Macbeth Mini Essay

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Macbeth Mini Essay Q: Choose from a play a scene which significantly changes your view of a character. Explain how the scene prompts this reappraisal and discuss how important it is to your understanding of the character in the play as a whole. “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is a well know dark tragedy in which the audience’s opinion of the main character changes throughout. In Act I Scene II, Macbeth is initially portrayed as a noble and loyal knight who seems to love his king and his country. However, our opinion of him quickly changes in Act I Scene III when his true ambitions are revealed after an encounter with three witches and he soon learns that he himself will become king one day. During this key scene we see a seed planted into Macbeth’s mind which leads him into taking a murderous path. Through analysis and evaluation of these key scenes and in particular the characterisation of Macbeth, I will show how our view of him significantly changes throughout the entire play. In Act I Scene II we are led to believe that Macbeth’s character is a noble and loyal servant to his king as we hear of his courageous action on the battlefield: “For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name…” This is the first time we get a true in site into Macbeth’s character and we are told of his courageousness in battle. Shakespeare’s use of the word “brave” is used to give us a false impression of Macbeth’s true self. Also, “well he deserves that name” is used by Shakespeare to make the audience think he has worked extremely hard to earn his title and to therefore make it more of a shock to us when our opinions of him are forced to change in Act I Scene III. Act I Scene III is the first scene of the play where we see into Macbeth’s true personality. “Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more… The greatest is behind…” Although at first Macbeth thinks the
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