At the Beginning of the Play, Macbeth Is Hailed as a War Hero, by the End He Has Become an Evil Tyrant.

Macbeth’s simple ambition for power and status quickly turns into greed and obsession as his desires become more controlling. When he learns of his fate, Macbeth patiently states“If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” (315). However, he grows restless after swiftly becoming Thane of Cawdor. Furthermore, Macbeth’s impatience grows as he takes matters into his own hands. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight, or art thou but a dagger of the mind, and false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (328). Macbeth’s imagination becomes troubled as he finds his thoughts consumed with murdering Duncan, the current king of Scotland. Specifically, these thoughts influence his actions by prompting him to acquire the strength to ultimately kill the King, although he feels guilty about his crime. “I am afraid to think what I have done; look on’t again I dare not” (330). Macbeth’s guilt is further reflected through this quote and his refusal to associate with the consequences of the crime he commits. Additionally, Macbeth’s actions and thoughts portray paranoia as he becomes closer to obtaining his predicted future. “ Oh full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives” (348). Out of his ill mind’s motivations, Macbeth kills Banquo, but his digression as a character shields the guilt he felt after Duncan’s death. Through this, Macbeth begins to recognize the evil consuming his thoughts and

Irony, a key element to a tragic play like Macbeth, has the ability to make the tragic hero appear more villainous or the down-fall seem even more tragic.

In Act I Macbeth is very uneasy in his and Lady Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan. He says, “We shall proceed no further in

In William shakespeare’s Macbeth,Macbeth is a classic example of a tragic hero in shakesperean work.Macbeth display the major characteristics of a tragic hero throughout the play until his tragic end.The play potrays Macbeth as a lost cause by showing how he fell from being a honest and just man who fought for whats right, to a cruel,superstitious,ambicious dictator.In william shakespreares Macbeth,Macbeth is a tragic hero because he compromises his honor and negates his moral values in order to obtain power which results with lots of tragic events such as character deaths leading to his tragic end.

From hero to villain – how and why does Macbeth fall from celebrated loyal subject to murderous villain?

Secondly, Lady Macbeth’s blind ambition and false appearance take part in further altering Macbeth’s decisions. Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter and she immediately starts to plot King Duncan’s murder so the witches’ prophecies can her husbands desires can become true. She knows Macbeth is, “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/… That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false/ And yet wouldst wrongly win” (1.V.17-23). Lady is aware her husband Macbeth is too noble and innocent to hurt an individual for his own personal gain. She knows she will have to persuade Macbeth to murder Duncan in order for him to become king. Later, during the congratulatory dinner, Lady Macbeth convinces a hesitant Macbeth to execute Duncan. At first, Macbeth is hesitant because he thinks he is double crossing trust with the king, he is his kinsman, and tonight Duncan is his guest. Moreover, Duncan has done no wrong to deserve death. Macbeth confesses to Lady Macbeth he can not murder Duncan however, Lady Macbeth says, “Art thou afeard/…Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament

Diction and imagery play large roles in Macbeth. Shakespeare's use of these devices create a better image in the mind of the audience and set the stage for foreshadowing. In the scene before Duncan's murder in Macbeth, Shakespeare uses diction and imagery to establish Macbeth's guilty, anxious frame of mind. Shakespeare uses imagery as soon as the passage begins by writing, "Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand," (II.i.1-2).

     The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Macbeth’s achieves his long time desire to be king, but his tragic flaw brings him to ruin. His character changes drastically during the play. At

Despite Macbeth 's initial reluctance towards killing Duncan, he eventually chooses to execute his beloved king, demonstrating both his lust for hegemony and lack of respect for his superiors. Just before committing the treasonous act of murder, Macbeth stares at the "dagger of the mind," and as he does so, thick drops of blood appear on the blade and hilt. Calling out to the knife, he declares, “I see thee still, / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not so before" (2.1.45-47). Macbeth begins to question his sanity since a dagger appears before his eyes and blood suddenly materializes onto the hilt of the dagger but his greed, and slight delusion, suppresses correct judgement and does not stop him from committing regicide. Moreover, Macbeth’s reluctance

It is decided within Act 1, scenes 5 - 7, that Macbeth will kill King Duncan. Macbeth now has second thoughts, noting that such deed would start something that would eventually tear him apart, and that Duncan did not deserve such cruelty. At this point in the play, Macbeth is neither a good man, nor a corrupt one, but still a very tempted one, thus making his realizations fall short when faced against his wife's harsh words, and his own greed and ambition; Macbeth, once again, commits to killing Duncan. The death of Duncan takes a toll on Macbeth's mentality, as the guilt shortly overtakes him, resulting in lack of sleep and

The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare recounts Macbeth's meteoric rise as a soldier and promising future leader whose megalomaniacal ambition led to his tragic downfall. In addition to Macbeth's ambitions, which initially enable him to be strong leader and soldier, he is influenced heavily by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the three witches that prophesize his ascent to the throne, as well as warn him of his eventual demise. It can be argued that it is Macbeth's ambition that allows him to succeed in his endeavors, however the goals to which he is working toward influence the results of his hard work. Macbeth's ambitions help him to become a war hero, and as his goals change, his ambitions drive him to become a tyrannical villain.

Although William Shakespeare created the play, Macbeth, to be a tragedy, the tragic hero can hardly be considered to be one. For the entirety of one of Shakespeare’s most magnificent works, Macbeth is controlled and manipulated into committing atrocious acts that the witches and his wife desire. He is powerless to their tricks and through their sorcery/cunning words and his own morals (or lack thereof) “sustain[s] the central paradox–the heroic murderer” (Cusick). Despite the fact that he laments the loss of his king, Duncan, he still continues down his path of evil that only has one ending: his death. Although Macbeth gains a few insights on his inner self, his lack of ability to resist manipulation, willingness to kill, combined with his

Introduction: William Shakespeare effectively uses dramatic irony to intrigue the reader and deepen the impact of the consequences Macbeth ultimately faces.

Shakespeare's play Macbeth shows the roots of all evil, our own human nature. The play is centered on the coexistence of good and evil. Macbeth, unlike any other Shakespeare play has the protagonist convert to evil. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is shown as a hero in the Scottish army, that is ironic because Macbeth defeats a traitor and he himself becomes one later. Macbeth knows his place in the world. He is fully capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. Macbeth purposely disregards his own moral judgment to rise to power which is again ironic and goes against his own beliefs. Macbeth stands as a symbol for Satan's sin of ambition. Like Satan, Macbeth's thirst for power and ambition drives him to commit evil.Contrary to

Planning the murder is not something that Macbeth initially is comfortable with. He feels as though murdering Duncan is going to have many consequences that he will have to suffer with. By having Duncan as his kinsman, subject, host, and most importantly the fact that he is his ruler, Macbeth says that he will not kill Duncan. Soon Lady Macbeth challenges whether or not Macbeth is a man, and he once again decides that he will kill Duncan by persuading him that they will both be successful as a result of the murder.