Macbeth In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as brave, heroic and a victim too, but when the three witches tell him that he will be crowned king of Scotland, he gets more and more evil and twisted by letting the power he has go to his head. He is more of a villain than he is a victim. Macbeth is a villain in the play because he is a murderer, liar and he is insane. Macbeth is a villain because he is a murderer. People who think he is a victim think that because they say Macbeth was threatened and intimidated by his wife, but it was his choice what to do. He knew what was wrong and what was right but he continued on to be evil. When the three witches tell him he will be king, he gets ecstatic. Since the king is impressed by his acts of bravery, he makes Macbeth “Thane …show more content…
of Cawdor”. When Macbeth tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, about the witches prophecy and what they told him and that he was also announced Thane of Cawdor, she tells him to murder the king. At first, Macbeth does not want to but he still goes on and kills the king while he is in his sleep. “I have the done the deed, didst thou not hear a noise?” (328). Macbeth is explaining to his wife that he has killed the king and asking if she had heard a noise. Macbeth also kills Banquo, he is at first an ally to Macbeth and they are together when they meet the three witches. After they predict that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his descendants will. Macbeth did not want the crown taken from him by Banquo’s descendants so he plans to murder Banquo. “It is concluded: Banquo thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight” (344). Macbeth is talking about how Banquo must die so he hires two people to kill Banquo for him. Macbeth is a villain because he is a liar.
He tells lie after lie and keeps making them bigger. Him and Lady Macbeth are planning to kill the king. “When we have marked with blood, those sleepy two of his own chamber and used their very dagger” (324). They are going to lie about who killed the king by framing the guards that stand outside his room protecting him. They are going to spill blood on them and then the daggers that they used to kill the king, they will plant on the guards. When the king is announced dead, Macbeth and his wife both act sad and shocked like everyone else. After Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, he starts acting weird. Lady Macbeth says to everyone not to worry that it is just a sickness he has had since birth. “You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting, with most admired disorder” (351). Lady Macbeth is annoyed at her husband because he could have revealed what they had done to the king, so she had to also lie. Everyone had to leave because Lady Macbeth made them to cover Macbeth’s lie. When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, it reminds him of the crime he committed and what he made two other people
do. Macbeth is a villain because he is insane. After Banquo dies, Macbeth sees his ghost at the banquet. “Behold! Look! Lo! [to the ghost] How say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. If charnel houses and our graves must send those that we bury back, our monuments shall be the maws of kites” (349). That is what Macbeth was yelling at Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth is also insane because he believed he could not be defeated because the witches told him we is going to be defeated when trees rise up and kill him. “Rebellious dead, rise never, till the wood of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath to time and mortal custom” (360). Since Macbeth knows that that will never happen because it is simply impossible for trees to rise, he believes that he will never be defeated. Macbeth believes also that he is invincible because the three witches also tell him that anyone through a woman cannot harm him. “The pow’r of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (359). Malcolm and Macduff lead an army against Macbeth. Macbeth has an army of his own as well, but his soldiers do not care for him because of all the murder he committed and how he has changed ever since the king dies. Malcolm challenges Macbeth to a fight and when they are fighting, Malcolm reveals to Macbeth that he was not born through a woman, but through a c-section. Macbeth is a villain because he is a murderer, a liar, and he is insane as well. Most people think that he is more of a victim because he is threatened by his own wife, but he is more of a villain then he ever is a victim.
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.
Macbeth was once confident since Banquo died but is insecure again because Fleance is still alive. Macbeth tells the murderer that they will continue to discuss this tomorrow since he has to tend to his guests. Macbeth starts off with a toast to his guests for good appetites, digestion and good health. Lennox then invites Macbeth to sit at the table but he starts to see the ghost of Banquo sitting down. Macbeth sees the ghost shaking his gory locks at him, which shows Banquo’s head with gashes and covered in blood.
“O! yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them.” (2.3.103-104). Macbeth was very fearful that the servants would remember what had happened to Duncan if they were still alive, even though Macbeth set them up to make them appear guilty. Again, near the end of the play, Macbeth is having more and more hallucinations now and they are happening more frequency, “It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood” (3.4.121). At the inauguration dinner for Macbeth being crowned king, Banquo’s ghost sits in the current King’s chair and Macbeth beings to become agitated and loses his composure around the Thanes and other Lords; at that time, Macbeth feels pressured by the sins he has committed in the past.
Macbeth is told that Banquo is dead, but Fleance has escaped and Macbeth says that Fleance is like a serpent and will not be a problem just yet but will eventually become one. Macbeth then see Banquo’s ghost at the table and stops dead in his tracks, with horror on his face he begins talking to the ghost. Lady Macbeth covers the scene with saying that Macbeth has delusions. The ghost leaves and then the table makes a toast to Banquo and the ghost reenters causing Macbeth to scream at the ghost to leave, his wife, once again covers his outbursts with saying that he has delusions and they bid the lord farewell. Macbeth says that he will go see the weird sisters and says that he is not in his right senses. The three witches meet with Hecate,
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a kind and caring person, he is the Thane of Cawdor. He is well respected and honest and loyal to someone he is knows well, King Duncan. Macbeth then gains greater ambition when he is encouraged by the witches and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth gets into his head on how greater power he could have if he takes the throne of the King by murdering him. When Macbeth kills the king he goes into a stage of fear and guilt making him want to kill someone again so that it satisfies him. At the end of the play he is killed because of the evil crimes he has
Overall, I believe that Macbeth was a villain as he had a ‘Vaulting ambition’ to become King with a little help from the witches. The witches had great effect on Macbeth as a character and a huge effect on the plot of the play.
The protagonist in this play is Macbeth himself. Like many main characters he has a tragic flaw. In his case it is his thrilling ambition to do anything it takes to become king. The reason that he has the ambition to become king is because he wants to be known and respected. Also he wants to be wealthy and to be able to do anything he likes. An exemplar of how he is willing to do anything is when he set up King Duncan to be killed and states,"I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell. (Macbeth act 2 scene 1). Macbeth is also to blame for his downfall because he is a coward and takes all the advice his wife lady Macbeth and the witches gave him. This is evident when Lady Macbeth tells him that it is a good idea to kill King Duncan, also how the witches tell him that he is safe. But at the end of the day it came down to his decision. a sampling of why Macbeth is at fault is because he kills his best friend Banquo. He has three hit men do the dirty work for him while Banquo was on the way to Macbeth’s banquet
In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the main character Macbeth is labeled as either a tragic hero or a villain. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. A villain is the bad guy of the story. They are the ones who come up with a diabolical plot to somehow cause harm or ruin (“Literary Terms.”). As of now where we are at in the play, it seems as if Macbeth is a character who does reckless things but intends to do the right thing. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is faithfully serving the king by slaying the enemies who try to invade the great land of Scotland. Although selfish by killing King Duncan, his righteous morals and servant attitude says otherwise in the
When Macbeth is first introduced to the audience, he is seen as a tough, trustworthy hero. He wins the battle and gains King Duncan’s honor and respect. This all lasts until his encounter with the witches. The witches terrorized and cursed people purely for their personal enjoyment. They came across Macbeth and could not pass this opportunity.
A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders. He killed his best friend Banquo out of fear and he senselessly murdered Macduff’s family. The hallucination of Banquo’s ghost is a representation of Macbeth 's guilt, all of Macbeth’s guilt is manifested in the ghost. Macbeth states that he feels guilty because of the murders. “Ay, and since too, murders have been performed Too terrible for the ear.” (III, iv, 80-81) Seeing the ghost of Banquo is the breaking point for Macbeth. The ghost also causes him to think more irrationally which leads to the murder of Macduff. Also, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is full of regret and guilt. The voices he hears reflect his mental state. “Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!” (II, ii, 35) His innocence was killed and he knows that he has to live with this guilt for the rest of his life, hence Macbeth will never sleep peacefully ever again. After each successive murder, Macbeth becomes more and more inhumane. “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o 'er.” (III, iv, 143-145) Macbeth claims that after committing a murder, there is no turning back. He killed his best friend due to his ambition and fear. The third murder was outright moralless and unnecessary, he compulsively killed Macduff’s wife and children. Macbeth shows no remorse in his murders, he becomes an absolute monster towards the end of the play. As Macbeth loses his human morales, hallucinations appear to remind him of the sins he
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.
By listening to these evil forces, Macbeth commits evil acts which make him evil. The three witches in the play are a pretty big influence on Macbeth. For example, the witches tell him that he will be the Thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.
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...
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.
However, this experience is not one that gives him courage or ambition but one that gives him fear, enough to make a man go mad. At the party, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost which he describes as “a bold one that dare look on that which might appall the devil” (III.vi.63). He begins to act like a madman in front of all those loyal to him and reveals that Banquo is dead. Despite Lady Macbeth’s attempt to cover up his act by blaming it on a childhood illness, Macbeth’s followers begin to lose question their king, lose trust in him, and even wonder if he is the one who murdered Duncan. After the banquet, Macbeth seeks the witches out of their cave so that he can learn more about his future and silence those who are plotting against him despite what the consequences may be. This reveals that Macbeth has completely fallen for the witches prophecy. There, he sees a line of eight kings followed by Banquo’s ghost. The last king holds a mirror to reflect a never-ending line of kings descended from Banquo. When he sees this, he exclaims“ thou art look like the spirits of Banquo: down!” (IV.i.123). This vision confirms that Banquo’s descendants inherit the throne and contributes to Macbeth’s anxiety, fear and to his further loss of control. He becomes even more insecure about his position as king and can no longer make his decisions