Macbeth's Journey

Not surprisingly, Macbeth has received volumes of critical commentary over the years. Not only is the play an audience favorite, but its complex characterization, deeply woven themes, and characteristic Shakespearean style make it rich ground for scholarly inquiry. Critics such as Harold Bloom have remarked on the importance of Macbeth in the context of Shakespeare 's works. In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Bloom writes, ' 'The rough magic in Macbeth is wholly Shakespeare 's; he indulges his own imagination as never before, seeking to find its moral limits (if any). ' ' Bloom also remarks, ' 'Macbeth is an uncanny unity of setting, plot, and characters, fused together beyond comparison with any other play of Shakespeare 's. '

William Shakespeare`s Macbeth tells audience a play of murders and sleepless nights. Macbeth is the thane of Glamis and a mighty general of Scotland. Macbeth is predicted to be the king of Scotland. However, the King of Scotland,King Duncan, is alive and is a good king to not to be murder by his people. Macbeth kills King Duncan and he becomes king with the fear of everyone killing him. Therefore, he kills anyone that is suspect to kill him. Macbeth becomes progressively more evil as the play continues.

To begin, the witches are the catalyst to Macbeth’s crimes because the convince him that he will become king. Macbeth first meets the witches while returning from a gruesome battle and it is safe to say that they greet him with some audacious titles. They initially greet him as the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor, but it is their final greeting which has the greatest effect on Macbeth. The witches hail Macbeth as someone “that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53). This ignites a fire inside Macbeth, who is an immensely ambitious person. He begins to fantasize about the luxurious life he would have if he were the king of Scotland and he suddenly has the temptation to kill King Duncan. Although the witches’ prediction is favourable, Macbeth has no reason to believe them, at least until one of their other predictions turns out to be true. This

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An

Macbeth murders many to gain power. He causes the suffering of families and murders former friends. The violence starts with the murder of the king, Duncan, who’d trusted and honored Macbeth; Macbeth kills him to gain the position of king. Duncan’s death is the catalyst; Macbeth subsequently begins to use violence as a regular way to attain power. He murders his former friend, Banquo, refusing to accept that Banquo’s sons will be kings as prophesized by the witches. He says in regard to the prophecy, “Rather than so, come fate into the list, / And champion me to th' utterance.” Instead of accepting fate, he challenges the prophecy and orders Banquo’s death. His final homicide is the massacre of Lord Macduff’s family. When Macduff hears of the brutal slaughter, he cries, “That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on, / And would not take their

At the beginning of the play Macbeth is unwilling to kill King Duncan while Lady Macbeth is convinced that she must compel him to do so. Macbeth is told by three witches that he will become thane of Cawdor, thane of Glamis and King of Scotland. Macbeth believes the prophecies since he is already thane of Glamis and is Ross later informs him that Macbeth is now thane of Cawdor. Macbeth wants to be king, but hopes

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.

After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable

In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, chases after power by going after the king position in Scotland. In the play, Macbeth changes from basically not worrying about whether or not he will be king, to going after the king so that Macbeth will rule the kingdom. At the very beginning, Macbeth encounters the evil witches and the witches greet Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King hereafter. The funny part about this is that Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis but, not the Thane of Cawdor because the current Thane of Cawdor is still living, and Macbeth certainly is not the king of Scotland because King Duncan is king. The things the witches say to Macbeth gets into his head and this is where the desire for power originates. Macbeth decides to kill the current King and Macbeth continues to murder people. Macbeth hires goons to kill Banquo and Banquo’s son, Fleance, because the evil witches hint that Banquo will not be king but, Banquo will heir kings. Macbeth is a character that struggles to free himself from chasing after power due to him wanting to rule the kingdom and Macbeth will do whatever possible to keep the throne. Macbeth performs multiple murders just to keep his throne from falling into somebody else’s hand.

Macbeth’s desire to become king and take the crown from King Duncan ends up hurting him more than helping him. Initially, Macbeth was against murdering King Duncan and didn't think he could do that to his very own king. Lady Macbeth believes that her husband will not go through with his plan however he does end up killing him. She states “Yet I do fear thy nature; It is too full of of the milk of human kindness. As he kills the King he starts to see things like the floating dagger and that seems to make him extremely

Despite his fearless character in battle, Macbeth is concerned by the prophecies of the Witches, and his thoughts remain confused, both before, during, and after his murder of King Duncan. When Duncan announces that he intends the kingdom to pass to his son Malcolm, Macbeth appears frustrated. When he is about to commit the murder, he undergoes terrible pangs of conscience. Macbeth is at his most human and considerate when his masculinity is ridiculed and degraded by his wife. However, Macbeth has resolved himself into a far more stereotypical villain and asserts his manliness over that of his wife. His ambition now begins to spur him toward further horrible deeds, and he starts to disregard and even to challenge fate. Nevertheless, the newfound resolve causes Macbeth to move onward.

Macbeth’s ambitious ways takes over his whole inner self throughout his time of first wanting to be king. Macbeth was thought to be a great leader and war hero before he was king. Macbeth was hatched an idea by three suspicious witches in whom he had never come in contact with before. They told him that he would one day become King of Scotland. After the witches disappeared, he got to think a lot about what they told him and pondered the words they spoke. Macbeth sends a letter to his wife about his feelings of what he had heard. When Macbeth returned back to his castle his wife wanted to lead him down a dark path and feed his ambition. Macbeth decides he wants to go after the crown after consulting his wife. "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on th'other...." (Act I, scene vii) This shows that Macbeth’s only reason to kill Duncan is for his ambition. Macbeth ends up killing Duncan. The way Macbeth killed Duncan made it a great crime scene. Macbeth still

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have changed drastically throughout the play. One goes from evil to scared and the other goes from scared to evil. You can see the change between these characters obviously by their actions. Lady Macbeth turned murderous after hearing the prophecy that Macbeth would be king from the witches. Lady Macbeth was a strong force leading to Macbeth’s killing of Duncan.

Soon after, Macbeth gave in to ambition and is also encouraged by a prophecy and Lady Macbeth, which he murders the King to take his throne. Macbeth’s betrayal throws himself into a bad state of being guilty and full of fear. Now that he is guilty and fearful, he murders again and again to satisfy his phobia. Macbeth has now became a very evil tyrant and will rightfully kill for his crimes over and over again. "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." (1.2. 16-20).

The lust for power is something that cannot be controlled. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is about Macbeth’s lust for power and how his decent into madness effects his relationships and loyalties towards the king, his friends, his wife, and the people under his rule. The first victim of Macbeth’s ambition is King Duncan. Duncan did nothing but right by Macbeth.