Banquo is juxtaposed to show how an honest man would react to fair-surrounding predictions. Macbeth’s “aside” clearly reveals him to be a man who is morally flawed and susceptible to temtation. Shakespeare’s use of imagery with the three witches makes us realise that the witches only want bad things for Macbeth. They test his character to see if they can corrupt him from his natural state of mind into their evil ways. As such Macbeth is morally vulnerable to them.
How does William Shakespeare present Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 1 of the play? Macbeth, arguably one of Shakespeare’s most twisted plays, shows us how having too much ambition can have disastrous consequences especially if there is someone there to keep pushing and encouraging you do to do things you wouldn’t normally do. Macbeth we first see as a courageous and valiant man who slowly slips into a dark character with the help from Lady Macbeth, who we see as a ruthless, heartless person from when she is first introduced. The supernatural, blind ambitions (greed) and equivocation are just some of the main themes introduced to us in Act 1. At the start of the play, we were introduced to our Macbeth by the injured captain's recount about his war-time battlefield valour and heroics, therefore we were given an impression that the male protagonist was theoretically meant to be a courageous, brave and capable warrior who would risk anything to defend his country.
Aristotle’s view of a tragic hero is one that involves both an evil and peaceful side of a hero. The hero needs to fit into certain criteria to fit into Aristotle’s view of a tragic hero. The tragic hero must first commit an act of injustice, and then recognize his error, but it’s to late. Finally, the punishment for his crime must exceed the deed. Shakespeare has the ideal tragic hero in Macbeth.
He is a man of noble stature, which means he is no ordinary man, but a man with an outstanding quality and greatness about him.. At first, Macbeth is celebrated as a brave man and is rewarded with a new title from the king. He is rewarded with the title of being the Thane of Cawdor, which the three witches in the play predicted. The witches are calculations, which helps drive Macbeth’s ambition and transform him into a murderer. The view of Macbeth as a brave man is ruined when we see how Lady Macbeth, his wife, easily manipulates him. He is soon overwhelmed with ambition and self-doubt.
Macbeth is physically strong and competent, however his weak character causes him to lose his grip over guilt and his insecurities. When he becomes crowned thane of Cawdor just as the prophecies had said, the thought of murdering Duncan crossed Macbeth’s mind, and he starts to seriously consider it. However, during this period, Macbeth reveals his inner turmoil and moral dilemma in his soliloquies. (kinsman, host, and Duncan hath born his faculties so meek, act 1 sc 7) Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth is too “full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”, so she challenges his manhood by calling him a coward, knowing that Macbeth will in turn, show that he is not a coward by accepting to murder Duncan. This shows that his ambition and self-image of bravery wins over his virtues.
Macbeth is mentally weak; therefore, Lady Macbeth is easily able to influence him. Her strength motivates him at the start; however, after Macbeth realizes what he has done he continues the murderous acts. Macbeth is a mentally weak character that undergoes a drastic mental change thought the play. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a strong soldier who fights others without mercy. Macbeth relies on the witches who feed him prophecies and glimpses of the future.
It could be that he has damaged himself so that he is unable to feel empathy for others - or that the evil is innate. Macbeth displays some very evil characteristics - selfishness, coldness, obsession and cold-blooded murder. Shakespeare explores the degree to which he alone is responsible, and how far others contribute to Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare's greatest exploration of the problem of evil. Evil is positioned both within and without. The witches are objective figures but Macbeth's first utterance in act 1, scene 3 suggests that he shares a similar thought with the witches.
Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections, when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself. Lady Macbeth remarkable strength of will persists through the murder of the king, it is she who steadies her husband nerves and convinces him to kill Duncan. ‘‘It is the perfect time and place for you’’, ‘’almost too
Unlike his wife, the idea of killing the king in order to fulfill the prophecy has not crossed his mind yet. When Lady Macbeth reads the letter from her husband, she is immediately taken up by the ambition to become royalty. Because Macbeth sets less in store by the prophecy, his wife needs to force him to commit the act, which will crown him King. The third major difference between Macbeth and his wife is the way with which they treat their new life as King and Queen. Lady Macbeth seems to have adapted fairly well to the new life.
Macbeth is the real villain and Lady Macbeth is just a partner in crime, egging him on because of her desire to be Queen. Macbeth was loyal to his King and was an excellent soldier. However his wife, Lady Macbeth could see a better future for Macbeth as King after Macbeth tells her about the witches and their prophesies in a letter. Despite these conflicting ideas, it was Macbeth himself who decided to murder Duncan and the others. It seems that most people believe that Macbeth is the real villain of the play, after firstly killing the King but then Banquo and Macduff’s family but through Macbeth’s own ambition and desire for power, Lady Macbeth was able to manipulate and evoke weaknesses in Macbeth’s character to cause his respectable needs as a loyal solider, to turn into evil motivations.