Ambition has an immediate effect on Macbeth right from the start of the play. His ruthless seeking after power is the tragic flaw that causes his downfall. When the witches tell Macbeth that he will become King, his interest is instantly aroused. The third witch greets Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter,” this creates an ambition in Macbeth that is unseen before this remark. He is filled with thoughts of betrayal and is eager to become King.
Due to this unrestrained burst of ambition, Macbeth turns to darkness and he begins to act on his thoughts even though when Banquo asks if he ever thinks about the witches’ prophecy, he denies it all. Although the prophecy the witches foresee in Macbeth’s future is news to him, he is shocked and astonished because he has already thought of becoming a king in the past. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s duplicity in character comes through; he is indecisive, guilty and he becomes the worst type of traitor because he goes against God by murdering King Duncan. Macbeth is a character who undergoes a transformation; he leaves his cocoon and morphs into a butterfly, an evil butterfly for that matter. Banquo, Macbeth’s character foil, is one great character.
Characterisation is extremely similar in the play and film. In each text, Macbeth has an extensive moment of doubt before murdering Duncan, and again, when the feat is completed, both feel dreadfully guilty. After killing Duncan they both know that they have done the wrong thing and were pressured into doing so by their wife. Instead of using a soliloquy, Brozel uses a slow dolly in onto Joe to underline the thoughts, emotions, and most of all regret that is running through his mind not unfrequently. This new uncertain and anxious Macbeth is just like that of Shakespeare's.
As the play goes on, Macbeth begins to care less and less about who he kills and just starts killing all of the Thanes around him because he thinks that they are going to kill him. His life starts to fall apart and he goes to see the three witches for a second time. Macbeth even turns on his best friend, Banquo because he remembers the witches saying that Banquo’s children will someday hold the Scottish throne “Then prophet-like they hail’d him father to a line of Kings: Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown” (Macbeth Act 3 63-65). This proves that Macbeth no longer cares about the people who have been his friends and trusted allies for many years. All he now cares about is
Macbeth first takes this in a joking manner, but soon begins to take it very seriously. When he came home to his wife, he shared the witches’ prediction with her and she encourages Macbeth to quicken the process by murdering the current king, King Duncan. After murdering the king, Macbeth soon finds himself needing to kill many more in order to keep his secret. His kingship comes into jeopardy when he hears of someone named Macduff who is foretold to have the power to defeat him. Macbeth hears some juxtapose news that gives him a reckless attitude.
He seems to also become scared of what he is now capable of, as he is repeatedly reminded of the deed that had then taken place. Seeing Banquo’s apparition at the feast causes Macbeth to scream, leading the guest to imagine that the new King has gone mad. It is said that ghost serve only two purposes; unfinished business and untimely deaths. Macbeths mind has spiralled out of control; he can no longer sleep. This was earlier mentioned in Act 2 scene 2, when Macbeth told his wife that “Still it cried, “Sleep no
Before he goes to sleep he tells Lady Macbeth, "All causes shall give way: I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er:" (Act 3, Scene 4, Lines 168-170) Here Macbeth realizes that he went so far down this path of evil that it’s impossible for him to ever make up what he has done. Like Macbeth, Lady Macbeth realizes what associating herself with the murders will bring her and it torments her through nightmares. She begins to sleep walk and cries, “Out, damned spot, out, I say!...What, will these hands ne’er be clean?…Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of / Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines, 37-55) The blood symbolizes Lady Macbeth’s guilt over Duncan’s murder. Her hallucination of the blood on her hands and her constant efforts to wash it off shows the suffering of having a guilty conscience, which is causing her to go insane.
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Whilst Macbeth is having his predicament, Lady Macbeth gets [“drugs their possets] notably to the point “That death and nature do contend about them, whether they live or die” (II, ii, 6-8) however in the process she [“Is made bold”] and becomes slightly inebriated by “that which hath made them drunk” (II, ii, 1). ] Neither Lady Macbeth nor her husband are in any emotional or physical state to efficiently kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth is more vicious in the sense that she successfully and easily completes her task (putting the guards to “sleep”) while Macbeth struggles to kill Duncan, and ultimately needs lady Macbeth to help him finish the deed, which is in fact a man’s
It was easy to listen to the witches ;however it caused him to lose his wife and kill his friend Banquo. In the song he also became lonely because of the decisions he made. The witches controlled Macbeth like a puppet on a string. Telling him how he would become king made him determined enough to kill the king “Listen as the crowd would sing/ “Now the old king is dead! Long live the King!(7/8).