Macbeth: Courageous or Cowardly "Cowards die many times before their death." Macbeth displayed many noticeable characteristics throughout Shakespeare's play Macbeth. He was courageous at times and cowardly at others. The most noticeable characteristic in my opinion was that Macbeth seemed very ambitious throughout the play. He also seems to be a moral coward as he depends on others more than himself to make decisions. All of these factors soon lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. At the beginning of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth is described as a hero very clearly. He becomes very ambitious to be king and was very loyal to the king in the opening scenes. This is shown in the quote "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir". His ambition to be king dissolved his good nature and morality. When Duncan arrives at Inverness, Macbeth controlled his ambition for the time being and thought very firmly on the plotting of Duncan's murder. A quote by Lady Macbeth stated "My hands are of your color; but I shame to wear a heart so white". When Lady Macbeth called him a coward, before you knew it, the murder was taking place. After the successful murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered a life of evil. Ambition was also clearly stated when he thought of killing his friend Banquo to protect the kingship. The witches' predictions sent Macbeth into his own world where he could not be stopped on his way to becoming king. Macbeth shows his courageousness by overcoming his personal matters to plot the death of the king. In the scene where the murder of Duncan is taking place, he also shows he is a coward when he will not complete the successful murder by taking the daggers back and placing them with the guards. This also showed a sense of insecurity, as Macbeth seemed no longer confidant in the success of the murder. Macbeth, who no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her to deploy his plans. The power of destiny comes back to haunt Macbeth towards the end of the play. Macbeth would have never guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for all of the killings of Macduff's family. This is proven when he Macbeth says "Thou wast born of woman, but swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandished by man that's of a woman born". This shows a force beyond Macbeth's control. His strong ambition of the witches and they're predictions soon deceived him when he found out that Macduff was not born of woman and that the third apparition seemed to be true. He then understood that he was no longer safe. His characteristics proved to be beneficial to the story and its ending by enabling the reader to get a better understanding of the situations Macbeth faces. Some of the characteristics also influenced the opinions of others and sometimes his own. Macbeth turned from good to evil over the progression of the play. Macbeth's character traits played a major role in Shakespeare's play and gave insight on the happenings to come.
He is manipulated by Lady Macbeth to commit the murder of King Duncan, and Macbeth feels extreme remorse after the murder. Originally Macbeth was wavering with committing the murder. That scene contains the following quote “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man.” In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a brave and great nobleman, however, when Macbeth receives news that there is a chance for him to rise to great power he conspires to murder the current king to gain the
After hearing the witches and getting the idea of becoming king planted in his mind, greed overtakes him. He starts to want power, and will do anything it takes to get it. This greed and lack of patience makes him kill Duncan and Banquo, which inevitably led to his demise. The greed is not shown at the start of the play. It starts after the dagger soliloquy. This was the start of the changes that occurred to Macbeth’s character. From this point forward, his character begins to diminish, becoming more and more evil as time goes
Macbeth fits every characteristic of a Greek and Shakespearean tragic hero. The audience gets to see the full cycle of a rise to power, followed by a great demise. His ambition leads to his degeneration as a character which resulted in his ultimate downfall, death. Macbeth displays all the characteristics of a tragic hero, making him an infamous character in Shakespeare’s time as well as present day.
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.
Many people admire Macbeth because he is a loyal and honourable Scotsman. In the first act of the play a wounded soldier says, “For brave Macbeth (well he deserves the name), / Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel.” The solider is saying that Macbeth is courageous on the battlefield and in life. He is a brave man who deserves his title and should be proud of who he is. The first sign of Macbeth changing is when his wife, Lady Macbeth, convinces him to kill his friend King Duncan. Another sign of Macbeth changing was when he believes the witches prophecy and fantasizes about what it would be like to be the king. Macbeth becomes selfish and kills Duncan so that he can be king. Macbeth becomes selfish so that he can keep his position as king. Macbeth begins to kill everyone that gets in his way of his throne. Macbeth eventually loses all emotion and allows his ambition to consume him. When Macbeth finds out that his wife has died he says, “Out, out, brief candle!/ Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.” (5.5.23-25) Macbeth is saying that life doesn’t have any meaning to him anymore. He believes that life ends quickly and we will all be forgotten. This quote proves that Macbeth is cold hearted and does not care about others. His actions cause him to be hated which leads to many people wanting to dethrone him. By the end of the play, Macbeth is killed by Macduff. Macbeth transforms from being a loyal, well liked man to an impulsive man who kills anyone that gets in his
As the witches presented Macbeth with the apparitions Macbeth was told by the second apparition “Be violent, bold, and firm. Laugh at the power of other men, because nobody born from a woman will ever harm Macbeth.”(A4, S1) Macbeth follows the witches’ predictions, even though they are not in his best interest. They deliver the prophecy to Macbeth that no man born by woman can harm him, however, Macduff was birthed by being “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb. Macduff then makes the prophecy become achieved because he was not birthed of woman. Macduff kills Macbeth and slays him out of revenge for his family. Macbeth believed he was invincible towards humanity because of the prophecies and apparitions the witches brought forth to him, conversely, he manifested the problems for himself not the witches. Macduff spilling Macbeth’s blood out of revenge communicates the message of appearance vs. reality because Macbeth to himself was indestructible but the reality was he was his own worst enemy and destruction to
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.
A person could make a dramatic change of character when they go from a heart of good to a heart of evil. Macbeth is motivated to kill Duncan by Lady Macbeth, but Macbeth is then motivated by fate, and finally motivated by impulse to carry out his next succession of crimes. Macbeth had a hand, or was involved in 3 murders in the story. The first murder was of King Duncan at the beginning of the story with the aid and instructions of Lady Macbeth. The second murder was of Macbeth’s best friend Banquo, which Macbeth used the service of three murders to accomplish. It was fate for Macbeth to eliminate Banquo because Banquo was to be the father of kings while Macbeth would not. Finally, the third murder was of Macduff’s wife and children. One murderer does the job this time and Macbeth decides from this murder on to act on impulse and not think or feel remorse for any action he does from there on. All these murders indicate that Macbeth doesn’t know how to make things right after he has done something wrong, so he does the only thing he thinks is right, and that is to be more violent with each act he commits.
At the beginning Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a sort of hero. He is presented as a great warrior and loyal servant of the king, Duncan. However, as we progress through the play we see another side of Macbeth. This is the side of evil all powered by his unstoppable lust for power and greatness. We see this lust for power become stronger and stronger until he leaves the whole of Scotland in a terrible state.
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
The contrast between Macbeth’s character in the beginning and the middle of the play portrays to the audience his original noble nature, thus setting up his role as a tragic hero. In the opening of the play, a sergeant of Duncan’s army rushes in to inform the King of Macbeth’s heroic deeds on the battlefield. King Duncan responds with admiration, proclaiming that Macbeth is “[his] valiant cousin [and a] worthy gentleman” (1. 2. 24), thus highlighting Macbeth’s noble and courageous reputation at the beginning of the play. Furthermore, Macbeth’s resolve to adhere to his own moral values an ability to think logically are demonstrated when he decides against killing the King, pointing out that “as [he is] his kinsman and his subject, strong both against [killing the King]”
Macbeth yearned to be the most powerful and this ambition drove him to the assassination of his king. He had many self-debates, prior to the murder, whether to unleash his “expedition of violence”(Act II Scene iii line 126) upon the king. Often Macbeth told himself to “let not light see [his] black and deep desires”(Act I Scene iv line 58), for they were beginning to truly cloud his mind. The temptation ended up being too immense to deny for Macbeth; “if the assassination/ Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, / With his surcease, success”(Act I Scene vii line 2) then Macbeth would have what he so desired. Macbeth knew that he was “[King Duncan’s] kinsman and his subject, / Strong both against the deed: then, as his host, / Who should against his murderer shut the door, / Not bear the knife [himself]”(Act I Scene vii line 13). Yet as the time grew near for which the murder was to take place, Macbeth did not fail in pursuing his plan. Wi...
Macbeth shifts from being loyal and courageous to a murderer executing a treacherous plan to kill the current king due to supernatural suggestions that he would be king himself. Macbeth is discussed as a man worthy of recognition by other characters in act one scene two. In this scene, the Captain states: “For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)” (1. 2. 18). Macbeth is being praised for his courage and loyalty to Scotland and the king. This first impression is hastily contrasted after hearing the prophecy of the witches stating he will be “king hereafter” (1. 3. 53). Immediately after hearing this, Macbet...
over long periods of time, or when a computer operator uses a computer to steal
The Computer Misuse Act was introduced in 1990 and is designed to protect people and companies from computer misuse. Before the Computer Misuse Act was introduced in 1990 there was no law to prevent computer misuse meaning nothing could be done to stop hackers. This caused hacking to become more and more popular as the problem became more severe it was realised that something had to be done to stop hackers so in 1990 the Computer Misuse Act was passed. This new Act made it an offence to Change or modify information on a computer you don’t own without the permission of the owner (this involves altering data, removing data or adding something to a computer without permission), Accessing a computer without permission or accessing