The Transformation of Shakespeare's Macbeth Essay

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

   In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide, in a great fit of ambition, to kill King Duncan.  Later in the play we see the same two characters undergo a transformation in their personalities after murdering the King.  Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier and gradually changes into an ambitious and murdering tyrant.  Lady Macbeth begins as a strong, ambitious woman who dominates her husband and gradually changes into a weak and guilt-ridden woman.  This essay will explore the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth before and after the murder of King Duncan.

Throughout the play we see the character of Macbeth change, not only from the way he thinks and speaks, but from his actions as well. Killing Banquo and having Lady Macduff and her children murdered show the insecurity that is present in Macbeth’s character.  After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth becomes paranoid.  This paranoia leads to his killing the guards to help secure the place that he has found for himself.  Macbeth is also very superstitious, which becomes evident when he allows the witches’ prophecy to convince him that Banquo’s offspring would become Kings.

Near the end of the play Macbeths true evilness comes out. Macbeth paranoia leads him to believe that everyone is out to get him. “ So is he mine, and in such bloody distance that every minute of his thrusts against my hear’st life” (3.1 128-130) Macbeth grows suspicious of Banquo. The witch’s predictions of Banquo’s kids becoming king engulfed all thoughts in Macbeth’s head. “I’ll make assurance double sure.” (4.1 93) Macbeth is making sure Banquo and his son fleance are murdered. Macbeth felt the it was best to hire murders to handle fleance and Banquo. Macbeth is overcome with evil. “From this moment the very firstling of my heart shall be the firstling of my mind” (4.1 165-168) Macbeth’s mind no

What had he become? Ruthless, powerful, determined and a King. Macbeth saw himself as a King, sure he had done monstrous things but who hadn't? Macbeth knew that if he truly wanted the throne, the power and the respect he had to do what was necessary.

Throughout the story of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth acts in a much despised manner: he becomes a murderer and later, when king of Scotland, a tyrant. Many who have read or seen the play are left wondering how a man’s whole approach to life can change; how Macbeth turned from the hero whom all adored, to the tyrant who was hated and ended up a lone man, fighting for his life.

Macbeth tells the story of a man named Macbeth and his struggle for power. He and his friend Banquo are told by three witches that Macbeth will become King and Banquo’s children will become king as well. Macbeth, content with his prophecy, goes home to tell his wife. Lady Macbeth, his wife, tells him that he should just go kill the king and take control of Scotland on his own. Hungry for power, he kills King Duncan, frames Duncan’s chamberlains for the murder, and takes his throne. He then feels threatened by the others in line for King, so he tries to kill banquo and his son. Banquo is killed but his son escapes. Macbeth continues to indulge in murdering people who are a threat to his tyranny.

The relationship among Macbeth and Lady Macbeth alters throughout the play Macbeth as they both in turn take on the role of the more dominant character. Their attitude to each other constantly changes throughout the play, although events in the play certainly draw Macbeth and Lady Macbeth apart their love for one another is evident throughout the play. Macbeth shows his love by saying a few compassionate words in his letter to Lady Macbeth about the meeting with the three weird sisters. Lady Macbeth shows that she cares for him by planning the murder of King Duncan so Macbeth can become king. By the end of the play Macbeth doesn’t care about his wife’s health that much, when she dies his taught was she was bound to die one day.

Macbeth's excessive pride and ambition are now his dominant character traits. These features of his personality are well presented when he revisits the Witches of his own accord. His boldness and ideas of invincibility mark him out as lost to the toughs of ambition.

According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does Macbeth do this?

Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.

Macbeth is nervous and becomes frightened of what they have done while his wife tells him to change because they have blood on their clothes. This shows that Macbeth still has some morals, which are being lessened as his greed increases and there is more blood on his hands. Once Macbeth is crowned king he continues to kill people in order to secure his rule, including his friend Banquo, Lady Macduff, and Lady Macduff's children. Macbeth visited the three witches again to listen to more prophecy about him and an apparition appeared telling him " no one given birth to by a woman shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4 Scene 1). By hearing this, Macbeth believed he was virtually invincible, but in the end Macduff revealed he was brought into the world by caesarean section, not by a natural birth. Macbeth realizes that Macduff would be the one to kill him in the battle between Malcolm and he. Macbeth had entered a cycle of greed, leading to spilling blood, which in turn made him think he had secured his power. This terrible cycle was ultimately the reason for his demise because he couldn't control his greed and killed more and more people to remain the king of Scotland.

“In the mind of Lady Macbeth, ambition is represented as the ruling motive, an intense overmastering passion which is gratified at the expense of every just and generous principle, and every feminine feeling.” (Jameson, 191). Lady Macbeth is a very ambitious woman with a relentless hunger for power, longing to satisfy her role among the high society. She urges her husband Macbeth to commit a murder, and comes up with a plan for him to kill the king while he sleeps, then blame the kings’ guards. “Lady Macbeth, upon receiving word that King Duncan of Scotland will be arriving that night, begins sharpening her talons. She isn’t sure there’s enough manhood to go around between herself and her husband, so she calls scheming spirits to ‘unsex me here.’” (Macrone, 1). When Lady Macbeth says “unsex me here”, she is basically saying that she wants power. “But having evoked her husband’s murderous ambition, having dared him to stop being a child, she suddenly finds that when he is a man, she is powerless.” (Orgel, xli). Act 3, Scene 4, is when the king is found dead and Lady Macbeth makes a scene by saying, “Help me, hence, ho” (Orgel, 35). She then pretends to faint, hoping to divert the attention from the king’s murder, and all of the men immediately refocus their attention on her. It is very obvious that Lady Macbeth is not worried about the murder at all, when she tells her husband that “a little water clears us of this deed”

Macbeth, once a noble and courageous warrior is transformed into an egotistical and ruthless tyrant. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth encounters a transformation which brings him the crown, as well as his death. However, this transformation reached the point it did because three motivational factors. Throughout the tragedy the Three Witches (along with the prophecy), Macbeth's himself, and Lady Macbeth were motivational factors that manipulated Macbeth into committing murder and treason. Although it is Macbeth who is at blame for his actions, it is these three motivational factors that caused him to complete those actions. If it were not for these

Discussion of William Shakespeare's Macbeth Written around 1606, 'Macbeth' is regarded as a generous tribute to the current monarch at the time, King James I. In 1603, the first year of his reign , King James privileged Shakespeare's theatre company, above all others, to be the King's Men. Shakespeare's theatre company was extremely honoured by the title and 'Macbeth' was written in an attempt at expressing Shakespeare's gratitude. Before he was King James I of England, he was King James VI of Scotland. Therefore, as a tribute play it would make sense to set the play in Scotland.