Courage In Macbeth

When you think of bravery you often think of a powerful superhero or a person with a courageous and positive impact on the lives of many. Although this may be correct in most cases, bravery is not necessarily 100% all positive. Bravery is doing something that on may be afraid to do. Macbeth’s greatest strength and his greatest weakness are in his bravery.

Lady Macbeth appears evil, but this is proof of her devotion and drive to assist Macbeth rise to the throne. Macbeth is doubtful about their plan to kill King Duncan; however, Lady Macbeth bombards him with comments that question his courage. She goes as far as telling him his love his worth nothing if he refuses, which proves her to be dominant and controlling using his own weakness against him. His love for her. The fact that she belittles his confidence, insults his abilities, and questions his manhood & ambitions showing how manipulative she can be, but also wise because it worked in her favour. She said to him “Screw your courage to the sticking place” (1.7.60). Because Lady Macbeth manages to drive Macbeth to Duncan’s death, this shows viewers that Lady Macbeths own ambition is the real driving force behind most of Macbeth’s actions, because of his strong dedicated love for her.

Throughout the play we see the character of Macbeth change, not only from the way he thinks and speaks, but from his actions as well. Killing Banquo and having Lady Macduff and her children murdered show the insecurity that is present in Macbeth’s character.  After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth becomes paranoid.  This paranoia leads to his killing the guards to help secure the place that he has found for himself.  Macbeth is also very superstitious, which becomes evident when he allows the witches’ prophecy to convince him that Banquo’s offspring would become Kings.

As the play progresses, Macbeth begins to make unhinged decisions that are pre-emptive to protect his status, ultimately resulting in his paranoia. Macbeth’s rash choice to kill Banquo reflects the unreasonable turn his actions take, as his crazed behavior is beginning to show. Banquo being alive agitates Macbeth to the point he feels “in such bloody distance,/ That every minute of his being thrusts/ Against my near’st of life” (3.1.128-130). Banquo is not posing a major threat to Macbeth’s ruling, however Macbeth feels the need to kill him in order to have a sense of security. He does this by manipulating murderers, a needless preventative deed that further highlights Macbeth’s paranoia. The fact that Macbeth hires

Pride generally means the pleasure or a feeling of deep satisfaction that we get because of our achievements or our skills or some kind of rare quality that we possess. Often times, having pride is considered unhealthy for an individual as it is believed that having pride can lead to internal blindness and finally downfall. This is evitable from “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare. Although, we can’t neglect a fact that everything has two sides, a bad one and a good one, just like a two sided coin.

When Macbeth ordered the assassination to kill Banquo and his sons he states, “Our fear is in Banquo stick deep,”(Act 3 S.4), which implies that not only is he afraid of Banquo, but he also that has a hard time overcoming his fear. The way Shakespeare uses a “stick” to describe how deep the fear is stuck into him shows the inter corruption of Macbeth. Macbeth’s fear is also starting to consume him which is shown in the lines “We have scotch’d the snake not kill’d it… Ere we will eat our meal in fear and sleep in the affiliation of these horrible terrible dreams that shake us nightly,” (Act 3 S.2) which exposes

In addition, “What we need to fear” seems rhetorical. She knows the answer is no one knows but it’s her own guilt that’s driving her mad and causing her to fear, not the idea that someone else knows . And finally when she says “Fie a soldier and afeard,” She is still mocking Macbeth for being afraid but I think she is doing it as a cover for her own fear.

(I.vii.61-72) Here Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth the plan to murder King Duncan so he can become king. Macbeth is afraid that if he does not murder the current king, he will not take the throne and the prophecy will not come true. Another example is when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost during dinner. Shakespeare states, “Avant, and quit my sight!

it “I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt”. This is a pun with the words “guilt” and “gild”. It shows Lady Macbeth’s cruelty at this point. Macbeth does not back out of

Conversely, as the play begins to progress due to Macbeth’s over ambition for power; we start to view how Macbeth chooses to segregate/isolate himself from his wife; in order to justify on his own behaviour in relation to the witches’ prophecy. This specific moment in time is where Macbeth’s behaviour starts to perilously change; this is established through the manner in which he seeks council from the witches rather than his subjects. Therefore his behaviour and actions have substantially been altered as he now does not approach circumstances in the just way, but rather clandestinely; "She would have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word..." (V.v) His isolation from his wife results in Macbeth’s private ambitions to be made clear through his soliloquies.

In Act I, the soldier & Duncan had described Macbeth as a great & brave man, which is quite different to his personality in Act IV, when he was scheming vengeance against King Claudius & the king’s family. He remained brave, however, in the last scene he was spiteful & vengeful as he was plotting revenge against the King Claudius, who had killed his father.

When Macbeth appears, Lady Macbeth forgets her own miserable thought and looks to her husband, seeking desperately to lift his spirits. He has obviously been spending too much time worrying alone and she tries to

Macbeth shows his desire for power, he was friendly to Banquo before he became the king, but after he became the king, he let three murderers to kill Banquo and his son. “So is he mine, and is such bloody distance That every minute of his being thrusts against my near ‘st of life”(3.1 line 116-118). Macbeth sent three murderers to kill Banquo and his son since they ran away. All he thinks about is to kill more people in order to gain more power. Macbeth didn’t just kill Banquo only, he also killed Macduff’s whole family. “Murderer. What your egg! Stabbing him. Young fry of treachery! Son. He has killed me, mother: Run away, I pray you”(4.3 line 84-87). He killed Macduff’s whole family, he just wanted to make sure he doesn’t lose his power, so he just killed anyone who against him, he’s obsessed with his power, he never cares about breaking other people’s family.

Macbeth will murder MacDuff to bond his fate and have no more fear. “Deny me this, and an eternal curse fall on you!” (IV. i. 104-105). Here Macbeth is fearful of forever being in fear. Fear is most seen in the play and that is what has stayed changing the way the main

Macbeth had the dagger in his hand ready to kill the King but he just could not do it until the King started waking up, it was then he knew he had no choice. He regrets his actions afterwards, "But where fore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? / I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' / Stuck in my throat" which is proof that he never was willing to kill the King but Lady Macbeth assures him “a little water will wash away their guilt”. Macbeth having killed the King eventually kills several others to cover his tracks. This proves Lady Macbeth transformed her husband by saying things such as “Are you a man?” She made him feel at fault so things could be done her way. If it weren’t for Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have never have killed anyone. This story of Lady