Lauren Roshan-Kashani
Mrs. Heneidi
Honors English-Period 3
2.14.16
Means to an End Macbeth is the story of a man who is deeply ambitious and greedy, yet loving and moral. Macbeth has strong morals but does not abide by them, but his morals may be the reason many readers feel sympathy for this complex character. Macbeth is a prime example of a character who has great moral boundaries, but does not exercise his own advice. Not utilizing his moral compass causes a lot of problems for his character. Macbeth is a corrupt ruler, but his guilty conscious makes him a tragic hero. Although Macbeth makes hostile choices, the reader feels sympathy for him because he expresses extreme guilt for his malicious actions. Macbeth, the tragic play written
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Macbeth has tarnished all the achievements and praise he has worked towards, and in the process has fallen into a world of darkness and lies. The murder of Duncan is the stepping stone that leads to Macbeth 's life of anguish and suffering. Macbeth will suffer a great deal of pain because of his guilty conscious. Macbeth’s remorse prevents him from fully enjoying his ill gotten gains. He feels dishearten at being responsible for the murder of Duncan. Even at the start of his rule he is described as a hero and this quality is still present even in his darkest hours. “List 'ning their fear, I could not say 'Amen, ' when they did say 'God bless us '. Methought, I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’.” (2.2.14) Macbeth believes he has tarnished his right to say prayers. After the murder of Duncan Macbeth feels ashamed and remorseful of his actions. He is unable to sleep or do anything that he would normally do because he has a guilty conscious. This quote shows that Macbeth believes that it is his fault for “murdering his sleep” Macbeth even states that he cannot utter prayers because he will tarnish the true meaning of prayer. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood. Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.” This allusion to the Roman God of the sea shows that Macbeth believes not even the gods can …show more content…
Not only does he feel guilty about murdering Duncan but also feels responsible for his wife’s suicide. Only a man with a good heart would feel responsible for someone else’s acts of suicide. This makes the reader feel sympathy for Macbeth even though two important characters are dead at his hands. Lady Macbeth 's suicide is a pivotal step in Macbeth 's atonement. Macbeth accepts that death will come for him soon, and realizes that it is the only way to relieve himself of the extreme guilty he feels. “Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff 'd bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart?” Macbeth wants to feel clean again. He desperately wants the anecdote for his guilt and cannot contain his anger towards himself. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life 's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” This quote is from where Macbeth finds out his wife has committed
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.
It all began really in Act II, Scene II after the murder of Duncan, when Macbeth returns to his room to join his wife. As any person would be, Macbeth is very shaken by his wrong act. Killing a man, not to mention a beloved king is a sin and Macbeth knows it very well! He truly believes he has murdered all innocence, and only worse things will follow. Throughout the scene there are several quotes that show this; " Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more," and " Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red." This shows the amount of guilt he felt. He describes this by saying that if he tried to wash his hands in the river, it would turn into the colour of the blood itself. Lady Macbeth attempts to make him stronger, " A little water clears us of this deed: How easy it is then!" But the guilt he feels just does not go away…At least for the time being.
Macbeth feels a great deal of remorse after he has killed the king. He understands that he has committed a sin and will be punished. He is so terrified that he hears voices telling him:“ Macbeth does murder sleep, … , Macbeth shall sleep no more”(Act 2, Sc.2 p. 57). Macbeth is very upset with himself and wishes that he never killed Duncan. “To know my deed it were best not know myself.” When he hears strange knocking at the gate he wishes that it wakes up Duncan, “wake Duncan with thy knocking”, however it is too late (Act 2, Sc.3 p. 61).
Through the chronicles of history there have always been heroes. Men and women that stand up and take charge and are moral leaders of countries. Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Churchill are only a few examples of people that are remember eternally for what they have done. There are also other leaders that people would like to forget because they are moral cowards killing their subject and causing evil. Stalin, Fidel Castro, and the Character of Macbeth are all examples of this. Macbeth is a moral coward. During the play Macbeth often shows that he is morale coward. For instance, when he is planning Duncan’s murder. Likewise he also shows cowardice by killing Banquo. Lastly he shows how spineless he is when he orders Macduffs family to be murdered.
Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.
The songs that I will be dedicating in this play are for the character Macbeth. He is the most unique entity who is constantly changing his personality and developing more evil traits. These songs will represent all of the Macbeth’s major characteristics and the events that led to demonstrating and revealing what kind of person he is. Every crime he committed had a big consequence on his conscience. The lyrics or the mood of the song will, in some way, describe Macbeth and his behavior in this play.
Briefly stated, and with elaborations to follow, Macbeth is the story of a kindly, upright man who was incited and goaded, by the woman he deeply loved, into committing a murder and then, because of his sensitive nature, was unable to bear the heavy burden of guilt that descended upon him as a result of that murder. (37)
Within Macbeth the tragedy and demise of Macbeth is an important factor in determining his character as a tragic hero. However in order to elucidate on this point we need to define what is a tragedy. Aristotle within ‘Poetics’ highlighted what characteristics he believed to define tragedy these being;
“What goes around comes around.” The decision of the execution of the King Duncan was beyond the concept of being egoistical. The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Macbeth, every dreadful deed you take as an action and claim you have committed a wrongdoing; you excavate your own grave. Since, you commit the murder of King Duncan, how do you believe that fortune will come your way. The three Weird witches and your own love, Lady Macbeth are the key players in this game of guilt. Abundantly, Lady Macbeth is the true top dog pulling the strings, you are the puppet, and while she is the puppet master, you’re just a squirrel trying to get a nut in her world. No virtuous outcome comes out a misdeed. You have to conquer her mindset, and be grateful for what you have now. You should not be able to give your own decisions to someone else.
Under pressure by three witches and his own wife, Macbeth sets out to kill the King of Scotland. After Macbeth has murdered sleeping Duncan, he returns to Lady Macbeth and asks her, “will all great Neptune’s water wash this blood; Clean from my hand?” (2.2.4) Macbeth
However, Macbeth’s heroism in the battlefield did not translate into heroic behavior off the battlefield. It is ironic that he, who had defended his king from traitors colluding with Irish and Norwegian armies, himself harbored traitorous thoughts. Prior to his villainous action he reflected, “.. I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, ...Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues ...but only Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other.” (1, 7, 1-28) Through these words, Macbeth recognizes that there was no justification for him to kill Duncan other than his own ambition. It was wrong for him to go through the horrid act because of multiple reasons. Macbeth was a noble, the king’s subject and at present his host. Further, Duncan was a very good king, so “clear in office” that the injustice of murdering such a virtuous king will be looked down by everyone including angels. Acting purely on the basis of ambition will lead to disaster. These doubts and hesitation within Macbeth’s mind indicate his lack of self control and weakness of mind. The “brave Macbeth” and “Bellona’s bridegroom” ends up surrendering to his temptations,
Macbeth is an innocent and brave general who turns into a power hungry murderer throughout the play. He is first loved by many people and is a noble man, but incidences lead him down a wretched path and he becomes evil. Macbeth does not act on his own will; he is influenced by others, which force him to act upon malevolent deeds.
The play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare is about guilt and having a guilty conscience and reveals how one goes mad with guilt when they’ve done something they regret. All of Macbeth's guilt starts to soften his drive to becoming king. After he kills Duncan (his first step of becoming king) he gets guilty, and then paranoid. Act 2, Scene 2 is when we start to see Macbeth’s paranoia about killing Duncan. His paranoia is so bad he jumps at every noise, “How is’t with me, when every noise appals me?” (2.2.56). After Macbeth has done the deed of killing Duncan, he tells Lady Macbeth about what happened after. He says, “One cried, ‘God bless us!’ and ‘Amen,’ the other, as they had seen me with these hangman’s hands. List’ning their
A man destined to be powerful kills his closest friend, why? Because he knows too much. The story of Macbeth starts with a prophecy pronouncing him as the future king. He will do whatever it takes to be just that, and with his wife and his title, he expects his life to be stupendous. In the Story of Macbeth-- written by Shakespeare—Macbeth and Lady Macbeth struggle for power, through twists and turns they soon realize what they’ve done, but they’re already too far in to back out now. Although Macbeth did awful things, readers can sympathize with Macbeth due to the pressure put upon him by Lady Macbeth, the weird sisters and his own guilt.
Macbeth was a true tragic hero. He had many noble qualities as well as several tragic flaws. He was a courageous, brave and good nobleman who was haunted by superstition, moral cowardice and an overwhelming ambition.(Boyce) Macbeth’s ambition to be king starts off as just a desire and progressively as the play goes on it becomes his tragic flaws. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder king Duncan by putting his manhood and courage at stake. Macbeth is represented as a tolerably good man up to the time when evil opportunity and a bad wife conspired to transform him into a villain. (Clayden) Since Macbeth was known as a genuinely good man, this desire he had to become king led him to take these huge risks in ruining his reputation. The Witches’ prophecies pushed Macbeth to a point of evil thoughts in order to get what he wanted. His uncontrollable desires led him to the point of evil, and the ambition is too strong for him to realize the wrong he is doing. In, Macbeth, William Shakespeare shows Macbeth’s ambition to be king by using the influence of others.