Macbeth Character Analysis

At first Macbeth thinks killing King Duncan is a dreadful thing to do:”We will proceed no further in this business./He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/Golden opinions from all sorts of people,/Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,/Not cast aside so soon”(1.7.31-35). This states that

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

With attention to the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth struggles with the morality of his actions. Before the murder takes place, Macbeth begins to believe that the murder will “be the be-all and the end-all” to his clear conscious and would risk him to eternal damnation (Act I, line 5). Yet, the murder would bring him power over Scotland and he “shalt be kind” as told by the Weird Sisters(Act 1, line 50). Macbeth goes off of his ambition to murder King Duncan. The internal struggle of choosing mortality over motives brought forth an intense shift of loyalty to betrayal. The murder caused for Macbeth to turn on Scotland and only care for his own selfish motives. The betrayal causes for the play to become horrific and have a double meaning. Macbeth must put on a face to hide his murder to become the king. The double meaning is how Macbeth looks like a hero to all of Scotland, but only the people on the inside know of his horrific actions. He had to murder to to get the position of King, but the

“The prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (Shakespeare 1.4.48-53). Since the King is still alive, Macbeth decides to either give up or try to become king. “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly. If the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success; that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here, but here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come” (Shakespeare 1.7.1-25). Macbeth knows that killing the king is wrong but he is still contemplating on killing him just to become

After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable

To begin the final scene of act one, Macbeth’s soliloquy shows his confusion and indecisiveness. He starts off by saying “If it were done when ‘tis done” (I.7.1). Shakespeare uses various literary techniques to express the ideas rushing through Macbeth’s mind prior to the murder of Duncan in his home. Macbeth has been told prophecies of his future predicting him as king of Scotland and take Duncan’s place. Macbeth, with the help of his wife, sees this task only accomplishable by murdering the king. This soliloquy is a crucial turning point in Macbeth’s decision to totally change the dynamic of the play.

Macbeth’s character has developed significantly up to the second act. We are first introduced to Macbeth character in a way that we view him as powerful and Nobel. We get this idea from the quote “oh valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” which is what he is described as by Duncan, who at the time is the king. From this quote Macbeth is portrayed as a loyal and heroic figure who has done much for many, however as we know this was not a smart move for Duncan to make as it makes him come across and weak and seems like Duncan should be giving Macbeth a higher title, which is what the witches had told him before. In addition, this idea of the king complementing Macbeth about all the good that he has done seems to trigger the belief that Macbeth has the ability to be king, even in the eyes of Duncan who is so ecstatic what he has done for the county.

It began when Macbeth obtains news that he will eventually become king after Duncan and goes to extremes to make sure this occurs. Following the discussion between Macbeth along with the three witches, Macbeth starts to ponder with the idea of doing awful acts to reach the goals for his prophecy. Thoughts about killing Duncan concludes for Macbeth,

In the play “Macbeth” the author furthers the ideas of ambition, manhood and violence throughout the play using a gender lens, mainly for masculinity in men. In the play “Macbeth” ambition plays a big role in the man characters life; Macbeth. In Act 1 scene 3, lines 125-129, “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm; The instruments of darkness tell us truth.” (Shakespeare 1.3.125-129). This quote stated by Banquo foreshadows Macbeth further into the play. Macbeth ends up killing King Duncan because he wants to be in power over the kingdom. When Banquo questions Macbeth about the killing of King Duncan, Macbeth’s ambition to kill Banquo skyrocketed. Macbeth didn’t want anybody to think or know that he ended up killing King Duncan for power. This started a cycle of death for Macbeth’s ambition to kill to stay in power. This example of ambition from “Macbeth” has a very similar motif from the movie called “The Mask You Live In”. In the movie, George Orwell states, “He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it.” The idea of the mask he wear fits his face helps us further the reason for men’s ambitions. Men’s ambitions are driven by power and dominance over people and prized possessions. For men to be able to gain power, they need to prove how masculine they are to society. In doing so they are dehumanizing their biological thoughts and feelings and turning them into artificial ones in order to be seen more powerful or dominate to the public.

Throughout the book, as Macbeth continues to progress in power, it seems as though his morals fade away while dark and destructive ideas spread through him quickly. While Macbeth contemplates his first evil deed of killing Duncan, he often talk’s himself into doing it, or gets outside persuasion to gain the courage that he is lacking. After talking to Lady Macbeth about how he has to murder Duncan, he exclaims, “I am settled and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. / Away and mock the time with the fairest show. / False face must hide what the false heart doth / know” (1.7.92-96). Later in the novel we learn that Macbeth thinks that Banquo has become a threat to his power. Macbeth then takes this problem into his own hands and assigns murderers to kill Banquo. Macbeth then says, “So is he mine; and in such bloody distance / That every minute of his being thrusts/ Against my nearest of life. And though I could / With barefaced power sweep him from my sight/ And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, / For certain friends that are both his and mine, / Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall who I myself struck down. And thence it is, that I to your assistance do make love, masking the business from the common eye for sundry weighty reasons” (3.1.132-142). Macbeth is saying that if he absolutely has to do this terrible deed he will, it doesn’t mean he wants to, but he is going to do it anyways. Macbeth uses the motif of appearance versus reality when he

Macbeth was an honorable warrior, content to be fighting to protect King Duncan and Scotland, Duncan though of Macbeth as one of the finest soldiers in the land fearing no man nor enemy that came his way. Macbeth being unsure of himself made him morally ambiguous he knew what he was doing was wrong but at the same time he wanted more power,respect,to please his wife that at the same time the murder of duncan didn't seem wrong. The murders that were planned by macbeth shows an evil persona taking upon him he wanted power,to be a great king macbeth didn't let anyone get in his way of achieving that goal even if it meant killing friends,families nothing mattered but the crown. We can’t blame Sir Macbeth for his behavior besides if you were promised,fame fortune, and everything that came with it what how far would you go to get

Macbeth does have a belief on three witches prediction, he wants it to come true. Lady Macbeth conveys Macbeth kill King Duncan if he wants to be a king. Macbeth is forced to believe he must kill Duncan in order to become king. Macbeth agrees to kill King Duncan, but then he start having second thoughts about his murderous plans, this causes him to feel guilty and disloyal toward, Duncan. Lines 12-29 (Act 1, Scene 7), “This even-handed…And falls on the other” demonstrate Macbeth’s guilt after he plans to murder King Duncan, that King Duncan is a good person he has never abused his royal power and he trust Macbeth as his family and host. Macbeth feels that there is no reason to murder King Duncan other than his greed and driving ambition of power. Lady Macbeth forces Macbeth to carry out the plan of King Duncan’s murder. Moments before Macbeth is going to kill King Duncan, he is discouraged. He decides that he will not carry out the murder. Lines 35-39 in Act 1, Scene 7 “We shall proceed no further,..Not cast aside so soon”. demonstrate Macbeth's fear and guilt of his murderous plans to kill King Duncan who has honored him. Lady Macbeth is scornful for her husband, and she accuses him of cowardness and a lack of ambition of power and love for her. Lady Macbeth comes to reassure him that it will go as planned, she questioned his masculinity which led Macbeth to carry out the

In the play Macbeth meets the three witches, who prophesy, and with Lady Macbeth’s encouragement he starts to manifest his ambitions. “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly. If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence and catch with his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We’d jump the life to come...” This is the beginning of Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1, and shows how he is arguing with himself over to kill Duncan or not. Eventually his ambition takes over, resulting in moving the plot.

In Act 1 Macbeth is troubled by his desire to kill the king that is countered by his morals that state he should not kill Duncan for the fact “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,

Macbeth is about to kill Duncan at the end of Act 2, scene 1, because