Moral Characters In Macbeth

Many people who have read William Shakespeare’s Macbeth know that Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play, but there another character stands out as a much greater protagonist. Macbeth is the type of character who turned from a loyal warrior to the king into a violent, tyrannical, and conflicted person as he progressively commits crimes inside the kingdom without anyone’s notice, except for one person, who is Macduff. Macduff doesn’t have any flaws and remains sinless and heroic throughout the play. As Macbeth progressively gains power and prestige in exchange for the lives of his king, his friends, and his countrymen, Macduff meanwhile goes through great personal loss in his attempts to stop Macbeth’s tyrannical ruling and to restore justice and freedom to Scotland. It is ironic how Macduff acts so much more nobly than his king. Throughout the tragic events that have occurred in the play, Macduff serves as a heroic figure through his demonstrations of intelligence, loyalty, and righteousness.

Morality is the distinction between right or wrong and justice is fair treatment. However, there are competing understandings of morality and justice. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare presents characters that take moral actions and immoral actions. Those who take moral actions are rewarded for them while those who take immoral actions are punished. In the play, Duncan and Macbeth are rewarded for their notable actions. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have strong ambitions that they achieve through immoral actions. Ultimately, after a tragic downfall, justice is served through punishing all responsible for immoral actions.

Lady Macbeth is convincing herself to kill King Duncan. “unsex me here...Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood"(1.5.48,50). Lady Macbeth’s misconstrued idea of what it means to be a man prevents Macbeth from truly comprehending what is important. While trying to fit into Lady Macbeth's ideal of manliness he himself becomes detached from reality and his emotions. Macbeth’s response to the witches prophecy coming true. “ I have almost forgotten the taste of fears”(5.5.11). He feels as though the mass of power he has collected has and will continue to protect him. He then hears of Lady Macbeth's suicide from her guilt.“She should have died hereafter”(5.5.17). This is quite significant because the correct response would be grief, but instead he feels nothing for someone he once loved further showing how the greed for power has corrupted him. The important thing he should have learned is loyalty should take precedence over want for power, or ambition doesn’t have to relate to cruelty. Macduff can be considered a foil to Macbeth; after his family dies “But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.261). The idea given by Macduff is being a man doesn’t mean you are only cruel and don’t care about the consequences. It’s possible to feel feminine things and still be considered a man. It

When the characters from Macbeth are compared, Macbeth and Macduff have very different views on what it means to be a man. Macbeth believes that being a man means to hold power over others, whereas, Macduff chooses to feels emotion. For example when he learns of his family's murder he says, “O, I could play the women with mine eyes”(Shakespeare 4.3.230). Macduff knows that it's alright to cry because he has every right to feel sad about the sudden loss of his entire family as compared to Macbeth who later says, “I have almost forgotten the taste of fears;”(4.4.9). Macbeth's lack of emotion for his wife's mental illness proves that he is so far down the path of unlawful actions that he no longer has emotion. This contrast between characters shows that Macbeth has lost all value in himself as compared to Macduff who knows what's it really means to be a man because he is so full of regret for failing to protect what matters most to him; his family. In another example, Ross comes to warn Lady Macduff of the impending murder or her and her family. As Ross becomes distraught he says, “I am so much a fool, should I stay longer It would be my disgrace and your discomfort”(4.2.27-28). Ross knows he is about to cry and knows he must leave so that Lady Macduff doesn't see his vulnerability; he wants to maintain his masculine persona. Joe Ehrmann states in the documentary, “So if we ever gave boys 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

Unlike Macduff, Macbeth started off good but got influenced by evil. "Fair is foul and foul is fair."(Macbeth 1:1:12-14) Instead of being the loyal knight he started off as he became a dictator, someone who craved power. As the story went on Macbeth became less honorable. He was motivated by greed causing him to Kill king Duncan. Unlike Macbeth, Macduff killed king Macbeth, for revenge and selfless reasons. Although Macduff wasnt a killer he still did so motivated by emotions and integrity. Macduff remained loyal and honorable throughout the whole

Macbeth was a strong heroic icon in the military, but that all changed when the possibility of being King mentally destroyed him, his wife, and his desire to have a long reign. Throughout the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare there are various characters that become mentally unstable and begin to have battles with themselves caused by bad decisions or the decisions made by other people. A character in the play named Macduff deals similar issues. He suspects that Macbeth is a murder and with the tragic news he hears about his family, he is mental ready for revenge. Lady Macbeth also deals with problems with the decisions and actions that she and her husband did, and it destroyed her so much that she could not even stand herself. Macbeth dealt with many issues because of the killing and the fear of not being king for the rest of his life.

The apparition had told Macbeth to beware Macduff, however Macbeth is so confident in assuming that Macduff can’t kill him because he believes he is born of a woman. Macbeth says, “Then live, Macduff. What need I fear of thee?”(IV.i.81). This indicates that Macbeth is not thinking realistically and is allowing his ambition to be controlled by the prophecy that is negatively impacting him. Macbeth kills Macduff’s innocent family while he searches for Macduff in thoughts of killing him. After meeting the witches Macbeth mentions, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls” (IV.i. 149-151). This illustrates that Macbeth is ruthless and what he is capable of doing for his own advantage. Macbeth’s ambition led him to become egoistic and selfish towards his nation which then results in his own death in the end. Macduff walks with Macbeth’s head and states, “Hail, king! For so thou art. Behold where stands the usurper’s cursed head. The time is free” (V.xi.21-22). This shows that Macbeth’s selfishness in keeping power is what led him to his death by Macduff. Macbeth’s desire to preserve his power for himself and his future sons illustrates the struggle he faced in maintaining and securing his

Macbeth’s antagonist, Macduff, is a character that Shakespeare uses to depict a side of manhood that goes against the general norms. Towards the end of the play in Act 4, Malcolm comes to Macduff with news that his wife and children have been killed. He tells Macduff that he should take the news like a man, meaning to fight the pain he feels. Macduff says, “But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.227). Shakespeare shows us that there is more to being a man than just being strong, courageous, and violent. He is implying that it is okay for men to be vulnerable and show emotion, which goes against the stereotypes that characterize manliness.

Macbeth’s unusual quality of considering other people’s opinions is a gateway for his corruption. For example, Macbeth listens to Lady Macbeth’s opinions on matters when he mentions after a conversation about killing Duncan, to his wife that, “[You and I] will speak further” (Macbeth.1.6.83). It is very unusual for any man in Macbeth’s time to consider any opinion from his wife because it was just the time’s belief in what the church taught. For instance,

Role in Plot: He is another person that Macbeth has to fight in order to secure the thrown.

More people start to become treats along with becoming suspicious to Macbeth. In order to make sure that he stays in power without letting anyone know about his previous scandals Macbeth hires people to do it for him. Macduff finds out that his family was murdered and wants to kill Macbeth before he destroys the kingdom. At the end of the story. Macduff battles Macbeth saying “I have no words,My voice is in my sword. Thou bloodier villain,Than terms can give thee out! (Act 5 Scene 8) meaning that Macduff is full of rage and wants Macbeth dead. As the battle continues, Macbeth is defeated knowing that he couldn't be killed from anyone born from a