The character of Edmund in Shakespeare’s King Lear a complex antagonist whose quest for power, and the treatment he deserves from society fuels the subplot. Cunning, deceitful, and a villain, Edmund will do whatever it takes to achieve his objectives, even if it means betraying the people who love him most. Edmund plays a key role in setting the stage for the disaster waiting to unfold, which is the subplot. Initially, the audience sympathizes with Edmund’s character; society treats him poorly, and his own father publicly embarrasses him. In Act 1 Scene 1, when Kent asks Gloucester if Edmund is his Gloucester’s son, he replies “his breeding hath been at my charge” (1.1.9) yet Gloucester “blushed to acknowledge [Edmund]” (1.1.10).
Shakespeare further cultivates Macbeths quickly changing character through soliloquy and dramatic irony. His success in doing so is disclosed as the once ‘noble’ Macbeth goes against all odds to convey his idea of fulfilling the witches’ prophecies: to kill King Duncan. Macbeth also notifies us that to even anticipate slaughtering the sacred King is an act of treachery and betrayal nonetheless he delivers himself as quite motivated and determined to do so. The “horrid image”, “doth unfix” his hair and make his “seated heart knock”; his lust for ultimate power poisons his loyalty and decays at his integrity. As the play moves on, the audience observe the hasty crumbling of his devotion to God and the King.
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.
The symbolism of dark and light is relevant as Macbeth’s light which is his conscious is starting to play him and become unravelled with evil thoughts leading him astray. In context, the quote is when Macbeth finds out that Duncan intends his son, Malcolm to become king. The alliteration ‘deep desires’ displays that Macbeth, here, is overcome by ambition, this leads Macbeth to want to hide his ambition in darkness and reflects on the evil of his ambition. The quote also highlights the depth of this ambition driving him to do
The witches make 2 predictions about Macbeth: that he will be thane of Cawdor and eventually, king. Banquo is surprised to see Macbeth looking frightened, asking why he would “seem to fear/ Things that do sound so fair…” (1.3). Banquo then demanded the witches speak to him. They told him that his children would be kings (“Thou shalt get kinds, though thou be none…”). After all this, Macbeth was still skeptical and curious of the predictions they had made, and asked them to explain.
One can look at Macbeth’s actions as the play unravels and see that he is clearly headed down a path towards disaster resulting from one source: his ambition. It is his desire to become king that overpowers his good nature and pushes him to break all moral boundaries. Prior to his encounter with the three witches, Macbeth was a trustworthy man; one loyal to his King, wife and friends. But with the news of his future, a secret desire for power emerges and controls him as the play continues. For instance, in act 1, scene 7, Macbeth’s ambition has become to great for him to handle: “To prick the sides
Unseamed him makes it sound like he ripped him like you rip a seam on clothes. He is also referred to as ‘Bellona’s Bridegroom’; so the husband of the goddess of war, so he is obviously a very good soldier. In Scene 3, Macbeth is told that he will be King. He then has a Soliloquy and he says that he is thinking about murdering King Duncan, but it shakes him up so much that he hardly knows who he is anymore, and he can’t act on his idea because of his thoughts and speculations. So he is thinking about killing the king to become king but his mind is telling him that it’s a bad idea so he is confused about what to do.
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.
However, because Lady Macbeth has ambition beyond her status, she wants him to become King as soon as possible. The only problem for Lady Macbeth is she feels Macbeth is too nice to kill Duncan. She says “it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness”, which shows Lady Macbeth thinks of her husband as a coward. The soliloquy used by Shakespeare truly shows the disturbed mind of Lady Macbeth; creating an unsettling affect on the audience through his representation of her as a scheming and dangerous character. The use of imagery reveals that witchcraft was a fascination of Elizabethan England.
In Act 1 Scene 7 Macbeth says, “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other” In this soliloquy, Macbeth admits that his only reason for committing murder is ambition. The ambition presented him with negative characteristics such as greed, intolerance, ruthlessness and an unhealthy drive for power. In addition, it blocked out his respect for others and his compassion. Earlier in his soliloquy, Macbeth also uses foreshadowing as he declares, “Bloody instructions which, being taught, return To plague th’inventor” Here, Macbeth explained his deeds will eventually come back to haunt him. Earlier in the soliloquy ,he uses dark imagery, in phrases such as “Deep damnation” a “Poisoned Chalice” and “Bloody Instructions”.