Macbeth Character Analysis

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth, a once honored and valiant Thane, abandons all virtue after three meddling witches prophesize his ascent to the Scottish throne. Consumed by his ambition and encouraged by his malevolent wife, Macbeth sets forth on a downward spiral of murderous treason and tyranny that subsequently leads to his own demise. This Shakespearean tragedy explores betrayal, manipulation and the blood lust that adjoins a relentless climb for power. Hovering behind the narrative are various supernatural forces and visions that seem to be present during each terrible act. Subsequently, a question prevails whether Macbeth’s downfall is result of his own flaw or if these forces possess a vice-like hold over

In Macbeth by William Shakespeare a man gets to the throne of king through power and murder, Duncan is the first king of Scotland, then Macbeth finds out that he is in line to be king next, so he is pressured by his wife Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan. Macbeth later feels guilty about what he did to Duncan, and this leads to speculation if Macbeth is truly a bad guy or not; however, Macbeth shows that he’s hard to control.

In the Elizabethan Era, society was highly suspicious of the power of supernatural forces and it was commonly accepted that one’s life was governed by fate and was predetermined. Shakespeare’s Macbeth challenges the Elizabethan ideology of fate by privileging that although Macbeth was a victim of his “vaulting ambition” (1:VII 27), he was ultimately responsible for his villainous actions. Shakespeare has foregounded certain events to privilege that a person has free will and a concience and the cosequences of going against one's conscience, thus challenging the assumption of the Elizabethan Era. The audience is invited to sympathise with the protagonist, Macbeth, and see him as a tragic hero. Before his descent into evil, 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.

Given the power and influence that Macbeth has as a tragic hero, there are many aspects to this character that Shakespeare created. Throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth goes through an evolution in a variety of different manners. These changes include: his relationship with other characters, his physical state, and his emotional state. Throughout each act, and sometimes more than once, there is a change or evolution in the character of Macbeth.

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.

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

    The tragedy Macbeth highlights an ambivalent character who wants to be king. This paper will take a close look at his character.

In the play by Shakespeare [Macbeth] the main character, bearing the same name as the title, is an amazingly complex character. So he can be called many things, and was called many things. He was called the “Thane of Cawdor” as a title; but, many things can be interpreted and proven as traits of his character. When looking for ways to describe the main character, Macbeth, I would describe him as cowardly, ambitious, and bold.

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.

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare that tells the story of the tragic hero, Macbeth, of how he transformed from a victorious valiant to a skeptical tyrant burdened with guilt and paranoia from his murders. Macbeth exercises his free will within the realm and control of fate; although the witches’ prophecies significantly incite Macbeth and sway his will, his own choice is what decides his path towards fate. While fate provides Macbeth with paradoxical prophecies and choices that may seem luring and suggesting, it is Macbeth who chooses to murder in order to become king. When Macbeth meets the witches for the first time, the prophecy immediately provokes contradictory thoughts inside Macbeth- he was “wrought” (1.3.148) by the

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.

Credited as one of William Shakespeare’s bloodiest and darkest works, The Tragedy of Macbeth is an emotionally tense, gripping play about loyalty, betrayal and ambition. Blinded by his vaulting ambition and encouraged by his wife, Macbeth attempted to remove the obstacles preventing him from being king; these obstacles happened to be other characters in the play. Macbeth accepted the prophecies of witches as a guide for what would be, and misjudged what they told him. In the end, his overconfidence led him to his death as he believed that he could not be harmed, when he was just a mortal man. Over the course of Macbeth, one can clearly see the

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

Faber est suae quisque fortunae - Every man is the architect of his own fortune. This Roman saying rings especially true for Macbeth, the ill-fated, murderous king of Scotland. Throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth , William Shakespeare shows readers just how far a man goes to maintain power. Readers see just how many lies are told, how many families are destroyed, and how many friends are murdered in the coldest of blood, all because one man gets the smallest glimpse of the fate he is due. The witches may have showed Macbeth his future, but the responsibility for what is done with that knowledge falls entirely on Macbeth. “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” Eight words are all it takes to drive Macbeth, the tragic hero of Scotland, to commit crimes against mankind itself. Macbeth is the forest,and the witches’ prophecy the spark that sets an entire country ablaze.