth’s villainy is shown when he kills Macduffs family and consorts with the witches but Macbeth is also a man of action, brave and daring. Macbeth killed Macduffs family because Macduff fled to England “His wife his babes, and all unfortunate souls”. Macbeth also consorts with witches in this scene to find out what will happen to him and his kingdom “Even till destruction sicken-answer me / To what I ask you.”. Macbeth is not all bad just because he does this he is also a brave and daring man of action.
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.
Throughout the play, Macbeth is constantly torn between good and evil. His whole life he is believed to be a good man, so this decision to most wouldn't even be a conflict. They would assume that he'd be a good, loyal, and honest man until the day he died. Macbeth crossed paths with three ugly witches. He may have not known at the time but the witches planted a seed in Macbeth causing his soul to turn away from good eternally.
After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth starts to hallucinate and go crazy. This event is all explained in his speech about the dagger that he used to kill King Duncan with, which is supposedly right in front of him but it is actually just all in his head, “Is this a dagger which i see before me...that summons thee to Heaven or to Hell.” (Act 2, scene 1, Lines 32-64) Macbeth starts to gain control at this point but everyone starts to figure out that Macbeth has killed the King and many others to mask what he has done. The most important scene of the play comes toward the end of the play when Macduff decapitates Macbeth and then he proceeds to Malcolm to discuss how much of a monster Macbeth has become. Finally they are all free from his tyranny, this scene confirms that everyone knew how much of a wrongdoer he had
Before being transformed into a murderous monster, Macbeth is a model Scottish noble. He shows great loyalty and devotion to both King Duncan and his country in his fight against the Scottish rebels. He also fights with great courage, which he draws from knowing that he serves a good and virtuous cause. He is modest when confronted with his achievements, in contrast to the arrogance that he displays after becoming king. He loves Lady Macbeth, an emotion he will eventually lose by the end of the play. Most of all, he fears what his greed and ambition can lead him to become, and he feels dubious about acting on them.