Macbeth Character Analysis

3. 157-159) Macbeth’s arrogance is made apparent with the immediacy of his thoughts of becoming king and it is clear that the supernatural has given him arrogant ambition as Macbeth is already beginning to think of how he will be crowned king. Macbeth eventually decides he will show his “Black and deep desires” (1. 4. 58) and murder Duncan, the current king of Scotland. This is a shift from Macbeth showing loyalty to Scotland and the king as he now has arrogantly, for the benefit of himself becoming king, murdered Duncan, the king of Scotland. Duncan was greatly admired and respected by the population of Scotland. Macbeth himself describes Duncan as “meek” (1. 7. 17) and being “so clear in his great office” (1. 7. 18). When Macduff first realizes the death of Duncan, he describes the scene as: “O horror, horror, horror!” (2. 3. 73) Macbeth acknowledges that the reaction to Duncan’s death would be mournful before murdering him: “Pity… / Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, / That tears shall drown the wind” (1.7. 21-25). However, Macbeth’s only goal is to become king, not to please the population of Scotland who admires their king greatly and sees him as a righteous person. After tempting Macbeth with the idea of becoming king, the supernatural gives Macbeth arrogant ambition, forcing him to contrast his loyal and courageous personality, which motivates him to kill Duncan.

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

Macbeth abuses his power as king by becoming so ruthless that he kills whoever might get in his way or threaten his position as king. Macbeth fears that Banquo is beginning to doubt him and believes that Banquo is his enemy. When he is speaking to the two men he has hired to murder Banquo, he tells them,” Every minute of his being thrusts / Against my near’st of life” (Shakespeare 3.1.128-129). Macbeth is jumping to conclusions about Banquo because he fears Banquo’s sons will become king, as the witches predicted. This turning point in the play shows that Macbeth is not suited to be king and continues to act out against people in Scotland. Macbeth feels the same threat towards Macduff as he did towards Banquo, but since Macduff fled to England, Macbeth had to take a different action. Macbeth chose to attack Macduff’s family, he said, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, / Seize upon Fife; give me the edge o’ the sword” (Shakespeare 4.2.166-167). Macbeth chose to kill everyone in Macduff’s family so that he would scare Macduff away from Scotland while Macbeth is king. This downfall did not come from no where, but from his sins and the choices he made as king, he did everything for himself instead of for others.

Macbeth becomes more power hungry as he begins to want to keep his power for himself. Macbeth starts to question himself whether he will kill Duncan. He was always a loyal and trusting friend to Duncan and ends up deciding to kill him in, “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” (I.vii.5-7). Macbeth does not want to kill the king but decides to for his power. Macbeth has many thoughts whether he will betray Duncan for his position as king.

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

At this point, Macbeth understands killing is the wrong thing to do be still carries out his plan of murdering Duncan. Due to the fact that he is aware of the rights and wrong decisions, he is held accountable for his actions and in turn responsible for becoming more evil as the play

Macbeth even states that he is receiving “[g]olden opinions from all sorts of people,/[w]hich would be (ought to be) worn now in their newest gloss,/[n]ot cast aside so soon.”, meaning that many people think highly of him and regard him as a good person so by killing Duncan, it would tarnish his image, thus it would be smarter to bask in the praises, than ruin it all (“Macbeth” 36-38). Even though Macbeth contemplated the idea of murdering his king to become heir at first, and even ponders why killing Duncan is such a bad thing, he soon realizes that if their murderous plan goes south, his reputation could be tainted, as well as “jump[ing] the life to come” or “risk[ing] the fate of [his own] soul” (“Macbeth” 6). Therefore, without Lady Macbeth’s persistence to assassinate Duncan, Macbeth would not follow through, because he is unable to do what he “desires”, and he is afraid of the consequences and losing the honor and praises he receives from

After the three witches tell Macbeth of his fate, he becomes greedy for the crown and will do whatever it takes to become king as soon as he can. In the play, after hearing his fate, Macbeth says, “I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on the other”(1.7.25-28). In this quote Macbeth realizes that he is being too greedy by thinking that he should kill King Duncan just so he can become king. By being overly greedy, the thought of being king drove Macbeth to kill King Duncan. When there is greed people make bad decisions and they end up in bad situations.

“Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions,” states Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Macbeth, the tragic hero and protagonist in William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, was a noble thane of Cawdor. Throughout the play, Macbeth displayed a promise of further greatness because his actions had far-reaching effects. During the battle against Norway, Macbeth was known to be a man who would not betray others. However, Macbeth had a tragic flaw that led him to murdering people who once honored and trusted him.

However, once Macbeth is crowned king he grows a new mindset in which he’ll do anything for power. Whenever Macbeth feels threatened in his rule he turns to Murder and without hesitation kills anyone standing between him and the crown. This causes Macbeth to eventually become ruthless in his killings as he kills even those

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth finds out through three witches’ prophecy that he is bond to become king of Scotland. When Macbeth tells his wife Lady Macbeth the news of him becoming king she becomes impatient with him not reaching the goal sooner. Lady Macbeth wants to be Queen of Scotland so desperately she tries to convince Macbeth to kill the then king, King Duncan. Instead of saying no to becoming a murderer, Macbeth decides to quicken his prophecy. In act II scene I Macbeth decides to kill King Duncan to be closer in becoming the king. When killing King Duncan, Macbeth loses some of his moral judgment through the greed of wanting to become King of Scotland.

In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, many characters helped with the murder of King Duncan and Banquo. However, one can see that Lady Macbeth is the leader in the play. There are many times that clearly demonstrate that Lady Macbeth is indeed the main culprit. Macbeth has many moments where he second guesses himself and is afraid to follow up with his plans. He also acts overly nice and compared to Lady Macbeth seems scared.