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Character analysis in Othello by William Shakespeare
Character analysis in Othello by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare drama literary analysis
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Why Macbeth is a monster There are many reasons why Macbeth is a monster. The account of Macbeth is about the main character’s aspirations for power and trying his hardest to reach that power, by getting assistance from his wife. In Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, the protagonist is a monster due to the murders he committed, wanting power, and refusing to surrender for his crimes. Firstly, the protagonist of the play is a monster due to the murders he committed. Throughout the play, we encounter that he has killed Duncan for power, Banquo and more. To prove this, Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,/ And chastise with the valour of my tongue/ All that impedes thee from the golden round” which indicates that his …show more content…
Furthermore, we also learn about Lady Macduff’s and her kids’ death. To prove this, Macbeth says in Act 4, scene 1 that he wants to kill Macduff and his family for joining Malcolm, the protagonist adds “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, / Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword / His wife, babes, and all unfortunate swords / That trace him in his line.” Although many might argue that Macbeth was forced to kill Duncan, which caused him to kill everyone else, the protagonist could of have refused to follow his wife’s orders and refrain from the power he wants. From the quotations used, we can now tell that Macbeth is a monster due to the murders he …show more content…
The reason why the protagonist is a monster due to wanting power is because of all the chaos that happened after gaining that power. In the beginning of the play, we all know that Macbeth wants to murder Duncan to become king of Scotland and obtain power. After gaining power, chaos happened all over Scotland. Macbeth killed Banquo because the main character had the feeling Banquo knew he killed Duncan, to prove this, Banquo says to the audience “Thou hast it now, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised, and, I fear, Thou play’dst most foully for it.” Which shows that Banquo knows Macbeth is suspicious. When the main character gained the power, he instantly killed characters from the play which shows that Macbeth wanted power to rule Scotland and kill anyone who goes against him, or counts him suspicious which makes him a monster for wanting power. Although some might argue that Macbeth is not a monster due to wanting power, the protagonist did not have to kill Duncan to gain his power immediately, which caused Macbeth to murder everyone else after killing Duncan which considers him a monster. After knowing about the chaos Macbeth created, we can now conclude that he is a monster for wanting
Throughout this play, Macbeth journeys from a noble, loyal soldier to a power-hungry, deceptive monster, destroying any obstacle in his path. These obstacles are sometimes people, including the former King Duncan and his “friend” Banquo. Evil and greed take over his every thought, and in the process of destroying his obstacles, he never realizes that his own actions will lead to his downfall. Many quotes in this play prove this to be true. Throughout the play his attitude goes through drastic changes, and he ends up thinking he is indestructible.
Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth survive bloodied, but heroes. They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades. However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go. Macbeth cannot let go. Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement. Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice. What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder. The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected. Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature. Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan. However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him. Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid. Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters.
Macbeth is the story of a man who falls from his noble state. In the beginning, Macbeth was a courageous fighter for Scotland's King Duncan. Macbeth is soon overcome with greed for power, so he kills the king and crowns himself. He becomes worried of losing his newly gained power causing him to kill more people. In the end the lords and nobles join forces with the king's son, Malcolm, to destroy Macbeth. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the character Macbeth was persuaded by the three witches to commit evil, leading to his tragic downfall.
Macduff and Malcolm, along with ten thousand soldiers, move to Dunsinane to attack Macbeth at his castle. While the army is fighting, Macduff slips into Macbeth’s chambers. He calls out to Macbeth, saying, “That way noise is. Tyrant, show thy face! If thou beest slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still. I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms Are hired to bear their staves. Enter thou, Macbeth, Or else my sword with an unbattered edge I sheathe again undeeded” (420). Macduff tells Macbeth that he is coming to kill him. He hopes to get there before anyone else finds and kills Macbeth because he needs to avenge his wife and children. Macduff then finds Macbeth and stabs and kills him. If Macbeth had not chosen to kill Macduff’s family, Macduff would not have desired to kill him to avenge their deaths. This shows that Macbeth’s decision to murder yet another group of people led to his final
What drove him to become a power hungry tyrant was his wife. She put ideas in his head that changed him. A day before Macbeth would not speak of the idea of killing the king and now he was considering it. By killing the Duncan, gaining the title and king, and not being caught, Macbeth was given an enormous boost. He now felt invincible and let power finally get to him and corrupt him. With this new amount of power, Macbeth was not willing to let it slip away. To protect his power, he did whatever was necessary. Macbeth cowardly had Banquo killed, going against everything he ever believed in. Killing Banquo was not enough for Macbeth. Shakespeare shows to the audience how power can make a person go higher in the world but at the same time make them more vulnerable. Macbeth was now vulnerable, to solve this he sent the murderers to kill Macduff.
Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth was a brave, noble warrior. “For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name… Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chop and fixed his head upon our battlements” (Act I, Scene 2, lines 2). He was one of the last people anyone would expect to kill King Duncan. Shakespeare chooses a noble character such as Macbeth, to emphasize how greed and power can alter a person’s good morals. In Act one we start to see Macbeth’s desire for more power rise. “Stars, hide your fires; Let no light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hond yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done to see” (Act I, Scene 4, lines 52- 55). His desire for power is at war with his good morals. He wants to become king but does not want to kill Duncan.
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.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth tells the story of a general who commits a regicide in order to become king. Early in the play, Macbeth is conflicted as to whether or not he wants to kill his kinsman, the king. In the first two acts Macbeth is not portrayed as a ruthless killer; he is a sympathetic character who succumbs to the provocation of his wife and a prophecy foretold by three mysterious witches. In contrast, Lady Macbeth is a manipulative, immoral woman.
Macbeth’s provocative or violent actions on the challenges placed before him cause him to build an effect of downfall and dismay throughout the play. Originally, Macbeth handles his challenges in different ways and manners and is constantly changing his procedure. From handling situations carefully to not caring, Macbeth and his violence resulted in guilt and selfishness which he had to overcome. By the end of the play, Macbeth had become a selfish, greedy king and the challenges as well as experiences he encountered shaped him into who he is. He was shaped by the guilt of killing Banquo and Duncan, just to become powerful and a king. For example, in Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth faces adversity when his mind creates a ghost of Banquo, who he just found out was killed. In Macbeth, the uprising of adversity was often handled in various manners. By dealing with his own challenges, Macbeth transforms his handling of adversity from being cautious to thoughtless, which reflected his character and the transformation he portrayed throughout the
Initially MACBETH is seen as a great soldier, a fearless fighter who has loyally defended his King against a treacherous rebellion. However, he is corrupted by evil in the form of three witches and their supernatural prophecies, and by ambition, not so much his own at first but by Lady Macbeth's ambition for him to murder Duncan, thus attaining the crown of Scotland.
Macbeth is put together with many character traits. He is a very complex character. In the beginning Macbeth was brave and loyal. He won the battle of Norway and became the Thane of Cawdor. For brave Macbeth disdainding fortune with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution( ACT1 SC2 LNS18-20). Macbeth is also a gullible man, when he runs into the witches he believes them when they say, all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter(act1 sn2 line 50) . He is so gullible to what these witches said that he killed his best friend Banquo and nearly kills Banquo's son. Macbeth also was convinced by his wife to kill Duncan. Macbeth conscious becomes guilty after he kills Duncan when he said, will all great neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?(act2 sn2 lines 79-80). He is thinking that nothing can take back the murders he had committed.
Macbeth’s life is a tragic story about how he was deceived and molded into an evil man. His evil, sparked by lady Macbeth, began with the murder of king Duncan. Macbeth’s heart couldn’t handle the sin but Lady Macbeth forced him to change his mind. Macbeth’s evil was a result of his overconfidence, guilty conscience, and his human nature, all of which are traits that could be seen in any person in search of power.
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a brave general of Duncan’s army because he had triumphed with victory over the traitor Macdonwald. A Soldier, who has fought alongside with Macbeth states “For brave Macbeth –well he deserves that name --/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel” (1.2.17-18.) The soldier’s message makes the reader develop a positive first impression for Macbeth, since his bravery is being praised. Later, when Macbeth first encounters the three witches with Banquo, he is told that he will be King of Scotland after the third witch says “All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.53.) Macbeth believes the witches and says to himself aside “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical/.../ If chance will have me king, why, change may crown me.”(1.3.149-155.) He immediately thinks of killing Duncan to become king, his impression of a brave general completely change. This shows that although Macbeth has the power to bring justice and proper order while fighting for Duncan’s army, he chooses not to and instead uses his power for injustice and he own needs.
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
Lady Macbeth is the first to strategize a way to kill Duncan. As a character foil to Macbeth she juxtaposes their possession of guilt and ruthlessness, which creates irony and excitement to the play. Originally, she is very power hungry and wants to utilize her husband’s position in status to become queen. Macbeth objects to the plan to kill Duncan because he believes Duncan is Macbeth’s kinsman, host, and an overall virtuous ruler (Act. 1 Scene. 7) and thus feels very guilty for taking advantage of Duncan’s trusting quality towards the Macbeth family. She refers to Macbeth as weak and rebukes his manhood (Act 1. Scene 7.) . As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a character role reversal of their possession of guilt and ruthlessness. The character foil is extant, however Macbeth’s ruthlessness overcomes his guilt, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt vanquishes her drive for power. In addition to an alteration in character foils, Shakespeare introduces situational irony because now Lady Macbeth succumbs to the weakness Macbeth once possessed and Macbeth is the one who is formidable and ambitious. Macbeth’s ability to transcend his guilt exemplifies his struggle for power and reinforces the theme of evil ambition because Macbeth is able to secure the throne and power only by mass