William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ has many characters. Some characters have main roles while others have minor roles. Some of the characters are flat with very little information revealed about them. Other characters are round with a lot of given information about their personality. There are also static characters that don’t experience change throughout the play while there are dynamic characters that experience plenty of change and a possible change in personality. Macbeth is a character who is not only round, but dynamic as well. He is multi-faceted and experiences personality changes during the play. There are several other characters that are both round and dynamic, but perhaps Macbeth is the character who experiences the most drastic changes.
Macbeth starts out in the beginning of the play as a loyal nobleman of Duncan, the King of Scotland. But by the time the play is finished, Macbeth had turned on the very people who sung his praises after the war, murdered two of his closest allies, and ultimately died at the hands of another former ally. Many factors led to the demise of Macbeth, most self-inflicted, but it all began as he and Banquo, another Scottish nobleman were walking back to meet Duncan after they had defeated the Norwegians in battle.
As Macbeth and Banquo were walking across the field, they encountered the three witches, or “weird sisters”, and they told Macbeth of future events that would impact him. They told him he would become Thane of Cawdor, "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor" (Shakespeare, I, iii, 47), which King Duncan had already announced after hearing how Macbeth fought off the attacks. They also told him that he would become king, "All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter" (I...
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...man, he chooses to fight to the bitter end opposed to running like a coward. He fought Macduff, but Macduff finally defeated him, killed him, and cut off his head. So even though Macbeth had changed in some his personality traits and had become a self-indulging maniac, he was still a fighter. He earned great accolades for fighting and he died fighting. Even though he lost all his respect from other people, he was always a fighter. We witnessed one man's fall from a position of power to a man with nothing more than enemies and a corrupted soul. Macbeth went from being admired and well liked to being hated by most everybody. Greed, power, and self-gratification were behind the tragic fall of this once loyal nobleman.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth Oxford School Shakesphere. Ed. Roma Gill, M.A. Cantab, and B. Litt. Oxon. New York: Oxford, UP, 2009. Print.
The two scenes that the essay will be focusing on are Act 1 Scene 1
...n is a great man and he did not want to kill him. He even mentions this to Lady Macbeth later. Once Macbeth kills Duncan the greed from his ambition overwhelms him. He is only worried about his well being and does not love his wife anymore. “She should have died hereafter” (Shakespeare, Macbeth 5.5 line 17). In this line he shows no emotion to his wife having died. He even said that he forgot his sense of fear. “I have almost forgot the taste of fears…my senses would have cooled to hear a night-shriek, and fell my hair would at dismal treatise rouse and stir as life were in ‘t”(Shakespeare Macbeth 5.5 9-13). Macbeth explains how he would react when he used to be scarred in certain situations. Overall at the start of the drama readers see Macbeth as a hero and someone they could look up to. Towards the end of the drama Macbeth is a tyrant and has antihero qualities.
Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.
Macbeth’s under-developed morals and impaired judgement result in his ability to create conflict through murder and ultimately drive him insane as he is overcome by guilt. Moreover, Lady Macbeth’s role in inciting these murders is justly compensated as she too overcome with guilt takes her own life. Macbeth’s role in the murders of Banquo, Duncan, and Macduff’s family as well as the play’s namesake mark him as the anti-hero of
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Adventures in English Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979. 119-82. Print.
William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the tragic play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide, to kill King Duncan. In the play, we see the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth transform in their personality after murdering the King. Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier, gradually changing into an ambitious murdering man. Similarly, Lady Macbeth is ambitious but she begins as a rebellious woman who dominates her husband, gradually changing into a guilt ridden, and weak woman.
Once word of the demented king of Scotland reached Malcolm, one of Duncan’s sons, he and Macduff made plans to overthrow Macbeth. When Macbeth learned of the traitors, he boasted his confidence to servants and generals. The witches had filled his head with nonsense once more, including the belief that no man of woman born could kill him. While he spent his time gloating, his wife passed away, yet he held no remorse for Lady Macbeth’s death. The atrocious man moved forward into battle where his madness led him to his ultimate demise at the hand of
William Shakespeare's Macbeth Shakespeare first showed Macbeth in the court of a newly crowned King James the First. Some people would argue that in places this was written as a piece of flattery for James the first. James was meant to be a descendant of Banquos' and therefore Shakespeare shows Banquo to be a valiant and heroic character throughout the play. However, Shakespeare had to be careful what he said in the play, as he didn't want to upset the King. This play could be written as a piece of propaganda or a warning to anybody who went against the King.
“What goes around comes around.” The decision of the execution of the King Duncan was beyond the concept of being egoistical. The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. Macbeth, every dreadful deed you take as an action and claim you have committed a wrongdoing; you excavate your own grave. Since, you commit the murder of King Duncan, how do you believe that fortune will come your way. The three Weird witches and your own love, Lady Macbeth are the key players in this game of guilt. Abundantly, Lady Macbeth is the true top dog pulling the strings, you are the puppet, and while she is the puppet master, you’re just a squirrel trying to get a nut in her world. No virtuous outcome comes out a misdeed. You have to conquer her mindset, and be grateful for what you have now. You should not be able to give your own decisions to someone else.
member, a subject to the king, a king, a friend and as a person. By
account I think the witches did play a big part in the murder of king
In the story of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is one of the main characters. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is very loyal and honorable. By the end of the play Macbeth is insane and has no remorse for the sin he commits against the king.
Macbeth is the story of a man who falls from his noble state. In the beginning, Macbeth was a courageous fighter for Scotland's King Duncan. Macbeth is soon overcome with greed for power, so he kills the king and crowns himself. He becomes worried of losing his newly gained power causing him to kill more people. In the end the lords and nobles join forces with the king's son, Malcolm, to destroy Macbeth. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the character Macbeth was persuaded by the three witches to commit evil, leading to his tragic downfall.
Before being transformed into a murderous monster, Macbeth is a model Scottish noble. He shows great loyalty and devotion to both King Duncan and his country in his fight against the Scottish rebels. He also fights with great courage, which he draws from knowing that he serves a good and virtuous cause. He is modest when confronted with his achievements, in contrast to the arrogance that he displays after becoming king. He loves Lady Macbeth, an emotion he will eventually lose by the end of the play. Most of all, he fears what his greed and ambition can lead him to become, and he feels dubious about acting on them.
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 2008.