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Macbeth character analysis short essay
The play macbeth characters analysis
Character analysis in Macbeth play
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Impotence of Macbeth Throughout the play of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is supposed to be a likeable character until he kills the king. By committing this heinous act, Macbeth instantly becomes a villain and continues to commit murderous acts, all stemming from his first terrible mistake. One of his motives consists of choosing power over integrity, therefore he kills the king. Another reason why Macbeth is a villain is because he continued to kill innocent people to hide his doings. Lastly, since Macbeth is a villain and murderer, he deserves to be condemned and disdained. Macbeth is seen as an unlikeable character due to the fact that he murdered the King in order to take over his position. He had a very noble position of …show more content…
Macbeth did not have to kill all of the innocent people he had murdered. Instead, he could have turned himself in and said he killed the king. Like most people he didn’t want to die, so he decided to keep this as a secret and tried to live life as best as he could. In order for this to stay a secret he needed to murder a few people. He first had murderers go out and kill Banquo and Fleance. The murderers were able to kill Banquo, but Fleance escaped. Macbeth felt better that Banquo was dead since Banquo knew about the witches rules in order for Macbeth to become king. Therefore, Banquo would assume that Macbeth murdered the king. Now, there would be no assumption from Banquo that Macbeth killed Duncan. Macbeth wanted Fleance to be dead, since the witches said that Banquo’s sons will become the next kings after Macbeth, but Macbeth wanted his family to be the royal family forever. The next person that gets murdered by Macbeth is: Macduff’s family. Macbeth had people hired to kill Macduff’s family. This led Macduff and ten thousand soldiers from England to defeat Macbeth and ultimately kill the villain. All of the murders and the stress that people had to go through because of Macbeth made him a …show more content…
In order for Macbeth to become king, he killed King Duncan, which made a lot of people dislike Macbeth. MAcbeth chose to do this since he chose power over integrity. Macbeth made his image even worse as he continued to murder people and act like a fool. This led people to dislike Macbeth even more and then realize that he was not a smart King. Lastly, since Macbeth was not a likeable character he should be condemned and disdained due to his idiotic behaviors. In the end of the play, he was killed, which was the right thing to do in order to have Scotland back as a happy and striving
As a result of Malcolm and Donalbain's suspicions resulting in their departure to England and Ireland Macbeth became king: this was the ultimate power that he and Lady Macbeth had as their goal (well, actually it was more of Lady Macbeth's goal), and now he eventually had received it. Nothing was going to take away this ultimate power from Macbeth, and he would do anything to keep it. Macbeth's ruthlessness results in him ordering three murderers to murder his best friend, Banquo. The power of being king has taken over Macbeth's life, and he is a victim of his own greed for power. He is a tyrant. Not only does Macbeth murder Banquo (not directly, of course), he also murders (actually he has people murder) Macbuffs family.
The dream of becoming king has ironically changed from a bright future to a tragic end due to some of the crucial decisions Macbeth has made during the course of his journey, and a number of his actions will backfire on him. The first of his actions that backfired was when he murdered King Duncan, which he regrets afterwards. Another action that backfired was the murder of the guards, which could've drastically changed the outcome of this entire story since he could've gotten away with King Duncan's murder if he didn't commit it. The third action that backfired on Macbeth was when he ordered the murderers to murder Banquo and Fleance at which they failed to eliminate Fleance. The murder that he committed was a necessity for Macbeth in order to secure his spot as king.
Macbeth was certainly no villain to begin with. He is introduced to us as a man of great honour, nobility and strength of morals. He is held in high regard by King Duncan, who addresses him as “valiant cousin, worthy gentleman';- so highly, in fact, that Macbeth is granted a promotion over Banquo (who seems to be of an extremely worthy and loyal character). But there is a fatal difference between Macbeth and Banquo- Macbeth’s ambition and lust for power. He is a man with an unsurpassable desire to advance himself. He himself identifies this quality while he contemplates an action that he is wholly repulsed by; “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting Ambition which o’erleaps itself, And falls on th’ other.'; This “Vaulting Ambition'; is what makes Macbeth vulnerable and leads him to commit possibly the most vile deed he can imagine, setting him on a path of destruction. There is a temptation to use the fact that he could comprehend the vileness of his deed as a reason as to why we should condemn Macbeth as even worse a villain. But this is a simple view that does not take into account Macbeth’s later torment or give credit to Shakespeare’s intention to create a true – to-form tragedy. Macbeth is not a ruthless, callous villain devoid of all pity and humanity, and there are several issues in the play that serve to illustrate this.
Lady Macbeth is the true villain. & nbsp; In the Shakespearean play 'Macbeth', it seems to be that everyone thinks that Macbeth is the villain. But in actual fact, Lady Macbeth is the villain. Lady Macbeth uses her cunning and deceptive skills to overpower Macbeth into killing King Duncan. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter telling her about the witches' prophecies, she immediately thinks that she and Macbeth will have to kill King Duncan.
Macbeth, the main character in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth was not secure in his manhood. This insecurity led to the downfall of Macbeth because he felt the need to prove himself to Lady Macbeth. After he proved himself by killing Duncan, Macbeth became desensitized to killing.
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 is swaying between the forces of good and evil. He wants to stop killing but he also wants to become king and in his mind the only way to do that is to kill whoever is in his path, saying “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (3.4.168-170). Macbeth is already deep into this situation and if he were to turn back now, it would cause him greater hardship than relief. Macbeth has been dealing with this inner conflict ever since he was told by the weird sisters that he is fated to become king. This conflict ties everything together, between fate versus free will and sane or insane. Macbeth started the play as being a glorified war hero, however as time moved on he transformed into a bloodthirsty tyrant. Macbeth has gone through so much that he has shifted into a guilty man haunted by nightmares and hallucinations but will not stop until he gets what he came for. Macbeth has gone so far into the void of guilt that his name has now fell into infamy, as shown by quote by Young Siward saying “The devil himself could not pronounce a title/ More hateful to mine ear.” (5.7.10-11). Macbeth had already grown a name for himself while he kept his innocence, however with all the killings macbeth has made, he has done nothing but shame his name. Macbeth name to others is more hateful and there is nothing that Siward would rather do than to end Macbeth’s life, thus ending all the guilt and evil inside
When Macbeth killed Duncan to get the throne, that wasn’t enough for him. Macbeth wanted even more power and he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in his way, including his good friend, Banquo. When Macbeth and Banquo met with the witches one of the prophecies they gave was that Banquo’s children were to become kings. At this time, Macbeth was the king. Therefore, Macbeth decided that he needed to kill Banquo so his prophecy wouldn’t come true. In Act 3, Scene 1, Macbeth realizes that if Banquo’s prophecy comes true, he will no longer have power. This quote from Macbeth shows that he was determined to hang on to power and was willing to kill his closest friend, “I have lost my peace of mind and gained trouble, just for them; and I have given my immortal soul to the devil, to make them kings—the offspring of Banquo, kings! Rather than have that happen, let the fate come to the field and fight me to the death.” When you read this quote you can see that Macbeth is power-hungry and determined. There are more things that led to Macbeth’s downfall; Macbeth was also over confident and selfish. I will explain how those qualities led to his downfall
To begin, we'll address Macbeth's subsequent murders, following Duncan's. For Macbeth, he's just killed the King of Scotland and blamed it on his son. It worked and he became King, however he remembered the witches' prophecies. They claimed that Macbeth would be King, but it would be Banquo's children that would follow after him. This made Macbeth very angry, he risked everything to become King and after him none of his family will follow.
Macbeth was not evil he was just a man struggling with his identity and trying to be something he was not. He new nothing other than how to be a soldier and he was good at it. In the end he realised it was the only way he could win his battle. “I’ll fight till from me bones me flesh be hacked. Give me my armour.” 5:3:33. Even though Macbeth had become hated and thought of as a tyrant to others he had won his own battle. This becomes clear when at the end of the play Macbeth feels proud to say “My name’s Macbeth.” 5:8:6.
It all began when “three strange figures” who later turned out to be three witches “told [Macbeth] he would become king (Nuttall 1). Macbeth at this time was a loyal kinsman to Duncan, the current king. While it was a thought in the back of his mind that Macbeth would eventually like to take the throne, it never occurred to him that he would have the murder Duncan in order to do so. The witches added turmoil to this idea by talking about Banquo as well and stating that Banquo’s sons will become king as well. This prophecy made it inevitable that murder would eventually take place. Although hesitant at first, Macbeth, with the persistent help of Lady Macbeth, followed through with the murder and took the throne as King. Had the witches not told Macbeth his prophecy, Macbeth would more than likely not have resorted to the tactics and actions it took for him to in due course become king. At this point in the story, Macbeth is not a cold-blooded murderer who he is destined to become later. Duncan’s murder was Macbeth’s first time to kill another man; however, this wouldn’t be his last as a cover-up would be needed. “[Macbeth] require[ed] a clearness” so t...
Macbeth is put together with many character traits. He is a very complex character. In the beginning Macbeth was brave and loyal. He won the battle of Norway and became the Thane of Cawdor. For brave Macbeth disdainding fortune with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution( ACT1 SC2 LNS18-20). Macbeth is also a gullible man, when he runs into the witches he believes them when they say, all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter(act1 sn2 line 50) . He is so gullible to what these witches said that he killed his best friend Banquo and nearly kills Banquo's son. Macbeth also was convinced by his wife to kill Duncan. Macbeth conscious becomes guilty after he kills Duncan when he said, will all great neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?(act2 sn2 lines 79-80). He is thinking that nothing can take back the murders he had committed.
Firstly, the protagonist of the play is a monster due to the murders he committed. Throughout the play, we encounter that he has killed Duncan for power, Banquo and more. To prove this, Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,/ And chastise with the valour of my tongue/ All that impedes thee from the golden round” which indicates that his
Macbeth is a true Shakespearian tragedy, in which mast murders take place, in order for one man and women to take the throne and become king and queen. It starts with Duncan’s murder, which is done because Macbeth did not want to see Duncan’s son next in line for the throne and the only way to prevent that was by eliminating Duncan. The nest murder was that of Banquo. Banquo is a friend of Macbeth and his murder is un-predictable. Macbeth may have feared that if he did not kill Banquo, Banquo would kill him in order to gain a position power seeing that the witch’s just informed both Macbeth and Banquo that Macbeth will be the next King of Scotland and Banquo will never have the chance to hold the throne. Once Banquo is out of the way, Macbeth turns his attention to his real target, King MaCduff. Although at first hesitant about killing MaCduff, Macbeth chooses to murder MaCduff, a man who Macbeth himself said was a good man and a fine leader. The last murder is of MaCduff’s family. Macbeth can not take any chances and must kill any associated with the former king (King MaCduff). The murder of MaCduff’s wife and son is the most vicious crime of them all because for one we see the killing on stage and number two a child is murdered, the most vicious and horrific thing one can show. Macbeth murders for personal gain and has no regrets or else he would not have continued his mass slaughtering. Macbeth is responsible for these murders because he commits them himself, without any assistance, he kills everyone out of necessity, and because all these acts were done out of free will.
It was because of these killings and his overbearing attitude that caused him to be overthrown and killed himself. Macbeth, at the beginning of the play, seems to be a very noble person. He is characterized as being very loyal and honorable. He fights in the battle against Norway which proves his loyalty, then he is appointed Thane of Cawdor which proves that he is honorable in the eyes of royalty.... ...