She didn’t get any benefits from Duncan’s death, and felt nothing but sorry for her actions. Macbeth kept returning to the actual murder, his source of guilt, yet he received many benefits from Duncan’s death. He became king and received the admiration of Scotland. When he returned to the murder, he felt guilty, but the benefits he reaped outweighed the psychological guilt. The remorse Macbeth felt was for the physical action of killing Duncan, while Lady Macbeth’s was felt on a deeper level, regretting instilling the murder plan that started everything.
Macbeth seems like an even worse person after he kills Macduff’s family for no apparent reason. Macduff has some real hatred for Macbeth, on 143 he says “Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth.” Macduff is not bloodthirsty, he just wants revenge. Because of Macduff there is a strong protagonist to fight against Macbeth. Duncan and Banquo are killed so Macduff takes their place as “the good guy”. Another comparison that is made to Macbeth is with Duncan, the old king.
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. This shows that he is not a butcher because although he arranged the murders of Banquo, Lady Macduff and her sons, he didn’t actually carry them out. A butcher would have got great joy out of brutally killing these innocent people. Although some may argue that these murders were unnecessary to the play, they were important to Macbeth’s character as he wanted to get rid of anybody who was seen as a potential threat to his crown. It can be argued that Lady Macbeth is the true butcher; she is the person who persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan.
Like all tragic heroes Macbeth demonstrates he is doomed to make errors in judgment when he allows Lady Macbeth to convince him to commit murder in order to gain the crown. In addition we know that at the beginning Macbeth is good. He was rewarded the respected title Thane of Cawdor after the execution of the previous Thane. It is easy to identify with Macbeth as he is pushed by Lady Macbeth to commit the murders and faces the external and internal conflicts typical of a tragic hero. Another aspect of the tragic hero is that they are responsible for their own fate.
This is right before Macbeth will kill Duncan. On his way to murder King Duncan, Macbeth sees the vision of the bloody dagger leading the way. Significance: It is clear that Macbeth is insane. Macbeth has been convinced into the action not by his own reasoning, but by his personal insecurities, played upon by his wife, the witches, and his own ambition. By the time Macbeth’s mind conjures up a dagger for him, he can see the murder as a conclusion, not a question for his consideration.
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”.
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.
He becomes ruthless, tyrannical deceitful and dishonourable. The scene opens with Macbeth a free man, for the last time, still capable of choice between good and evil. During Macbeth’s soliloquy, he reveals his intentions. He is thoughtful, weighing up both the benefits and consequences of committing regicide. He is happy to commit murder if that was to be the end of it but he fears the consequences and is concerned that the same fate will befall him, “Bloody instructions, which being taught, return To plague the inventor”.
This is ironic because right after this Duncan puts all his trust in Macbeth who ends up killing him – the king appears to have his vision clouded by the “fog” which prevents him from singling out betrayal (he is a poor judge of character). However, unlike their father Donaldbain and Malcolm sense deceit, after their father is announced dead they decide to flee Scotland in fear of murder. As Donaldbain says: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles; the nea’er in blood, /The nearer bloody.” They notice the concept of deceptive appearances and know that if the murderer had no problem with killing the king then they will be murdered without a second thought – as long as they are close to murder, theirs is inevitable. Donaldbain associates daggers with blood which is connected to the first scene in this Act where a dagger appears to Macbeth. This association may also suggest that the two brothers subconsciously know that Macbeth killed their father – this relates to Freud’s iceberg metaphor which is that the fully conscious
“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