Ambition is a common downfall for those who seek power. In literature, authors use characters to demonstrate the harmful effects of ambition. Shakespeare, in his play Macbeth, develops the character of Macbeth, who changes from a good-hearted person to evil because of his corrupting power and unchecked ambition. In Act I, Macbeth debates with himself on whether or not to kill Duncan. He considers that, even if Duncan’s murder could be completed without any negative consequences, like getting caught, he still would have to live with guilt.
Who do you consider is most responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet all ends in a terrible tragedy, however there has to be someone to blame for this, but who? I strongly believe that Friar Lawrence is responsible for the tragedy. The main reasons why I think he is to blame is because he married Romeo and Juliet without anyone’s permission; he also helped them to have a secret night together; gave Juliet a dangerous potion; faked her funeral breaking the hearts of her family and he continued abusing the use of confession throughout the play. The most disgraceful thing is that he is a man of god and he committed all of these horrendous sins!
Macbeth is not merely portrayed as a butcher because at the beginning of the play he has a motive for killing King Duncan, a butcher would kill someone without reason. A butcher can be seen as someone who is heartless and has no self control, but Macbeth does not fit into these conventions as he is in love with Lady Macbeth and he tries to persuade himself not to kill the King, he is just easily influenced by others. Macbeth has reasons for his actions rather than just killing someone for the sake of it, so therefore i would argue that he is not seen as a butcher. His ‘vaulting ambition’ is what drove Macbeth to kill the King; he wanted more than he already had. Macbeth can’t be fully blamed for all of the murders as he didn’t personally commit the crimes he got other people to do them for him.
Macbeth responds, in brief, as a loyal thane to the Scottish king, but the prospect unnerves him. * The audience could see Macbeth’s ambition leading him to cursed thoughts which has been greatly *enforced and twisted* by the* malicious* witches. *The caution from the first apparition causes Macbeth to start a bloody massacre across England, killing families of people who may threaten his position. After this point in the play, we see *that *Macbeth* has* turn*ed* into a ruthless tyrant* in the hope of avoiding fate*, so desensitized to humanity that even the suicide of his wife *could not arouse grief from him. * All he could muster was* “She should have died hereafter”.
Is Macbeth a cold-hearted, brutal traitor? Or is he an innocent victim, forced into the sinful act of murder? Macbeth starts off as a humble, loyal subject to the King, but greed led him to doing unimaginable, acts of cruelty. He became a blood-thirsty tyrant, with no limits, and unable to stop. He didn’t want to take the killing path but Lady Macbeth cunningly persuaded him, and hooked him to the taste of blood.
Set, your brother, is an evil man, who hates you and will do you harm (Osiris and Isis, 205)”. This proves that Isis knows Set is an evil man and she convinces Osiris not to go but he did not listen. Secondly, in the myth it states “Osiris, having no guile or bitterness in his own heart, believed others to be as himself, and with the words of confidence and cheer he tried to cast out the fear that troubled his wife; then, putting on his most splendid robes, he went in all trust and friendship to his brother’s banquet (Osiris and Isis, 205)”. This proves that even after Isis warns him about how Set will do him harm, he still goes. He fails to see the real truth about him.
“More is thy due than more than all can pay” (1.4.21). King Duncan says this to show how he is grateful of Macbeth for wining the war. As events unfold, Macbeth shows his true character when he kills Duncan to become king. This shows he has a false appearance because Duncan thought the two were friends and Macbeth would not kill a relative. Towards the end of the play Macbeth gets caught up in a killing spree by hiring people to murder Banquo and his son, and by having everybody in Macduff’s castle killed: The castle of Macduff I will surprise, Seize upon fife: give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate
In Macbeth, Macbeth himself is shown as being disturbed due to the way that he is acting and that he starts hallucinating just before he murders the king “Is this a dagger which I see before me” and this shows that he is disturbed because he believes that he can see the dagger even though it is not there which means that he is worried about doing the deed of killing the king and it puts doubt in his mind but his over-whelming ambition forces him to still kill him. Lady Macbeth is disturbed due to the way that she acts, believing that there’s Duncan’s blood on her hand and trying to wash it off constantly, she is also disturbed in a similar way to the woman in The Laboratory because during this time period that they are set in the common stereotype for a woman is to be obeying, shy and to do what they’re told but in the case of Lady Macbeth and the woman in The Laboratory are both manipulative and controlling, in the case of The Laboratory the woman is disturbed because she wants to murder a woman for taking away her last love by poisoning her and she paranoid that they know her plans “He is with her, and they know that I know “ which is another feature of her being deranged due to her being paranoid, in a similar way Lady Macbeth exclaims “and take my milk for gall” which is similar to The Laboratory because they are both trying to create poison in order to gain what they want, Lady Macbeth wants her husband to become king by Duncan and the woman in The Laboratory wants to kill her loves lover (Pauline). The Duke from My Last Duchess is disturbed much alike to the woman in The Laboratory due to them both being paranoid, in the case of the Duke he was paranoid that his wife was flirting with everyone and believe that she valued his “gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name ” the same value as any other gift she was given such as cherries from a peasant whereas in The
Shakespeare does a magnificent job by using Macbeth to show the terrible consequences that can result from an unchecked ambition and a guilty conscience. Those elements, combined with a lack of strong character, distinguish Macbeth from Shakespeare's other tragic heroes, such as King Lear and Richard III, both of whom are strong enough to overcome their guilty conscience. Before Macbeth murders Duncan, he is plagued with anxiety and almost does not go along with the plan. It takes his wife, Lady Macbeth's persuasion in order to complete the plot. When is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger covered in blood floating in the air, representing the bloody course he is about to take.
As the play goes on, Macbeth slowly looses his morality as he strives for more control whilst Lady Macbeth steps into a frantic stage of guilt. After killing the king, Macbeth starts to plot other evil undertakings as he becomes nervous that someone will take away his power. At one point he goes from wanting to needing the sovereignty, which makes him loose sight of his integrity. As Macbeth begins to immorally act in order to achieve what he hungers, the line between good and evil starts to fade. “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him.