Macbeth comes from a follower of Duncan, and from this great follower he becomes a ferocious being who willingly kills, whether it is just one person or an entire family. Macbeth obtains many different themes. One of the most important themes is Macbeth’s transition into darkness. His revolution becomes visible from his first murder onwards into his death. Macbeth turns into a dark and ominous being. Macbeth’s transition is deep and dark; he evolves from a faithful follower to a rebellious murderer.
Macbeth’s first kill is startling, but this act of murder starts his murderous ways that would eventually rule his life. Macbeth isn’t sure he wants to commit this murder; however, Lady Macbeth talks him into it anyway. Lady Macbeth has to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan. “But screw your courage to the sticking-place/And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep” (1.7.70-71). She puts so much of a burden onto Macbeth that he begins to contemplate whether or not he should kill Duncan in a soliloquy. “I go, and it is done. The bell invites me./Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell/That summons thee to heaven or to hell” (2.1.75-77). Curran even begins to go deeper into the thought process of Macbeth in these scenes. The murder of a thought will extend to the murder itself, a thought will eventually proceed to the physical act of murder and murder cannot be contained within a guilty mind (Curran 392). The guilty mind that Macbeth is inhibited with eventually enacts his actions. The first action of killing is just the beginning of Macbeth’s vicious ways.
Macbeth kills Duncan, however he is not willing to frame the guards, so Lady Macbeth is forced to go back to the room and frame the guards. She is frightened, but she felt if they want to...
... middle of paper ...
... In the beginning, when Macbeth questioned the killing of Duncan, he originally showed some sense of self-respect. But as for most of his other killings, he doesn’t “think twice” to “point the finger” and kill off his foes. He transforms to the worst possible person, not only killing, but also killing willingly.
Works Cited
Cox, John D. "Religion and Suffering in Macbeth." Christianity & Literature 62.2 (2013): 225-240. Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Curran, Kevin. "Feeling Criminal in Macbeth." Criticism 54.3 (2012): 391-401. Literary
Reference Center. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013.Print.
Szigeti, Balázs. "The Dialects Of Sin: In Shakespeare's Macbeth and Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Trilogy." Anachronist 14.(2009): 24-46. Literary Reference Center. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Element of Literature, Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston, 1997. 300-382. Print.
The first murder that Macbeth committed, trying to fulfill the witches prophecy was when he murdered Duncan. Macbeth's paranoia starts before he even commits the act. "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handles toward my hand? Com let me clutch thee." (Act II Scene I Lines 33 and 34) In Act two Scene one while Macbeth is on his way to Duncan's room he says he sees a dagger that is pointing him to Duncan's room. This shows that Macbeth knows what he is doing is wrong but tries to find a way to justify his actions. In this same act Macbeth claims that Duncan's two grooms yell out the words "Murder" and "God bless us". (Act II h Scene II Lines 20 and 24). This also shows that Macbeth is hearing things and knows what he is doing is wrong. He doesn't want to commit these murders but Lady Macbeth call out his manliness. Lady Macbeth wants to be in power more then her husband and continues to push Macbeth until he will follow through with the prophecy. This is still Macbeth's fault because he never had to murder Duncan and start this time of horror.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
This shows that he really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to prove himself to Lady Macbeth, and to become the king. By the end he had no fear, and had killed not only Duncan but also many other people. He now had different views from which he had in the beginning of the play. Macbeth realizes that he is no longer afraid "no, nor more fearful. (Act V, scene vii, l 9). He is now considered a man, but he doesn't like the fact that he has killed all these people.
Macbeth’s capacity for suffering also leads him to be a tragic hero. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth has a personal moment of truth and thinks about what he is going to do. He imagines the dagger in his hand and thinks about the nightmares he will be invaded with. Macbeth is so obsessed with murder; he begins seeing things, and must be quiet and not wake anyone, for he would give himself away.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth tells the story of a general who commits regicide in order to become king. Early in the play, Macbeth is conflicted as to weather or not he wants to kill his kinsman the king. In the first two acts Macbeth is not portrayed as a ruthless killer; he is a sympathetic character who succumbs to the provocation of his wife and a prophecy foretold by three mysterious witches. In contrast, Lady Macbeth is a manipulative, immoral woman. Her ambition is so strong that she is willing to do anything to see her husband succeed. However, in the third act things begin to change. The death of the king and lord and lady Macbeth’s rise to power catalyze profound transformation in their personalities.
Macbeth also demonstrates guilty feelings when he considers murdering Duncan. These guilty feelings came about when he analyzed the relationship between himself and Duncan. Not only was he Duncan's subject and soldier, he was Duncan's host. He realized that ...
In the third soliloquy Macbeth is still contemplating how he obtains the throne, but now he knows that murder is the only way, yet he fears ‘judgement’ and damnation. We see here that Macbeth has a conscience, and his mind cannot take the simple fact. He begins bringing up lots of excuses as to why he should not do it, but inevitably his ambition gets the better of him.
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.
Macbeth, the main character in the tragedy of Macbeth, undergoes a series of character changes throughout the play. His transformation occurs in three major stages. First comes his attitude at the beginning of Macbeth where it is very positive and powerful. Subsequently he endures a change with the murder of king Duncan that reduces him from his moral and good status. Finally, he becomes wicked in his ways and develops into a tyrant and a butcher. This series of changes are evident as one reads the tragic play of Macbeth.
After a long and hard battle, the Sergeant says to King Duncan, “For brave Macbeth,-well he deserves that name,- disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution , like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage till he fac’d the slave;” (1.2.16) . This quote shows that Macbeth is viewed as a valiant soldier and a capable leader. However, it does not take long for the real Macbeth to be revealed- a blindly ambitious man, easily manipulated by the prospect of a higher status. His quest for power is what drives his insanity, and after having been deemed the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth’s ambition can immediately be seen. In a soliloquy, Macbeth says, “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings; my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastica, shakes so my single state of man that function is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.140). Macbeth has just gained more power, and his immediate thought is of how to gain an even higher status as king. He imagines how to kill Duncan, and then is troubled by his thoughts, telling himself it is wrong. This inner struggle between Macbeth’s ambition and his hesitation to kill Duncan is the first sure sign of his mental deterioration. Although Macbeth does kill Duncan, he questions whether or not he should to do so, which is far different from how Macbeth feels about murder later in the play. Macbeth becomes king, and this power leads
Hawkins, Michael. "History, politics, and Macbeth." Focus on Macbeth. Ed. John Russell Brown. London: Routledge, 1982. 155-88.
To begin, Macbeth experiences an internal downfall due to his ambition where he battle between his desires and moralistic values. Initially, the idea of attaining power over Scotland by killing King Duncan sparks a sense of fear and paranoia in Macbeth, however, his conscience struggles to take over his ambition: "that we but teach/ Bloody instructions, which being taught, return/ To plague the inventor. [...] I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Valuing ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on th' other-" (1.7.8-28). At this moment, Macbeth contemplates on killing King Duncan as he visualizes the long term consequences of committing the crime. The reader can grasp his moral judgement as he understands that by proceeding with the murder, he is only causing his own demise and punishing himself. With that b...
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
Shakespeare, William. “Macbeth.” The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York: Longman, 1997