Sympathy To Sympathy Towards Macbeth

Shakespeare is able to color the reader’s attitude to be of sympathy to dislike toward Macbeth through his presentation of Macbeth’s various murders in Macbeth.

Shakespeare pictures the Elizabethan world in his presentation of the murder of King Duncan. In this era, if the natural order was upset, then there would be complete dissolution of the universe. When Macduff announces the king’s murder he states, “[m]ost sacrilegious murder hath broke ope/[t]he Lord’s anointed temple and stole hence” (2.3.7-78). Duncan is shown as the most important icon to the common people with this religious commentary. In the next scene, the disruption of such a prestigious figure is proven when an old man comments on the recent unnatural happenings: “[a] falcon,

Duncan’s murder is significantly taxing on Macbeth’s conscience. When Banquo leaves, Macbeth alone with himself he sees a gory dagger leading him to Duncan’s room. He wonders whether what he sees is real or a “dagger of the mind, a false creation/[p]roceeding from the heat-oppressed brain” (2.1.50-51). His initial feeble character is portrayed in his dilemma as he already has a manifested guilt causing him to have hallucinations when he hasn 't even committed the act. These feelings of remorse and obscurity contrast to the honor and valor bloodshed was considered as before. Now that he has murdered a king for his own ambition to be a king—instead of protecting others—the blood that he was willing to shed changes. Lady Macbeth took the commanding role for them to achieve power as she convinces Macbeth to slay the king and planned out the entire act. Once the act is done, Shakespeare uses the image of blood to symbolizes the guilt that Macbeth feels. He cries over how he will never be able to wash the blood off of his hands—not even the vast ocean could wash away his sins. Also, the permanent change in color from green to red in the seas, indicates that the guilt within Macbeth is everlasting (2.2.77-81). The fact that Macbeth has a connection to this man and King Duncan “hath borne his faculties so meek,

From Macbeth’s actions, the reader can conclude that he is not fit to be a king. If he would of accepted the witches prophecies, he could of potentially been a good king; however, since Macbeth committed numerous counts of violence, his mind has been warped into the opposite of true kingship. The tyranny of Macbeth is contrasted by “[t]hy royal [Duncan]/[who] was a most sainted king” and the “good king” Edward, who God speaks “full of grace”(4.3.126-127, 169, 181).Shakespeare’s contrast in thanes foreshadows the failure of Macbeth. Furthemore, the reader looks down upon Macbeth with his concluding relationship with Lady Macbeth. Even Lady Macbeth, who was able to “unsex [herself] here in the murder of King Duncan, commits suicide for she is plagued by the intense feelings of guilt. During Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene—which was foreshadowed by Macbeth’s remark that he thought he cursed sleep after killing Duncan—is unable to free her conscience as she tries to wash Duncan’s blood from her hands. The roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are reversed as she realizes "[h]ell is murky", which implies that she already knows the darkness awaiting her as an overseer—she has created her own hell (5.1.38). The roles of the two characters are once again switched, as Lady Macbeth exemplifies how regicide is the most devastating act for even