Macbeth Character Analysis

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Man is believed to have some evil and some good within him, but some have more good in them than others and vice versa. Throughout the play, Macbeth, Macbeth is best seen as both a hero and a villain; he initially is portrayed as a noble man, fighting for King Duncan, however evolves into this power-hungry, villainous character that constantly resorts to murdering those he views as a threat to his power.
In the dawn of his position as nobleman and one of great character, Macbeth is soon heavily influenced by many and falls due to peer pressure and outside influences. Macbeth earns fortunate admiration in winning the battle against Macdonwald as well as invading the Norwegian king. The witches constructed a plan, in which they deceive Macbeth into believing that he would become King, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.” (Shakespeare, I.iii.144-145) Though Macbeth did not let this happen by “chance”, it was completely by his force and persuasion. He was determined to have the crown and the title of “Thane of Cawdor”. He was having constant thoughts about the outcome of killing King Duncan; his conscience and current thoughts are in a state of dissociation. After Macbeth writes the letter to his wife regarding the Witches’ Prophesy she creates a plan to carry out the murder of the king. She devised methods on how the king will be murdered. At this point in time, the readers/audience already characterize her as an evil-spirited character. She manipulates him to murder Duncan with her negatively influential words and corrupt thoughts. Overall, Lady Macbeth is probably the most influential person that led to Macbeth’s final decision. Without the influences of others, he would have just lived on and let fate create ...

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...cedes his killing spree. That small drop of good within him has allowed him to feel somewhat guilty, which leads to his paranoia that Banquo’s sons would be crowned once he dies and he also seems to believe that Banquo suspects him. Also, he later sends out to kill Lady Macduff and her children because since he sees Macduff as a threat to him, he decides to target his family which he believes will push away Macduff and scare him.
Macbeth gradually becomes more villainous throughout the play; he is initially influenced by others and was unable to make personal decisions, resulting in the murder of those he just felt were a threat to him or was skeptical about. Although Macbeth wouldn’t have done so many villainous acts without the major influence of the witched and Lady Macbeth, he was still unable to control his urges and decides to become uncivil and inhumane.

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