Macbeth

The Shakespearian tragedy, Macbeth has been said to be one of Shakespeare’s most profound and mature visions of evil. In Macbeth we find not gloom but blackness, a man who finds himself encased in evil. Macbeth believes that his predicaments and the evils that he commits are worth everything he will have to endure. In spite of this towards the end of the play he realizes that everything he went through, was not worth the crown, or the high price he had to pay of losing his wife, and finding himself alone. Macbeth is shown as a kind and righteous man in the beginning of the play. He is the Thane of Glamis, and a brave warrior among men and is highly regarded by the king of Scotland. All these traits make Macbeth great. Conversely, several factors transform this one great man into a great tyrant and a malevolent murderer. Macbeth grows great throughout the play yet in reality becomes less and less as a man. Macbeth proves that wearing a crown and having the power does not fulfill all of one’s dreams and fantasies. Being the king does not necessarily make the man.

In the first act we meet the witches and the mood of Macbeth is set-dark, gloomy, evil, supernatural- a perfect atmosphere to accompany the tragic hero. When Macbeth first meets the witches he is at the height of his moral ascendancy. He is Thane of Glamis and he just slaughtered a traitor from the Netherlands in the name of Scotland. However, Macbeth’s curiosity begins to stir when these three witches tell him of his fate.

“All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!”
(Act 1, Sc.3 48-50)

Macbeth is already the Thane of Glamis and the audience knows that King Duncan named him Thane of Cawdor. However, the last two prophecies could not make sense to Macbeth, and what they reveal to Banquo is even more puzzling.

“Thou shall get kings, though thou, be none.”
(Act 1, Sc.3 67)

A curious Macbeth yearns to know more when the witches suddenly vanish. A moment later, the prophecies prove to be true.

“And, for earnest of a greater honour, He bade me,
From him, call thee Thane of Cawdor: In which addition,
Hail! Most worthy Thane, for it is thine!”
(Act 1, Sc.3 104-107)

Macbeth wants to test the truth by asking Banquo if he also believes that the rest of the prophecies could be true. Banquo is suspicio...

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And let the angel whom thou still
Hast served tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.”
(Act 5 Sc. 8 13-16)

Alone, confused, frustrated and shamed Macbeth dies a warrior by the sword of the worthy Macduff.

In the fatal end Macbeth was called upon to pay the price for all his wrong doings. Macbeth could have been a great man. Macbeth was Thane of Cawdor and Glamis and most importantly respected by the King. Macbeth had a loving wife and a dear friend in Banquo and all this he yearned for, when he realized little to late he had it already. Had it not been for his belief in his own charmed existence and his belief in supernatural prophecies, if he had listened to Banquo’s warning, he would have never risked everything he loved, everything he had, and his own life for that crown. If Macbeth did not have so much pride in his own ambition he would have been a happy and respected man.

“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other.”
(Act 1 Sc. 7 25-30)

Macbeth spoke these words in the beginning of the play and it was still to early in time, for him to realize how true that really was.