Macbeth Character Analysis

The first impression of Macbeth portrays him as a war hero who, ironically, has a strong distaste in traitors and disloyalty in the dialogue spoken by Captain “For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name – disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like a valour’s minion carved out his passage till he faced the slave, which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, till he unseamed him from the navel to th’chaps and fixed his head upon our battlements.” His violent and graphic actions which shows his allegiance to the king, ironically, also shows the readers that he is merciless and bloodthirsty when he is ambitious. This reveals a latent murderous aspect to his personality.

He is considered a great warrior to men of the upper class and nobleman. During battle with Norway, Macbeth was a ruthless killer that could not be taken out and even eliminated traitor Macdonwald. He led King Duncan’s army into a great victory resulting in messages of praise to the King. King Duncan is in great thanks to Macbeth’s great leadership and even names him Thane of Cawdor for his great courage and bravery. There is no denying the fact of Macbeth’s loyal and moral image at this point. He is still strongly intact with his morality by fighting for his men and honoring his country under the king’s order. During the praising of Macbeth to King Duncan, Sergeant speaks of Macbeth’s great bravery and honor saying, “For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valour’s minion carved out his passage till he faced the slave”.(35-39) This truly displays the irony within the transitions in Macbeth’s ambion because as easily seen, he is without a doubt still seen in moral belief but as the story travels along he slowly gains interest in his ambitions and ends up continuing his plan to kill King Duncan for his own greed of power. He ends up becoming a completely different person in a way. For example, he ends up murdering more people to keep the assurance of his thoning placement such as hiring thugs to murder Banquo and Malcolm. He even loses such remorse that he orders 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.

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 was not always portrayed as being as wicked as he was in later scenes. People portrayed Macbeth’s character as a bold and lionhearted warrior. After a grueling battle in the war, the captain explained that “Brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—”(Shakespeare, 1.2, 16). The captain

The character development of Macbeth is not exempt from following the same pattern as many other events in the story. In the play, Macbeth is finishing a battle against King Duncan’s enemies when the King is told of Macbeth’s valiant actions during the war. Because of these actions, Duncan gives the title of thane of Cawdor to Macbeth, praising him with lines such as ¨O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!¨ It can be assumed that King Duncan would not have given this position to Macbeth if Macbeth had not proven himself loyal many times before, so from this the reader can gather that Macbeth is a brave and loyal servant of King Duncan. But, over the course of the play, Macbeth’s character changes as he commits more atrocities to gain and protect his power. After Macbeth has Banquo killed, he sees the mercenary he had sent to kill Banquo and says, ¨´Tis better thee without than he within. Is he dispatched.¨ (3.4.15-16) Macbeth says this because he sees blood on the face of the mercenary and is saying that it is better that blood is on the mercenary than in Banquo’s veins. Another quote that shows his twisted nature is from a conversation

Physical description and traits: Macbeth is ambitious, as well as superstitious, he is known for his military prowess, boldness and bravery. He is peerless, affectionate, loyal, dominant in imposing stern terms upon he vanquished. He is hubris, as well as an opportunist. He has a conscience, which hinders him at first in securing the crown.

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.

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is given the title of Thane of Cawdor. Duncan gives Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, because of the battle that he was just in. He was brave throughout the battle, and also won the battle for Scotland (1. 2-3). Macbeth shows his brave side throughout the battle, and also shows how he can be a leader. The Sergeant says in act one scene two, “...for brave Macbeth-

Destiny is controlled half by supernatural force and half by your own action, because sometimes people can make their decisions and that will affect their destiny. In “Sports Genes”, “Into the Wild”, and “Macbeth”, the main characters all made their own choice but there were still outside forces that effected their decisions. In “Macbeth” although he made his own decisions of doing all the bad things he is doing, but the witches are the ones who affected his decisions and made him do all the things. In “Sports Genes” Thomas is naturally much more talented than other athletes, so his destiny is already set before he does any decision. Chris in “Into the Wild” is completely different from the other two characters, he did what he wanted to do

Macbeth is a very complex person. He is brave and never scared to go into battle but uncaring and evil at the same time. He is at his bravest point when he knows he is going to lose everything but he still fights anyway and he says, “They have tied me to a stake. I cannot fly, / But bear like I must fight the course.” (5.7.1-2). Macbeth is brave in this way, but he is fighting for the wrong cause. He constantly fights to keep himself in power.

When a person is born, their genes are the things that determine physical items, such as eye color and height. However, genes cannot control how a person reacts in a certain situation, that job belongs to their environment. William Shakespeare, George Orwell, and William Goulding convey the message that a person's environment has the biggest effect on their behavior and show the influence of one’s surroundings in their respective works Macbeth, 1984, and Lord of the Flies.