William Shakespeare's Macbeth Essay

The Witches or Weird Sisters play a major role in the brilliant tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The role of the Weird Sisters represents that equivocal evil in the nature of things which helps to deceive the human will. They are not mere witches although they have some of the powers of witches. Even though they were produced by nature, they share with angels a freedom from limitation of space and time, a power to perceive the causes of things, and to see some distance into human minds (Kermode 1309). The Witches have malicious intentions and prophetic powers that entice Macbeth and captivate his mind. Although they have no power to compel Macbeth, the Witches appeal to Macbeth’s desires, eventually leading him to his tragic end.

     Macbeth started off a great and noble man of Scotland and was honoured by the king and his people. He was thought of as a great man and brave among the

The definition of a tragic hero, as stated on dictionary.com, is a literary character that makes an error in judgment that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. It has been argued for years whether Macbeth from Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, can truly be considered a tragic hero or whether he is solely a villainous tyrant. Although there are some valid arguments for the Macbeth is pure evil viewpoint, by looking at Macbeth in a holistic way you can see the tragic, the heroic, and the tragic hero within him. Macbeth is a tragic hero in every sense of the definition.

During act 4 the supernatural phenomenons play a very important role in the fate and character of Macbeth. In Act 4 Scene 1 Macbeth starts off by seeing four apparitions displayed by the witches. All of the apparitions represent something very important to Macbeth’s fate. The first apparition is a decapitated head with a helmet on. Macbeth seems to be grateful for this vision because it shows him that he should kill Macduff. Another thing that this apparition shows is that Macbeth is in fact scared of Macduff. The following two apparitions feeds Macbeth’s ego telling him that he can not be killed by anyone born by a woman and that he can't lose any battle. Macbeth isn’t satisfied so he asks the

upon him that lead to him deciding to kill Duncan; who is his king. I

In the play, “Macbeth”, the author William Shakespeare tells of a man named Macbeth who rises to power through treachery and deceit. Macbeth holds up the role as a tragic hero by letting his ambition and lust for power get the best of him, and letting it ultimately lead to his demise. Leading up to the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth takes time to think about his choices and eventually himself. King Duncan has been nothing but supportive to Macbeth almost like a father figure, but yet Macbeth continues to contemplate whether or not to kill him and take the throne for himself. After thinking about his situation for some time, Macbeth gets honest with himself and says that, “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other” (Act I, Scene VII, Lines 25-28).

In the beginning of the play he was a courageous and selfless nobleman, but after the prophecies Macbeth changes for the worse. The prophecies caused Macbeth to murder the king so he can become the king. He took away a life so he can become king, this shows that Macbeth is evil and will do anything to put himself above everyone

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.

Analysis of Macbeth Macbeth, is one of the greatest tragedy plays written by William Shakespeare. It is a rather short play with a major plot that we had to follow it carefully to understand its significance. The play is a tragedy about evil rising to power, which ends up corrupting the main characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In the opening of the play Macbeth is introduced to the audience as Thane of Glamis and is respected. The witches also play a major part in the play, as they predict the future.

Having a lust for power can cause a loss in many things. It’s as if you’re in a win-lose situation. In this case, the play Macbeth written by Shakespeare has scholars sayings, “The lust for power by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth led to a loss of humanity.” With that said, I totally agree with their view. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth went out of their way to even killing King Duncan and burdening the murder on his guardsmen. Even though that’s a common human act, you just don’t do something like that. It’s just so wrong. The acts of both these people are very evil and violent, in which causes Macbeth to move from one act of endangerment to another just to protect himself from a great disaster which I likely

Look very carefully at Act 1, scene 3 (L.30 - 62) and comment on the

Lady Macbeth is the most interesting and complex character in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. She is, in fact, the point on which the action pivots: without her there is no play.

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.