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Character of macbeth analysis
Character of macbeth analysis
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In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, several evil deeds are committed out of sheer ambition. While the protagonist, Macbeth ultimately pays the price for these sinful acts, one can argue that Macbeth was manipulated into doing many, if not all, of the crimes. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is easily influenced to commit all of the immoral acts in this play. At first Macbeth becomes influenced by the three witches and their leader Hecate due to his naive and trusting nature, Macbeth gets controlled by his cunning wife because of his fragile masculinity, and Macduff unintentionally leads him to crime by provoking him. To begin, the Three Witches and their evil leader, Hecate, are the first to lead Macbeth to his doom. In Act 1, Scene …show more content…
In Act 1, Scene 5, from the second Lady Macbeth read Macbeth’s letter to her, King Duncan's life is imperiled. She expresses her idea to manipulate Macbeth into murder by saying, “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear” (1.5.24-25). Lady Macbeth tells him to hurry home so she can make him believe regicide will be completely necessary for them to be royal. Lady Macbeth has the cruelty of a man, and every time Macbeth goes against her, or messes up, she insults his masculinity and gets him to do what she wants. In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth is starting to doubt that he can kill Duncan, he feels as if he doesn’t want to betray the trust Duncan has put into him, when he tells his wife about his doubts she emasculates him immediately, “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.54). Lady Macbeth makes him feel bad that he “promised her to be queen” and then has doubts. She even compares his ability to do a sexual act to his manliness. Every time Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth feel unmanly and small, he then allows himself to be molded by his wife. This allows Lady Macbeth to easily manipulate him to do her
Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare that is set in eleventh century Scotland. It details the life of the Macbeth, a brave and noble man who is described as ‘Bellona’s bridegroom’ (1.3.54), specifically the events after he meets three supernatural creatures who tell him about his fate. The reader should see Macbeth as a great man whose ambition for security leads to his downfall. Ambitions and manipulation from his wife cause him to commit Duncan’s murder, but this particular murder does not relate to Macbeth’s downfall. This man’s ambition for the crown turns into ambition for security after he becomes king, causing him to kill more to keep his unrightful kingship safe. There are a lot of supernatural occurrences in this play, but Macbeth is not wholly influenced by the prophecies or apparitions. Shakespeare wanted the modern viewer to see how ambition and over-confidence can lead man to his downfall. Macbeth represents this perfectly.
The witches in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth serve to drive the story, advance tension, reveal weakness, and give the audience a hint of the things to come but they do not control Macbeth or anyone else in the play. The only power they have is the ability to reinforce ideas that have already been set in Macbeth’s head. Macbeth is the master of his own fate and he controls his own life. Many temptations are laid out before Macbeth. The way in which he deals with these temptations depends on his own moral strength.
Just like any of us, Macbeth’s ambition caused him to be easily influenced. Based on the text, the witches say to Macbeth and Banquo, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, that shalt be king hereafter!” After the witches speak his prophecy, Macbeth with great interest and desire then asks to here more about what the witches have to say. Soon after Macbeth was given the name Thane of Cawdor, he believed what the witches said had some truth to it causing his ambition to be influenced by the wicked weird sisters. When Macbeth tells his wife, Lady Macbeth about the prophecy, Macbeth’s ambition then faces Lady Macbeth’s influence. According to the
Since the witches’ prediction about him becoming Thane of Cawdor had already come true, Macbeth felt very little desire to chase after the throne. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, wanted her husband to pursue the rank by murdering King Duncan instead of waiting to receive it. The idea that a woman, who were considered inferior and powerless compared to men during shakespeare's time, would be the responsible for such violent conflict in the play was unusual. Because she was still unsure of her thoughts, Lady Macbeth prayed that her womanly features would be removed in order to gain more, at the time, manly qualities; such as violence and ambition. “...unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the top-full of direst cruelty.” (Act I, Scene V) This decision was not an easy one, for it meant that Lady Macbeth would no longer be able to give birth to any children, thus resulting in the end of their blood line. In the spur of the moment, Lady Macbeth trusted that her decision was the best, even though she was completely blinded by her desire. She was willing to change her gentle, womanly features for those of a man’s. Once her ambition began to grow, it affected Lady Macbeth’s morals, because it allowed her believe that killing King Duncan was acceptable, since it would fulfill the witches’ prophecy. Her amount of ambition caused Lady Macbeth to not only have a troublesome introspection of her identity, but also let her conceive a heinous crime against her
This quote explains how Macbeth thinks how could killing the King be bad or good? If anything the witches say is bad then why am I Thane of Cawdor? If he wanted to do the right thing he wouldn’t even think about killing King Duncan. Ambition is already starting to show as his flaw. Later into the act, Macbeth’s lust for power comes into full swing when he decides that he will kill Duncan. This lust blinds him to what he really should do. The audience can see this greed in this quote, “If it wer...
Ambition is a quality within every human, however it sometimes drives people to partake in totally unnatural actions. As illustrated in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, some forms of ambition can push people into becoming a person very sinister and evil. The ambition which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth encounter within Shakespeare's play not only drives them to become ruthless killers, but is the cause of the two characters meeting their demise. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth turn away from the honest and gentle people they once were and instead become "the dead butcher and his fiend-like queen." ( V, sc viii, 69)
To achieve a goal you need to dream it, set your mind to it, and accomplish it. This explains how Macbeth 's speedy rise to the throne. Macbeth makes quick work of becoming king because he sets his mind to the ambitions he holds, and accomplishes them with Lady Macbeth 's support pushing him. However, sometimes harmless ambitions set in motion a path of negative and harmful actions required to achieve them.
Macbeth’s blind ambition leads him to surrender to his dark desires that taunt him throughout the play. Macbeth is frequently tempted to result to the wrongful methods that seem to roam inside of him. In the beginning however Macbeth tends to ignore these desires and depends on chance. He declares “if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare, act 1, scene 3, 143-144). This declaration by Macbeth shows his initial stand, which is reliant on fate and sin free. Yet as Macbeth’s character develops throughout the play, he moves farther from his dependence on chance and closer to his darker desires. Eventually his blind ambition to become king overp...
In Macbeth ambition plays a huge role in character devolvement. Ambition affects four of the major characters. The characters are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Malcom, and Banquo. The sisters are the source of Ambition. It is as if they control ambition. The ambition the sisters’ control is negative ambition. Ambition is, wanting to have more then you have and wanting it now.
Ambition as the Root of Macbeth's Downfall Ambition plays the largest part in Macbeth's downfall. However, without the interference of the witches his ambition would not have changed. The witches increase his ambition drastically by the thought of kingship. Lady Macbeth sees the potential for his ambition to be great, but knows he will do nothing with it, so she plans it all for him; all he has to do is stab Duncan. The three witches are introduced at the beginning of the play; they give Macbeth three prophecies, that he will be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis and King.
Words are the basic elements of the English written language. With words, one can say precisely what one wants to say, a skill that Shakespeare has mastered. In Macbeth, he carefully chooses each word so as to say exactly what he wants to say, and often leaves these words open to the reader’s interpretation. One such carefully chosen word is the word “slave,” a simple word meaning “someone entirely under the dominion of a person or an influence” (Random House, 674). Although this word appears only four times within the play, it’s importance should not be underestimated. Every time that Shakespeare chooses to use the word “slave” he is using it to show a “slave of ambition,” an important symbol within the play.
Ambition and desire are double-edged notions present in all who crave success and power. While ambition is most often associated with unfavorable greed and overwhelming need, people who express this desire are simultaneously praised for being goal-oriented and steadfast in achieving their goals. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, this duality of ambition is explored through the character of Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s husband, Macbeth, is prophesied to be king, and in order to expedite his path to the throne and their combined rise to power, Lady Macbeth plots to murder the current King Duncan. Throughout her Act I soliloquy, Lady Macbeth reveals not only her malevolent and scheming nature, but also profound determination
In Macbeth, Shakespeare confronts audiences with universal and powerful themes of ambition and evil along with its consequences. Shakespeare explores the powerful theme of the human mind’s decent into madness, audiences find this theme most confronting because of its universal relevance. His use of dramatic devices includes soliloquies, animal imagery, clear characterisation and dramatic language. Themes of ambition and mental instability are evident in Lady Macbeth’s reaction to Macbeth’s letter detailing the prophecies, Macbeth’s hallucinations of Banquo’s ghost and finally in the scene where Lady Macbeth is found sleep walking, tortured by her involvement.
A tale of how one's need for power can lead you to death, evil, and destruction. Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespear, was a tragic tale of how ones ambition can lead tro deayth and evil.In the beginning macbeth was driven by good and had a good charcater, but his ambition to be king turned him evil. He did many things macbeth wouldn't normally do. Their character was decided by the good or evil actions it took to achieve their goal. Throughout the story of macbeth, a Character's ambition can change their moral from good to bad. Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Malcom are driven by different forces changing their character to an unexpected outcome.
Ambition can be defined as the desire and willingness to strive towards achievement or distinction. On the contrary, driving ambition is the outright desire to achieve a certain goal, regardless of any possible consequences. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, driving ambition caused Macbeth and his wife to murder King Duncan because of their desire for power. In an attempt to retain his power Macbeth also murdered Banquo and Macduff’s family. Through both of these cruel actions, Macbeth and his wife displayed that they are not concerned about the cost of the deed, but only final result that is achieved. This not only results in their downfall, but also has many harmful consequences to other characters. In Macbeth, Shakespeare suggests that driving ambition often causes one to ignore the means and focus only on the final goal; this causes one to participate in actions that have unfathomable consequences for both oneself and for others.