The Emotions of Ambition, Remorse and Fear in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth?s character changes throughout the play because of the murders of King Duncan, Banquo and Macduff?s family. First, Macbeth?s murder of King Duncan changes him by triggering his ambition, revealing his fear and revealing his regret. For example, in his first appearance on stage, the Macbeth described as brave and noble has his ambition triggered: First Witch. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

Macbeth first illustrates a fair amount of guilt directly after murdering Duncan: “Methought heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” (II.ii.35,36). Macbeth imagines a voice which states sleeping is no longer safe as Macbeth murdered Duncan in his sleep, heightening the cruelty of the crime and leaving Macbeth to mourn with guilt and remorse. He originally did not want to murder Duncan. He hoped there would be another way, until he realized it had to be done in order for him to be successful, which was the start to a future filled with astonishing amounts of guilt for him.

Macbeth is a tragic hero who causes suffering by committing murder and distress, exemplifying the negative effects of a bloodthirsty desire for power. Lady Macbeth torments her husband Macbeth in going through with the evil deed of murder which leads her to be the villain. Macbeth begins in this play as a loyal, trustworthy warrior who sees himself later as king. When the witches confront Macbeth about the prophecy of him becoming king, his aspiration is distressed by his physical audacity and self ambiguity. The witches Prophecy upon Macbeth cause him to feel restless and have thoughts about if it is destined for him to become king.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play that deals with the consequences of a man relinquishing his morals in order to achieve his ambitions. A thane, Macbeth, murders his king in hopes of becoming king himself. From this point on Macbeth is plagued with a variety of difficulties in response to his decision to murder King Duncan. However, Macbeth is often portrayed as being a victim to his circumstances. His wife, or the witches who foresee him becoming king often take the blame for being the catalyst of Macbeth’s troubles and therefore are often portrayed as villainous.

He murders the King Duncan and anyone who stands in his way, but Macduff knows what Macbeth is doing and builds up an army and eventually kills Macbeth. When this play was written, James 1 was king. This play would have pleased King James 1 because he hated regicides and to see Macbeth get his head cut off and put on a spike would scare people to even think of killing the king. Also most people believed in witches in those days which would make the play seem more realistic. The three main people to be blamed are Macbeth himself, Lady Macbeth, his cunning wife and the 3 witches that made the prophecies in the first place.

Some might argue that Macbeth was a victim of fate and circumstance, but it was of his own free will that he decided to murder King Duncan, and go on a reign of terror as King. Shakespeare’s Macbeth establishes that one’s free will can impact their decision-making abilities, ambition and paranoia. Free will is a concept that not everyone accepts, but something that Macbeth takes head on. One’s decision-making abilities are severely impacted by the concept of free will. Macbeth’s free will leading up to and following his murder of King Duncan causes him to make extremely rash d... ... middle of paper ... ...his wife caused Macbeth to kill the King, kill his best friend Banquo, and kill his counterpart Macduff’s family.

"When you durst do it, then you were a man/And to be more than what you were, you would /Be so much more the man" (Shakespeare 1.7.47-51), says Lady Macbeth to Macbeth, stating that in order for Macbeth to be more of a man he has to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth shows how she can manipulate M... ... middle of paper ... ...nt. Macbeth is to blame for the tragedy of the play because without him being so ambitious and narrow sighted the play wouldn’t have turned out as it did. Macbeth was having concerns for killing Duncan and at once point even says “Proceed no further in this business” but his “vaulting ambition” gets the better of him. Macbeth is to blame for what happens after he kills Duncan, without him seeing the ghost of Banquo and shouting it out and also without him overreacting at Duncan’s death there would have been little suspicion of his involvement with the murder, without Macbeth’s ambition and conscience the play wouldn’t have taken the path it did.

The expedition of my violent love..." (2.3.111-112) This was the only done to destroy and thoughts that may have targeted Macbeth that he could have killed the king. The greediness for power and the witches prophesies have made Macbeth a very disturbed man. Believing in everthing that the witches say, Macbeth hires three murders to kill both Banquo and his son. By having them killed no one shall be in line to take the crown away from Macbeth. Macbeth then hears that Macduff is pondering on ways to seek revenge so Macbeth plans for death of Macduff's family.

Macbeth believed he had done a horrible deed that he will not be able to sleep when he said ‘Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/ Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more’. He believed that he was so consumed by guilt that nothing will make him pure and clean again. Macbeth cannot be described as ‘the dead butcher’ since he had contemplated on the fact that Duncan did not deserve to be murdered for his ambition but had been pressurized and mocked by his wife to the point where he had to kill Duncan. Also, he felt shame and guilt during the act of murder and regret after he had committed the crime. If Macbeth were a ‘butcher’ as Malcolm had called him, Macbeth should not have felt any emotion during or after the murder.

Act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakesepare's Macbeth Background King Duncan, has been murdered by Macbeth, and Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland. Banquo is back in the royal castle of Forres, and we find out, that he has been observing the recent events and is aware of the witches' prophecies. This prompts him to wonder if the prophecy made to him by the witches may also come true. Meanwhile, Macbeth fears that Banquo and his son Fleance may be an obstacle to him and plans their murder, keeping Lady Macbeth in the dark. Lastly, in this scene, Macbeth plans to kill Banquo and his son through hired assassins.