Macbeth Human Quotes

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is clear who the villain is, but you must ask: Would you not do the same? — Afterall, Macbeth is just human. A human controlled by human emotions. This makes understanding emotions like understanding every language; emotions are an universal human language. So let’s translate. The feelings of ambition, fear, and guilt control Macbeth. Macbeth’s ambition and lust for power dawns himself down the path of tyranny and murder. However, no murder is without remorse. Guilt continually clouds Macbeth’s judgement. Finally, Macbeth’s fear of losing the crown pushes him past the point of no return. The tyrant is dictated by emotions that Shakespeare understands. Shakespeare is undoubtedly the greatest playwright, but

Shakespeare’s ability to comprehend human nature allows for characters with depth and development. When fully analyzed, Shakespeare’s interpretations of ambition, guilt, and fear the greatest realistic villain: Macbeth.
Macbeth’s greed, his royal hunger, and his lust for power is his drive.

His ambition is to be King, no matter what it takes. His lust for power empowers him to commit atrocities, even understanding the consequences, “Let not light see my black and deep desires:” (1.4.58). His hunt for the crown has been present since the beginning, but his ambition only grows stronger. Once Macbeth accepts the malice of his ambition, he allows himself to accomplish more and more evil. Starting with one, but ending with the death of a nation. Shakespeare understands the growth and snowball-effect of ambition and incorporated it perfectly into Macbeth. Power corrupts. No matter how virtuous, power corrupts those to become the wicked. His ambition brought him to power, but power turned him

evil.
But his evil is not absolute. Macbeth is still human. Humans who feel guilt. The uniqueness of the Macbeth’s villainy is his gradual development. Macbeth only feels guilt knowing he has done something unjust. The ghost of Banquo is symbolic to Macbeth’s guilt. Upon seeing the ghost, Macbeth exclaims how “[the dead] rise again, / With twenty mortal murders on their crowns… this is more strange/ Than such a murder is”(3.4.96-99). King Duncan’s murder was justified by Macbeth’s own pursuit of power, but the death of Banquo is not. This “strange” feeling is guilt, but this guilt quickly fades as the story progresses. As Macbeth is informed of Macduff’s departure to England, Macbeth mercilessly orders the murder of his entire family. Macbeth feels no remorse in killing the innocent. Guilt was the last emotion keeping Macbeth human; when he loses his guilty conscience, he becomes a tyrant. Shakespeare’s choice to have his Highness lose his guilty conscience, speaks to the organic development of his wickedness.
Macbeth’s fear of losing the crown, losing power and control transform him from the King of Scotland to the Tyrant of Scotland.

Since the second Macbeth murders King Duncan, fear controls every step he takes. His fear of karma and his fear of society, makes Macbeth paranoid. In his paranoia, he acts only to preserve himself, ordering the killing to those who threaten his authority. His paranoia seems to be soothed by security, after hearing from the Witches that “for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.86.87). His paranoia disappears knowing his only fear, losing the crown, is seemingly impossible. This confidence further boosts his tyranny, acting as if he is God himself. Fear controls Macbeth’s life through caution, but without fear, Macbeth will meet his reckless end. His overconfidence pits him in a fight with the only man that can harm Macbeth: Macduff. As soon as Macbeth hears Macduff was not born of woman, he trembles back in fear, and refuses to fight (5.8.19-26). Although Macbeth ends up fighting and ultimately dying, fear controlled him from the very beginning to the very end. Shakespeare’s comprehension of the fear that clouds the judgement of Macbeth is spot-on to real human emotion and action. In the end, Macbeth should have feared his fear of fear instead, perhaps then Macbeth would act

righteously.
While we would like to think Macbeth is pure evil, and there is no way I would ever do the same, that is easier said than done. Shakespeare’s villain is not based on some wicked plans only sought after to create chaos, but from human emotions. Emotions that we are all controlled by. Every human has at least once been controlled by their ambitions, their guilt and their fears. Ambition to strive for your wants. Or the guilt that has been eating you inside out. Or the fears that control what you do not even dream about doing. It is not far-fetched that given the same situation, you would not do the same. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth from his interpretations of human emotion, and if Shakespeare is correct, many of us would find ourselves as Macbeth.