Macbeth Despise Analysis

Set in Scotland, back in the days of King Richard, the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, tells the story of Macbeth’s rise and fall from the throne. Macbeth is a general for his king, Duncan, the ruler of Scotland. However a chance meeting with the infamous Three Weird Sisters leaves him with a chance to become the very king he lives to serve. Shakespeare has presented Macbeth in a way that makes us both admire min and despise him one at a time or sometimes both at once.

In the first act is where we first see how Shakespeare presents Macbeth. In act one is where we admire him for the first time, but then also despise him a little. When his prophecy is we admire him for the first time by the Three weird Sisters who are witches,

we do so because the prophecy states he will be the future king of Scotland by the three calling him ‘king hereafter’ along with some other titles. We admire him at this point because of how this has made him have a big goal that will be completed by fate. I admired him at this point because of how he could be the future king of Scotland. A bit further in this act is also where we despise him. This is because of how he reacts to this news of becoming king. He is all for becoming but his goal is approached by a very ‘lax’ attitude. Macbeth quotes ‘If chance may have me king, why, chance may crown me.’ This quote made me despise him by the fact that by chance means leave it up to fate but, in our society, goals are achieved by hard work and determination. This act is where we see first-hand how us viewers are starting to both admire him and despise him.

The second time we admire and despise Macbeth is where Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth is starting to appear. Macbeth sent a letter to her in the last act, explaining to her what has just happened with himself and the Three Weird Sisters. In this letter, Macbeth refers to his wife as ‘dearest partner.’ We admire him now because he is clearly showing love to his wife, the one that supports him through the thick and thin. Despising Macbeth comes later when Macbeth has done his first killing and has ended the life of King Duncan. With King Duncan dead, Macbeth has been named the new king of Scotland, Meaning that he has now fulfilled his goal but not b chance. Killing the king has now made him have a change of heart, before it was Lady Macbeth that wanted King Duncan dead to raise the chances of Macbeth becoming king. Macbeth’s ambition has taken over now and he is almost ‘full’ of himself. He now acts upon the first though he gets, disregarding the opinions of others, even those of his ‘dearest partner.’ No-longer taking advice from his wife, he just ‘shrugs’ her off as if she doesn’t matter anymore. We despise Macbeth at this point because of how he acts to the woman who supported him when he was first getting into killing Duncan. She supported him then but now Macbeth isn’t repaying the favour and I personally don’t like that.

The third time that we admire and despise Macbeth is when Macbeth and his fellow general and best friend, Banquo comes into the scene.

Banquo and Macbeth have been brothers-in-arms for a very long time. Macbeth is hosting Banquo in his castle and the have a long talk one night as friends do. It is here that we admire Macbeth because Macbeth shows concern for his long-time friend. We can admire this because showing concern for is a good thing to do and we as viewers can stand by that. What happens later is when Macbeth becomes king by regicide and wants to secure his position. What makes us despise him is how he goes about securing his position. The only way he deems fit to do so is by killing his long-time friend, Banquo, Also there’s a bit of jealousy involved with this because Banquo’s future was also revealed by the Three Weird Sisters, that he would be the head to a long line of kings but won’t be one himself. Macbeth has decided off the top of his head to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. We despise Macbeth at this point because Macbeth has almost like a two-faced personality, showing kindness and concern one moment then later having people hunt them down and kill them. Shakespeare presented us Macbeth b having us admire him and despise him by helping, then killing his best

friend.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare showed us how Macbeth truly is b making us, the viewer admire him then despise him by making his goal of becoming king and then showing us how he goes about obtaining the goal. Secondly by how he treats his wife before, though, and after tough times, and thirdly by how he treats his best friend before Macbeth becomes king and after he becomes, threating Banquo like nothing more than a steeping stone.