Macbeth Character Analysis

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in 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.

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.

Whilst the character of Macbeth is initially portrayed as a noble kinsman, his ambition and motivation, directly influenced by the witches and Lady Macbeth, ultimately transforms him into a corrupt and ruthless tyrant. William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy “Macbeth” clearly depicts this notion of change, illustrated through Shakespeare's utilisation of literary techniques. The tragic downfall of Macbeth is mainly attributed to Macbeth’s own greed and hubris.

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

A character’s tragic downfall is often influenced by other characters, but this is not the case in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Macbeth conforms to the conditions of a tragic hero because in the beginning of the play, Macbeth is an honourable and trustworthy nobleman to King Duncan and all of Scotland. However, throughout the play, Macbeth commits evil deeds such betrayal, treason, and murder solely because of his ambitions to remain in power. Macbeth murders others upon hearing the witches’ prophecies and even proceeds to return to them to remain in power. Macbeth is influenced and manipulated by his wife Lady Macbeth and The Witches, but he is ultimately responsible for his own tragic downfall. Macbeth’s tragic downfall is caused by his ‘vaulting ambition’ to become king. Thus, Macbeth has no one but his ruthless, cruel, and greedy self to blame for his own tragic downfall.

Making poor choices and treating others with disrespect can affect you in the long run and can easily contribute to a downfall. Macbeth was fully aware of the choices he made with the inhumane torture and disrespect he had on the citizens of Scotland. Being a tragic hero is when one experiences an immense tragedy which leads to a downfall, but Macbeth never had a tragedy because his death originated from the choices he made and reactions he had while he had authority as king. Macbeth being selfish and only caring about himself creates an undeserving and improper image as king which brought chaos into the land of Scotland. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth does not fit the formula for a tragic hero because he is not a moral

Macbeth is a play about a brave and courageous Scottish general who receives three prophecies from a trio of witches, one of which being that Macbeth “shalt be king” (1.3.53). Upon receiving these prophecies, Macbeth becomes plagued by his ambition and his lust for power, and he allows himself to be spurred to action by Lady Macbeth, his wife. So he decides to murder his king and take the throne for himself. Afterward, throughout the rest of the play, he is forced to deal with the fallout and repercussions that come as a result of committing regicide. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare develops the idea that evil deeds lead to more evil deeds as one’s humanity begins to slowly deteriorate. This ties back to Macbeth’s character, as for each evil deed he commits, he falls further and further from sanity and slips deeper into a mental state of fear, paranoia, anger, and hatred.

The play “ Macbeth” is written by William Shakespeare, and he is a tragic writer. The Macbeth is seen as a tragic hero, he compromises his honor and negates moral responsibility to attain power and position which result in his tragic end. One day , Macbeth come back from the war,he meet the three witches,and the three witches tell him prophecy says that he will become a king of Scotland one day. The three witches’s prophecy plant a evil seed inside the Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth cant stop thinking the prophecy, it direct impact the Macbeth, the

Through love and death, Shakespeare has brought us the most renowned plays of all time. For over 400 years the world has had the opportunity to watch, listen and perform the art known as Shakespeare. With Shakespeare's work on tragedies, comes the play Macbeth. Going from a Thane to the king, then killing the king to become the king, and then being killed himself, Macbeth is one of the top tragedies written. Being overcome with the prophecy of becoming king, Macbeth starts to feel the ambition and greed building up inside him, not only him but also his wife, Lady Macbeth. When she receives the letter about the news her feelings start to get the best of her as well. Many believe that Lady Macbeth is the one to blame for her husband's downfall,

Secondly, I believe that Macbeth was in some ways responsible for his own downfall. He was ambitious and strived to be the king. Once he became King he strived to stay King and became very suspicious and paranoid of all people in his country.

After marrying the fanciful ideas of destiny obtained from the witches prophecy, and coupling that with both his and Lady Macbeth’s ambition, he commits regicide early in the play. By killing King Duncan, Macbeth undermines a concrete moral tenet of a vassal, unswerving loyalty to his Lord. This loss of morality slowly progresses to madness, and ultimately leads to Macbeth’s downfall as a tyrannic ‘hellhound’ and immoral oppressor of the people. By showing Macbeth’s degeneration, Shakespeare warns the audience of the consequences of loss of morality, and madness that results. In order to fulfil his ambition, Macbeth disregards his morality, and concomitantly, his sanity. His ambition is also shown in his desire for his family to retain kingship, despite the witches prophesying that Banquo’s heirs would be kings. This ambition for his own children ultimately leads him to order the death of Banquo and Fleance: “Banquo, thy soul’s flight, if it must find heaven, must find it tonight.” This ambition however, blinds him to his degrading morality, and lack of support from Scottish lords. By killing Banquo, Macbeth alienates even more of his vassals, who begin to see the depth to which he has been corrupted by power. Macbeth’s unrestrained ambition superimposes itself over his original moral convictions, and turns him into a loathed dictator leading to rebellion, and

Role in Plot: He is another person that Macbeth has to fight in order to secure the thrown.

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, trust is an important topic throughout the play and is displayed through the character Macbeth as he rises and falls from power. Shakespeare conveys the idea of trust though Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth may seem loyal and trustworthy, but he actually is a fraud and has evil intentions. He trustworthiness to other characters directly corresponds to the amount of power he has in the play. When Macbeth is talking to King about Macbeth’s amazing service to the King, he claims that, “The service and the loyalty I owe in doing it pays itself,” (Shakespeare, 1.4 25-26) Here, Macbeth claims that serving King Duncan in itself is a gift. This quote displays exemplary loyalty from Mr Loyal himself, Macbeth, as he is enthusiastic about serving the King. In this part of the play, Macbeth is trusted enough to gain power and move up the ranks, as he is trusted by all and doesn’t seem to be hiding anything.

Many of people have heard the tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The story revolves on a sequence of misfortunate events that take place when Macbeth makes immoral decisions to be king. In the play, Shakespeare shows how power can cause corruption in a human’s brain. Macbeth himself was not a very confident person, though he had a kind soul to begin with, he was easily influenced and gullible. Through the prophecies of the evil beings, an insignificant seed was planted in Macbeth. That spark of wealth and fortune caused the tyrant within him to awake. Which eventually lead to his fatal death. His ambition lead him to murder, go insane and become very superstitious.