Discuss how the characters of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Duncan are established in Act I by using textual evidence to support your points. Macbeth: “return to plague the inventor” Macbeth is a person that knows what he must do but is doubtful of it. He is the war hero and got news of his promotion by the witches, who also said he would be promoted further. To make their prophecy come true he must kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth: “unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty” Lady Macbeth is the “true” evil.
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.
In the Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the reader is made to question what type of person Macbeth is and what caused Macbeth to commit the horrible crimes that he did. Throughout the start of the play there are many different causes that could have led to his fall into madness. One of them is the witches, whom instigate the downfall of Macbeth and the beginning of his madness, but as the story goes on, Lady Macbeth also convinces him to commit murder, and as the story comes to its conclusion, Macbeth himself decides to kill more innocents, leaving the reader with the consideration of who is really responsible for the murders. The first group to convince Macbeth to commit murder are the three witches, the witches first confront Macbeth and Banquo at the beginning of the play and tell them their prophecies of the future. They say to Macbeth that he will be king “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!”, and that Banquo will be a father of kings saying “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”.
Macbeth has returned from the murder scene and brought the daggers with him. She is annoyed with him because he is being careless and is too scared to go back after the murder. She goes and puts them back herself. Lady Macbeth plays a key role as she removes her feminine caring feelings so she can push Macbeth to carry out the murder. Secondly, the witches are also responsible for the murder of King
The witches and Lady Macbeth made Macbeth lose his sanity. Lady Macbeth and the witches were to a great extent accountable for Macbeth’s actions. If he hadn’t trusted the witches’ prophecies so much and if Lady Macbeth wasn’t so vicious, Macbeth could have lived to become a respected King. His own actions, influenced by others, lead to his fatal
Cinthya Carpinteyro August 8, 2012 Macbeth Essay Macbeth had a lust for power and that led him to change from the person he was to evil. Macbeth was a guy who was not sure of what he was doing but let himself be manipulated by the people around him. If Macbeth hadn’t developed a hunger for power, he wouldn’t have ever committed the crimes he did nor made the decisions that led him to take the actions that brought consequences for himself and the other characters. IN the story “Macbeth”, Macbeth is more responsible for the murders because he took advantage of what the witches had told him, he became obsesses with the blood that laid in his hands, and he decided to listen to his wife and prove his manhood. Macbeth takes advantage of what the witches tell him that he decides to get all the people that might stop him from being King out of his way.
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.
The witches’ prophesies create Macbeth’s lust for power. They steer his mind on a path. This is a path that he would have inevitably followed but did not have the courage to do so. Then Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to commit the murder of King Duncan. This murder leads to the death of many people that may not have died if Macbeth did not kill Duncan.
The only reason Banquo is murdered is because Macbeth becomes paranoid after the witches prediction. Finally, the witches are responsible for the death of Macduff’s family. When Macbeth goes to see the witches to get more information the witches show him three apparitions one of witch tells Macbeth to watch out for Macduff. After hearing this Macbeth decides that he needs to send a message to Macduff and the way Macbeth does it is by killing Macduff’s family. Macduff’s family most likely would not have been murdered if the withes had not told Macbeth to fear
These influences were those such as the witches and Lady Macbeth. Without these external influences it is unlikely that Macbeth would have had the motivation to commit his first murder and thus saving him from himself. The three witches in Macbeth are portrayed as supernatural entities that lack the qualities of both man and woman whose sole purpose of existence is to upset the natural order. This is shown when they first prophesy of ‘Macbeth hail to thee, Thane of Cowder’, taking advantage of his weaknesses, whether ‘he could also become king hereafter’, thus planting the seed of ambition in his mind. However, he is not yet fully convinced that the throne will become his without force so the thoughts of murdering his beloved king begin to crawl into his head against his will.