William Shakespeare's Macbeth

William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Macbeth was a “butcher”, however he became that way as a result of

Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was a fiend-like queen whose evilness

declined after the murders. In the end of the play, however, Macbeth’s

transformation was complete and he was a butcher.

Main Body Topic 1

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Macbeth’s transition from good to evil by Lady Macbeth:

· Ambition was his only reason for killing the king – “I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition”

· Lady Macbeth convinced him to kill the King – Accused Macbeth of

being a “coward”, questions his “love” for her and his manliness “be

so much more the man”.

· Macbeth becomes a “butcher” when he no longer needs Lady Macbeth –

says that Lady Macbeth should “be innocent of the knowledge”

Main Body Topic 2

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Lady Macbeth’s evil nature and role in the killing of Duncan and

Macbeth’s transition to evil:

· She summons evil spirits to make her evil – Lady Macbeth asks the

spirits to “unsex” her and to fill her “from the crown to the toe,

top-full Of direst cruelty”.

· Contrary to Macbeth, the crimes make Lady Macbeth weaker and she

feels sorry for her actions “the thane of Fife had a wife, where is

she now?”

Main Body Topic 3

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Towards the end of the play Macbeth’s butcher like nature is shown by:

· the fact that he shows no mercy and kills Macduff’s family with no

remorse – Macbeth no longer acts on his thoughts or feels remorse for

killing people “from this moment, The very firstlings of my heart

shall be The firstlings of my hand”

· Even ...

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... of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand”.

Macbeth’s cruel temperament is also made clear by the end of the play

when even though he knows that he will die he asks himself “why should

I play the Roman fool, and die / On mine own sword? Whiles I see

lives, the gashes / Do better upon them.”

The changes in the character of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are shown

throughout the play of “Macbeth” and so when Malcolm describes Macbeth

as a “butcher” and Lady Macbeth as his “fiend-like queen” although at

some point in the play they were, Macbeth became the way he was as a

result of Lady Macbeth’s evilness, which in turn caused he to go

insane. Given this, the description of the two characters, Macbeth and

Lady Macbeth ware in many ways accurate and so they truly did deserve

to be known as the terrible people they were.