Isolation Of Macbeth

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The isolation of Macbeth, isolation from his friends, his country, God and even his wife further prove him as a tragic hero. Every action that he takes further pushes him away from everything that he has at the beginning of the play. Firstly is the isolation that he takes from his friends, namely Banquo. At the beginning of the play, they are great friends, and even battle alongside each other for their country, but the friendship is not to last, as the life of Banquo ends due to order from Macbeth. The first evidence of Macbeth distancing and isolating himself from his friend is at the beginning of the play, when they are told the predictions by the witches that Macbeth “shalt be King hereafter!” (1.3.50). Banquo attempts to tell him that these predictions will only invade his mind with evil thoughts, saying that, “The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/ Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s/ in deepest consequence” (1.3.123-126). In this, he tells Macbeth that he should not listen to a word that the witches say, because they will tell the truth, but they will twist it in order to achieve their evil deeds. Macbeth distances himself from Banquo, as will not listen to his good friend, and decides to listen to the evil beings instead. Macbeth, after becoming King and plunging further and further into evil, orders for Banquo to be killed, as in the mind of Macbeth, Banquo has gone from his dearest friend to it being that, “There is none but he/ Whose being I fear” (3.1.54-55). At the end of the play, the men he once called his comrades, his countrymen, are the once turned against him. Instead of being surrounded by troops of friends, he is surrounded by troops of enemies (Barnet xxxi). The ones that still did stick by his side were not his true friends though, as they were just, “constrained things/ Whose hearts are absent too” (5.4.13-14). In the end
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