There are an abundant amount of accounts in Shakespeare’s poem, Macbeth, which depict Macbeth as being morally ambiguous. Throughout the story, Macbeth is seen as heroic, evil, and misfortunate. Ultimately, Macbeth is tragic hero insofar as he was once a hero; however, he allowed for his ambition to get the best of him and lead him to his downfall. First of all, the beginning of the poem, the Sergeant glorifies Macbeth by notifying King Duncan of his heroic actions in battle. “For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name) disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like Valour’s minion carved out his passage, till he faced the slave, which never shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, till he unseamed
Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as a heroic figure, proudly serving his country through his courageous actions. However, after an encounter among three witches concerning his fortunes, Macbeth evolves into an obsessive character with a goal to obtain more power. In the beginning of the play, the King of Scotland, King Duncan encounters a bleeding sergeant that his noblemen, Macbeth and Banquo, had attacked. Duncan had exclaimed “What bloody man is that? He can report,/ As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt/ The newest state.” (1.2.1-3), to which blood indicates the open wounds Macbeth had caused to him.
William Shakespeare's Macbeth, is a Medieval story about a nobleman who had evil ambitions of becoming the King of Scotland. It is evident in the play that both Macbeth, the nobleman, and Lady Macbeth, his wife, suffer from the same tragic flaw: uncontrolled ambition.This uncontrolled ambition causes them to commit regicide. Although Lady Macbeth coerces Macbeth to murder King Duncan of Scotland, it is clear that she is, in fact, a victim to her ambition. She suffers greatly by losing her sanity, which ultimately leads to her death. Lady Macbeth is a victim of her uncontrolled ambition.This ambition causes her to push herself and Macbeth to the very edge.
Macbeth Motif Essay In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth the thane of Glamis is easily mislead by the prophecies of the three witches. After one of their prophecies becomes true and he becomes the thane of Cawdor he is fooled into believing the rest of the prophecies. Macbeth willing to do anything to gain the throne of King Duncan commits many murders. He kills anyone that gets between him and his ambition of the throne. His greedy and power hungry wife, Lady Macbeth, assists him in devising plans to kill King Duncan and seize Scotland.
The devil, or the evil spirits, take up many disguises, one of which is through Lady Macbeth. Our tragic hero does not realize that every murder will come back to haunt him. We begin to see the slippery slope Macbeth slides down as he promptly kills his best friend, Banquo, and attempts to murder Banquo’s only child, Fleance, without any outside influences. He was content killing his closest ally because he worries about the witches prophecy that “the seeds of Banquo’s kings, rather than so, come fate into the list, and champion me to the utterance…” (III.I.70-73). Even when you believe Macbeth cannot be any worse he slaughters Macduff’s entire family when he hears Macduff has fled to England; he said that he would “give to the edge o’the sword his wife, babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line”.
Hanna de Villa Ms. Jackson ENG 3U1 - 11 16 May 2008 The Source of All Evil in Macbeth: Women Macbeth is a play full of betrayal, deceit and murder. Generally, men carry out these actions but instead women stir the cauldron of trouble. From the witches’ prophecies that spark Macbeth’s murder, Lady Macbeth’s domineering presence and the exploitation she uses on her husband are the inevitable roots of catastrophe and evil in the play. They do not show any aggression and violence but relies on deception, manipulation and supernatural phenomenon. The Witches and Hecate portray the image and eminence of evil in Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth is not satisfied with power, as soon as there is an additional opportunity for abundant power Lady Macbeth is committed to getting that power by any means necessary, moral or immoral. She desires for her husband to gutlessly murder King Duncan and expects him to be mentally stable after the murder. However, she is the one who is driven to complete insanity because of all the killing that Macbeth is doing and all the bloodshed that the pair has caused. This is essentially Lady Macbeths fault as she bestowed her corrupt morals onto Macbeth. She shaped the mindset that it was necessary to murder someone who trusts you for more power and accordingly she changed Macbeth’s way of thinking.
Banquo illustrated Macbeth’s subconscious belief that he was an undeserved kin, for he has played “foully.” Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s conscience to show how even the idea of power can be strongly manifested in someone’s mind and slowly corrupt any existence of principles and integrity, once again emphasizing the idea that “absolute power corrupts absolutely. “Another example of Shakespeare using Macbeth’s internal conflict to depict the theme, “absolute power corrupts absolutely” was after Duncan’s regicide. After hearing the witches’ prophecy, Macbeth contemplates on committing regicide on the King but once again his conscience constricts him from doing so. However, he is clearly vacillating with the thought of murder when he says, “if chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without stir. His inner conflict is shown explicitly in act 1, scene 7 when he weighs not only the detrimental political consequences of the murder but also the moral values involved.
We know Macbeth has a violent side and has done many horrific things that are commended by other characters in the play when his battle is described in how he dealt with one member of opposition, “Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements”. This shows us a side of Macbeth that we now being to question his nobility as he is now capable of many things. There are many different characters that contribute to the change of the character Macbeth but the most important people that shape him differently is his wife Lady Macbeth, the three witches and the three apparitions. Our Sympathy for Macbeth begins when he and Banquo a close friend are approached by the three witches in which they tell them three Prophecies. These prophecies were directed to Macbeth in fooling him that he would be crowned king.
Who causes the Downfall of Macbeth? Macbeth's downfall is attributed to a sense of over-confidence and unchecked ambition, and the impact of the witch's prophecy all three seal Macbeth's fate and his destruction At the start of the play, Macbeth is a loyal, courageous servant of the King of Scotland, but he is a man who harbors a hidden ambition for power. He is both noble and brave in his defense of the King in battle, he is rewarded for his actions. Macbeth has an encounter with a trio of witches and his life is changed. Once the witches show him his future, he becomes obsessed with speeding up the anticipated coming into power.