Changes in Macbeth

Macbeth’s character gives the impression of having undergone enormous changes as the tragedy progresses. But are the real changes in the personality itself? Or is the change really the way in which the same personality is portrayed? Prior to the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth is a famous warrior, a fierce warrior, but his approach to humanity is predisposed as compassionate. After the first murder he commits, he continues to execute, seeming like a completely contrary individual. However, in reality Macbeth is the same person. The disparities appear obvious, but the similarities lurk beneath the surface, seemingly unrecognizable. Macbeth was a fierce warrior, but kind hearted off the battlefield, but after murdering his king and leader, Duncan, Macbeth changes, his personality seems to become inverse, varying from fierce on the battlefield and kind off of it, to weaker on the battlefield, and more demonic off of it.

Macbeth has great courage on the battlefield previous to the murder of King Duncan. The defeat of Macdonwald is accomplished by Macbeth, he is the strongest and most audacious of all the combatants. The captain tells the King of Macbeth’s feats, saying,

Like valor’s minion carved out his [Macbeth’s] passage

Till he faced the slave;

Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,

And fixed his head upon our battlements.

(Act I, Scene ii, Lines19-23)

The captain is saying that Macbeth is the bravest, strongest, fighter. He single-handedly defeated the enemy, Macdonwald, that like the fiercest fighter ever known. He split the enemy open from the navel to the jaws. Macbeth is a vicious warrior, barely cringing at the thought of ripping another man,...

... middle of paper ...

...troyed him, pulling him apart and putting him back together again in a way she thought acceptable. Her death, though somewhat pleasing to him, only caused the glue to seal. Causing the puzzle pieces of what was left to be glued to a board forever, unable to move or change, caught in a life and a body that he did not recognize.

Macbeth appears to change from a pleasant person to an wicked person, but beneath the surface, nothing really changes, his perspectives become inverse, completely reversing from what they were. One murder, the murder of his king, changes everything. Changes his viewpoints on everything from friendship, to marriage, to death. Though the tragedy of Macbeth is literally named for the tragedy of his death, perhaps it also named for the tragedy of his loss of real life, the loss of a life where he was happy, which ended long before his death.