Macbeth Character Analysis

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.

Macbeth’s desire to become King begins with the three witches. The witches predict Macbeth to be King and his friend Banquo to produce kings. Macbeth is seduced by the thought of being King so much that he decides to kill King Duncan. Macbeth is completely aware of his wrongdoing. “I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/and falls on the other” (Act I, Scene VII, page 16). He realizes there is no justification for the crime. He states reasons for not killing him but his drive for power feeds his ambition to kill Duncan anyway. This leads Macbeth to continue to make mistakes and has Banquo killed. Macbeth sees Banquo as a threat to his legacy from fear that Banquo’s sons will overthrow him. Macbeth wants to kill all possible threats to him being King. He becomes paranoid that Banquo may want him dead so that his son’s can become King. Macbeth manipulates two murderers he has hired that Banquo has done them both wrong. His ambition for power lacks all morals and Macbeth reached a point where it was hard for him to cease such horrible actions. “For mine own good/All causes shall give way: I am in blood/Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,/Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (Act III, Scene IV, page

Would you kill someone if that’s the only way you can get what you really want? From the time the witches told Macbeth that he will be the king of the Scotland, Macbeth becomes greedy and started making plan on how he can be a king. Later he kills King Duncan with the help of Lady Macbeth (Macbeth’s wife) and afterward he keeps on killing people. He even kill his friend Banquo because he thought Banquo was suspicious of him. But at the end of the play, Macduff kills Macbeth. The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare incorporates the elements of hamartia, peripeteia, and anagnorisis to demonstrate Macbeth’s fall from hero to tyrant.

Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition leads him to question, “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature?” (I, iii, 134-137). Macbeth displays an unhappiness of not knowing how or when he will become king even with his new title of thane of Cawdor, exhibiting Macbeth’s ambition and greed. Furthermore, his first solution to attaining the throne quickly is to kill Duncan, although he shows unease to this idea, his initial thought of murder suggests an evilness in Macbeth, which is brought out by Lady Macbeth’s pressures. Additionally, Macbeth displays a significant change of character as he starts out loyal to Duncan and reluctant to kill him, to a ruthless and coldhearted tyrant, this stresses his blame in the tragedy because his desires progressively clouds his moral compass.

Macbeth truly wants to become a king and he is determined to do so. “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,

Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50)-- he thought of killing the king to take his throne. Given the thought that being a king by fate from the trio of witches, on the night Macbeth plans to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turn 'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind”(2.4.14-18). This creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means a possible maelstrom accosts the kingdom. These temptations Macbeth fell through leads to Macbeth murdering a great king to take the power for himself that causes the suffering from the people in the kingdom. Through Macbeth’s actions it shows that Macbeth does not care about the aftereffects of his selfishness for seeking the highest position in the kingdom.

Macbeth is a play based on ambition. He's a Thane, also known as a King of Gloms. As the story begins he meets three witches that lead him to believe that he could be the King of Scotland. In order for him to do that he'd have to kill the current king, King Duncan. Macbeth's ambition destroys his morals and he does things he wouldn't have normally done, such as murder King Duncan and take the throne. The longer Macbeth is in charge he frets that he's going to lose power so he starts having people killed off. Eventually everyone turns on him including his army and he's killed. Leading up to his death this is what occurred. The king gains knowledge of Macbeth and Banquo just defeated two separate armies. The Thane of Cawdor was a Scottish traitor so Duncan wanted him executed and the title given to Macbeth. After the battles, Macbeth and Banquo ride by the three witches again where they call Macbeth the King of Gloms, King of Cawdor, and future King of Scotland. Macbeth is slightly puzzled because he doesn't know he's been named King of Cawdor yet, then Banquo asks for his future. The witches tell him he won't be King but his children will be kings, then the witches disappear. Two other Thanes, Ross and Angus, arrive and tell Macbeth that the King of Cawdor is going to be executed and that he's going to be named King. Macbeth starts to believe the witches. He remembers that they also said he'd be king of Scotland so he plans to kill Duncan. Banquo and Macbeth go to meet the

In spite of Macbeth was influenced by outside sources, he was motivated by his ambition and has a desire to become King

Throughout the play, Macbeth develops from a relatively good character, to a greedy murderer. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a brave warrior by King Duncan, who then bestows the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’ upon Macbeth. Macbeth’s character begins to change after he is encountered by three witches who reveal prophecies to him. After Macbeth discovers that he will be named king, he and Lady Macbeth develop a plan to kill King Duncan. However, Macbeth begins to have doubts of their plan, and says “we will proceed no further in this business.”(I.vii.31) This tells the reader that Macbeth still possesses some humanity, and believes that they should not follow through with the plan. After Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill king,

Macbeth’s character develops consistently throughout the play. The key to his character development is his unchecked ambition, which is powered by the three witches and his strong desire to become the King of Scotland. Macbeth ends up achieving his goal but ultimately, it leads him to a downfall such as the suicide of Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s ambition has played a significant role in the play ever since the three witches tell him that he would become the King of Scotland. His ambition has led Macbeth to become gullible. He is easily manipulated and convinced to take immoral actions. Moreover, Macbeth also becomes selfish as he only thinks about himself and not the citizens of Scotland. He fails at his job as a King in making Scotland a better place to live. Lastly, due to his unchecked ambition, Macbeth starts acting violently by murdering his closest allies and friends. Therefore, Macbeth’s ambition has driven him to become manipulative, selfish and violent; and thus, ambition is Macbeth’s greatest weakness.

Macbeth starts as a noble thane and ends as a tragic hero because of two influential factors: the witches and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth never planned to murder anyone to become king or have power. After the prophecies were told Macbeth tells Banquo that “if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.” (I.iv.58-59). This proves that Macbeth never wanted to be king under the circumstances that Lady Macbeth would go to to make him king. Macbeth is initially very loyal to Duncan, which changes as the play progresses. Macbeth shows true respect and loyalty to Duncan until Lady Macbeth twists his mind. Macbeth tells Duncan that “the service and the

Macbeth is a brave person and he has his people’s respect. He’s also a very honorable soldier and thane of Glamis. Macbeth gets promoted to thane of Cawdor because the first thane of Cawdor was found a traitor to the king of Scotland, and had helped the Norway. Macbeth was given a prophecy by the three evil witches that he should be the next king, but it turns out Duncan’s son, Malcom will be taking the throne after his father. Macbeth gets angry when he hears that he may not be king. Macbeth gets upset and tells his wife, Lady Macbeth about the prophecy and she gets excited about it, thinking she’ll get to be something big. Surprisingly she brings out the bad in herself, & wants to kill Duncan to get him out of the

Macbeth is acquainted with us as a man of amazing privilege, honorability and quality of ethics. He is held in high respect by King Duncan. Macbeth was constantly cheerful and fulfilled by the title he held as thane. Be that as it may, everything reach an end when he keeps running into the witches. They recount two predictions the principal, was that Macbeth would turn into the Thane of Cawdor and in the end ruler of Scotland. The second expectation was that his companion, Banquo, would have relatives that would be top dog. When Macbeth finds that the main prescience told by the witches works out as expected find. He is sufficiently stupid to trust he's intended to be King yet he in no rush and thinks everything will unfurl independent from anyone else as found in Act one, scene iii "If chance will make them ruler, why, chance may crown me.". This exhibits Macbeth's substance with the circumstance yet is no rush to wind up ruler. He send a letter to his better half letting him know that inevitably he will be above all else, the spouse is extremely energized by the news and all of a sudden gets to be frantic to end up sovereignty, so she reaches the conclusion that Macbeth ought to execute King Duncan with a specific end goal to them to climb into higher force. Macbeth does not concur with this but rather woman Lady Macbeth

Throughout the play, there is no doubt that Macbeth commits some ‘evil’ acts. One would say he is evil simply for trying to justify his hellish sins and performing “bloody business”. However, Lady Macbeth, both manipulative and sly, can also be perceived as evil due to her mind of “direst cruelty” and lack of moral conscience.