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Macbeth character analysis
Character Analysis Of Macbeth Essay
Character Analysis Of Macbeth Essay
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In the play, Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is the most ambitious and determined character. His determination and ambition to become the king and remain king led Macbeth to kill many innocent people. To start off, Macbeth was determined to become the king of Scotland. After he led the Scotland army to victory, Macbeth and Banquo encountered three witches that stated three apparitions. Two of the apparitions were for Macbeth, one stated that Macbeth would become the Thane of Cawdor, and the other stated he would become the king of Scotland. Duncan, the king of Scotland, was proud of Macbeth’s work. So as a reward, Duncan names Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor. After hearing this news, Macbeth was shocked and became eager to be …show more content…
At that moment Macbeth stated, “ Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor! … Do you not hope your children shall be king. When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me promised you no less to them?”(I.iii. 133-139). This quote shows that Macbeth was impatient for the apparitions to occur naturally and his evil mind tried to convince Banquo to help him. Macbeth’s attempt to get Banquo on his side failed. However, that did not stop Macbeth from becoming king. He was so ambitious that he started planning other ways to become king. After Macbeth talked to Banquo, Macbeth started seeing an imaginary dagger, “The handle toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee! I have thee not, and yet I see thee still” (II.i. 43-44). This shows that he had imaged killing Duncan with the dagger. He wants to grab the dagger but realizes it was his imagination. He was so …show more content…
However, Fleance, Banquo’s son, was promised the throne in the future. This bothered Macbeth; therefore, he came up with a plan, “It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight, If it find heaven, must find it out tonight” (III.i. 157-158). This is a quote from the conversation Macbeth was having with the murderers that he hired to kill Banquo and Fleance, his son. Macbeth had ordered this murder because Fleance was promised the throne after Macbeth. Macbeth viewed this as a threat to his throne. This quote shows that Macbeth is ambitious because, Fleance is still young; therefore, Macbeth still had a long time until he lost his throne. However, he had gone blind due to his determination. Also, when he killed Duncan, Lady Macbeth had to nudge him. But this time, Macbeth was not influenced by anyone, only his his own ambition. Also, Macbeth ordered Macduff’s family to be killed because Macduff wanted to overthrow Macbeth and start a war with him with the help of Malcolm, Duncan’s older son. The murderer, that works for Macbeth, stated to Lady Macduff, “He’s a traitor(He’s referring to Macduff)” (IV.ii. 94). After another few short lines being exchanged, the murderer kills Lady Macduff and her son. This quote shows Macbeth was determined to stop everyone that would come in his way, even if that meant murdering innocent children and women. Macbeth’s reasoning behind this action was that
Macbeth’s ambition is to remain king for as long as possible and he will kill anybody who stops this from happening. Macbeth feels as if he was given a childless rule, and that his legacy will not continue on in fears his rule will be taken away by someone outside his family. Macbeth states, “For Banquo’s issue, I have filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan have I murder 'd, put rancors in the vessel of my peace only for them, and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man. to make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings”(Shakspeare 3.1.64-69). Macbeth had committed murder, poisoned his own mind, and destroyed his soul only to end up benefiting Banquo’s heirs. Macbeth, being the paranoid character that he is, feels threatened by this and orders both Banquo and Fleance to be killed. In Act 3, Macbeth says that, “and mine eternal jewel, given to the common enemy of man, to make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!” (Shakspeare 3.1.67-9). Seeing this choice of act, leads Macbeth’s blind ambition doing all he can, in order to remain where he is, even if he is ‘blind’ to what it going on and fails to truly understand the concept of his choices in killing Banquo, which only further deteriorates his mind because of his thirst for power, causing
Macbeth begins to defer from his original character when he learns of the witches’ prophecies, which leads him to believe he is fated to be king and to pursue that “destiny.” After the witches make the prophecies, he merely views the thought of himself becoming king as something that “Stands not within the prospect of belief” (I. iii. 77). Macbeth’s disbelief of their claim of him obtaining the crown reveals how Macbeth does not trust the witches’ words and has no true ambition to become king. However soon after Banquo’s and Macbeth’s encounter with the witches, a messenger of the King greets him with the title of Thane of Cawdor as well as the title of Thane of Glamis as the witches had also done. These two titles are seen from Macbeth as “Two truths [that] are told/ As happy prologues to the swelling act/ Of the imperial theme” (I. iii. 140-142). Having one of the two prophecies become reality validates the witches’ words and makes Macbeth take their words seriously to be the truth, sparking his desire for power to fulfill the last prophecy. He now believes that what the witches have made it his destiny to become king, and it is his duty to fulfill it. Through Duncan and Macbeth’s dialogue, Macbeth hears about Malcolm b...
The three witches in Macbeth give Macbeth and Banquo a prophecy that stated "thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, and king thereafter." Macbeth at the time has only one of these titles. Right after the witches disappear, two noblemen appear and hailed Macbeth as the thane of cawdor. Since the witches have just told him that, this start's the power desperation that will last until the end of the tragedy. This is just what Macbeth needs to start to try and gain his own country.
They say ‘Hail Macbeth, Thane of Cawdor’ and another witch tells him ‘Hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter’. This makes Macbeth think as he becomes the Thane of Cawdor which makes it seem like he will become king and the only way is to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth and keeps pressing him into killing Duncan, who is the King of Scotland at that time and who likes Macbeth and gives him the title of Thane of Cawdor.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there are several references to supernatural activity. This supernatural activity is very crucial to the storyline. Supernatural defined by Webster relates to an existence beyond the visible observable universe. The Three Apparitions are spoken of in Act IV of the play, but the supernatural is first introduced by the three witches in Act I. The three witches who speak the apparitions are the opening characters in Macbeth. After reading the book, I fully understand Shakespeare reasoning for including them in the story. Each of the three apparitions depicts a clue of Macbeth’s future.
The witches caused much confusion throughout the play, to Macbeth and anyone associated with them. For instance, when the witches spoke to Banquo and Macbeth they said, Hail thee, thane of Glamis/ Hail thee, thee of Cawdor/ that shalt be king hereafter.” This statement was directed to Macbeth, but it very much confused him, as he was thane of Glamis, but not thane of Cawdor or certainly not king. Moments later he was to be crowned thane of Cawdor by King Duncan. The actions of King Duncan led Macbeth to believe he was going to become king. Lady Macbeth, when reading about Macbeth’s encounter with the witches, automatically devised a plan for Macbeth to become king. This plan involved killing the king, but to convince Macbeth that it was supposed to happen, she extremely criticized him and put him down on all thoughts. Her emasculation of him subjected him into thinking, killing the king was the only way to gain
Macbeth, once seen as the mighty and ambitious warrior and, the honorable Scottish Thane of Glamis. He was know to be genuine, honest man who is loyal to his king and would do anything to protect his country. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth undergoes a transformation from good to evil, which brings him the crown and title, King Macbeth, but it also brings him his death. However Macbeth did not reach the transformation from a genuine, honest and mighty warrior to an evil tyrant alone, there were key motivational factors guiding him. Throughout the play the Three Witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth himself were all motivational factors that manipulated Macbeth into evil. Although Macbeth is to blame for his own actions, but it is these three motivational factors that brought him to commit such evil. If Macbeth had not encountered such forces, he may have remained the good and loyal soul he once was.
Macbeth is captured by his wild ambition at the opening of the play when he and Banqou meet the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and later will be king. They tell Banquo that his sons will be kings. Instantly Macbeth started to fantasize how he is going to be king. He understood that in order for him to become king he has to kill Duncan. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(Act 1 Sc. 3, p.23). He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan.
In conclusion Macbeth is not only trying to assure his safety and to cut off a rival line he is also trying to master fate to force it to honor his bargain. The futility of this enterprise is brought home to him by the escape of Fleance. Macbeth would feel unbroken both Banquo and Fleance had been killed. Because this would have established his independence of external ordinances .At the same time Macduff’s confess to Macbeth that he wasn’t born from his mother his mother died before he had him. By him hearing that he already had an idea how his outcome would finish. And it did by him dyeing not been the king of
Macbeth’s strong ambition is to become king of Scotland. After the war, Macbeth and Banquo both walked and came into contact with : witches. The witches told prophecies that Macbeth will “Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” and then “shalt be the king hereafter” (I.iii.48-50). The witch’s prophecies were the first step into motivating Macbeth to be in power of Scotland. Macbeth’s promotion to Thane of Cawdor, made him believe the fact that the prophecies from the witches of the future are true. Macbeth soon wanted to have more power and so he wanted the stars not to “light” his “black and deep desires” (I.iv.50-51). Macbeth had evil and negative ambitions to become in power of Scotland and thus did not want anyone to know that he was going to have plans to kill the innocent king and his closest friends. While Macbeth was deciding whether to kill or not to kill Duncan, he states that the only thing motivating him is “ambition” which makes “people rush ahead of themselves toward disaster” (I.iii.25-28). Macbeth's plan of killing king Duncan was his strong desire because he would succeed into power. He was willing to do anything just to be in power and thus decided to kill his gracious king Duncan and his closest friend Banquo. His ambition of power led him to commit such a terrible and cruel action. Macbeth's blinding ambition led him to take a
Act 4 scene 1 of Macbeth is when Macbeth goes back to the three witches and asks them to tell the future for him. The characters speaking are the second apparition, Macbeth, all three witches who talk simultaneously, and third apparition.Macbeth went to the witches to see if they can predict his fate. The witches had the three apparitions say prophecies to Macbeth. These prophecies will tell the fate of Macbeth. The literary devices that were used were elision , imagery, symbol, and metaphor.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
Macbeth did not have to kill all of the innocent people he had murdered. Instead, he could have turned himself in and said he killed the king. Like most people he didn’t want to die, so he decided to keep this as a secret and tried to live life as best as he could. In order for this to stay a secret he needed to murder a few people. He first had murderers go out and kill Banquo and Fleance. The murderers were able to kill Banquo, but Fleance escaped. Macbeth felt better that Banquo was dead since Banquo knew about the witches rules in order for Macbeth to become king. Therefore, Banquo would assume that Macbeth murdered the king. Now, there would be no assumption from Banquo that Macbeth killed Duncan. Macbeth wanted Fleance to be dead, since the witches said that Banquo’s sons will become the next kings after Macbeth, but Macbeth wanted his family to be the royal family forever. The next person that gets murdered by Macbeth is: Macduff’s family. Macbeth had people hired to kill Macduff’s family. This led Macduff and ten thousand soldiers from England to defeat Macbeth and ultimately kill the villain. All of the murders and the stress that people had to go through because of Macbeth made him a
Macbeth kills anyone who is in the way of his throne. He uses freewill and murders Duncan because he is the king and that’s the position of power that Macbeth wants because of the prophecies. It takes some convincing from Lady Macbeth, but in the end Macbeth claims that “[he] is settled and bend up/ Each corporal agent to the terrible feat” (Shakespeare I.Vii.92-93). He is now on board with committing the crime and will exert every muscle into doing so. Because Duncan is in the way of Macbeth ruling, Macbeth feel as if it is necessary to kill him. Macbeth sees Banquo as a threat so he convinces two murders to kill Banquo and forces them to believe that Banquo is their enemy. Macbeth also tries to kill Fleance, Banquo’s son, because he is Banquo’s heir, but he escapes. When Macbeth hears how Macduff has fled to England to Malcolm and failed to come to his inauguration, he will “give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword/ [Macduff’s] wife, [Macduff’s] babies, and all unfortunate souls that trace in his line” (Shakespeare IIII.i.172-174). Macbeth now wants to kill Macduff’s family because he wants to make a statement to everyone that he is tough and strong and not to mess with him. No matter where in the play, Macbeth is killing someone that is in the way of his ruling or potentially threatening his power. Macbeth kills anyone who has ever shown a threat to getting or keeping his power.
“All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Glamis. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.3.51-53) and also goes on to tell Banquo that his descendents will be kings even though he won’t become one. At first Macbeth dismisses these claims, and Banquo suggest that they were just hallucinating, but the idea of becoming Thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland has been implanted in Macbeths head. Coincidentally just before Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches Duncan announces to Ross that Macbeth will be the new thane of Cawdor “No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth.”(1.3.76-76) When Macbeth finds out that he will become thane of Cawdor from Ross and Angus he starts to truly believe that he can and will become the new king. The witches use this previously announced fact “Hail to you, thane of Cawdor” as a catalyst, to trick him into believing that he will become king which makes him take action towards the prophecy, but which was really his free will maki...