Character Development In Shakespeare's Macbeth

Throughout Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth”, Shakespeare uses various items to enhance his plot. He used many symbols, motifs, themes, and excellent character development. His development of certain characters had a major impact in “Macbeth”, by changing roles of characters he essentially changed the plot all together. The symbols that he used were there to enhance the play, and show what the protagonists were thinking or seeing. The themes he used were diverse yet they were used to show what certain scenes were all about. All and all Shakespeare’s terrific imagination and creativeness had led to one of his most famous tragedies, “Macbeth”. First the use of various symbols and motifs. The first motif that is used is light. Light is normally classified

His main protagonist is Macbeth. Macbeth is the tragic hero that has one flaw. In the first act Macbeth is seen as a brave and terrific fighter of Thane of Glamis. Very early in the play Macbeth meets three witch who bring out his major flaw, ruthless determination. When the witches tell him what is going to happen to him in the soon future, he becomes so set and driven to become king. Being king is what brought out the first flaw, and made him feel like he needed to induce his role in becoming the king. The help of Lady Macbeth also drives his flaw, instead of listening to the voice of reason he let his wife push himself toward the dark side. Now the character development for Macduff. Macduff is not only the king of fire, he is also the one who beheads Macbeth. Benjamin stated, “At first he is not used at a major character, but as the play progresses his roles becomes immensely bigger”. He went from being a secondary character to main character in 5 acts of “Macbeth”. He becomes the one who needs to stop Macbeth and prevent Scotland from going into turmoil with Macbeth as the new

When Macbeth knew that he could not be killed by anyone that is “Mother Born” (Macbeth) he felt invincible and untouchable. It is because of the witches prophecies that led him to believe that he was unstoppable, this is what had led him to his tragic downfall. Another reoccurring theme is the presence of ambition. Young stated, “Ambition is one of the many key themes in the story of Macbeth. It plays a role in a plethora of results that were caused by Macbeth, including his most important decision”. In most people’s mind his most important decision was when he decided to murder King Duncan, so he could become the next king. The witches, once again, was the cause of this theme. Their prophecies led Macbeth to become over ambitious to become king. His over determination for becoming the best, is another thing that led to his downfall. When he finally achieved his dream, being king, he thought all the other prophecies were true, and that he could not be killed by any child mother born. This led him to be killed by Macduff in the end of the play, by being over confident because of the prophecies, but when he learned that Macduff was a C-section Macbeth actually feared for his life knowing he could be