Macbeth Character Analysis

    William Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth shows the gradual descent of the character Macbeth into the moral abyss.   Macbeth's yearning for power draws him to the murder of King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff's family. It is difficult to understand how a courageous, gentle man such as Macbeth, could be involved in such villainous activities. In truth, it was the witches and Lady Macbeth that transformed into evil Macbeth's natural desire for control and authority.  The play, Macbeth clearly illustrates that wicked intention must, in the end, produce wicked action.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.

Seeking for Power In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth becomes stuck in a cycle of constantly wanting more and more power. He kills Duncan to become king, and then kills Banquo and Macduff’s family to try and maintain his power. Macbeth becomes trapped in this cycle since he believes he is unsaveable from his actions, pressured by people around him to control more power, and wants to pass his power on to his future children. The power struggle observed throughout the play by Macbeth also enhances the book's meaning by showing changes in characters, gender differences, and the ending of the play. Macbeth continues to try and gain more power by killing people since he feels like he can not be saved from his actions after killing Duncan.

A character’s tragic downfall is often influenced by other characters, but this is not the case in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Macbeth conforms to the conditions of a tragic hero because in the beginning of the play, Macbeth is an honourable and trustworthy nobleman to King Duncan and all of Scotland. However, throughout the play, Macbeth commits evil deeds such betrayal, treason, and murder solely because of his ambitions to remain in power. Macbeth murders others upon hearing the witches’ prophecies and even proceeds to return to them to remain in power. Macbeth is influenced and manipulated by his wife Lady Macbeth and The Witches, but he is ultimately responsible for his own tragic downfall. Macbeth’s tragic downfall is caused by his ‘vaulting ambition’ to become king. Thus, Macbeth has no one but his ruthless, cruel, and greedy self to blame for his own tragic downfall.

“To test a man’s character, give him power.” This quote by Abraham Lincoln perfectly describes what happened to Macbeth throughout the play. Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare that tells the story of a Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become king. Encouraged and under the subtle manipulations of his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders the current King Duncan and takes the throne. Consumed by the guilt of his actions and the unyielding paranoia that everyone is out to get him, the audience is given a front-row ticket into the inner workings of Macbeth’s mind, slowly deteriorating as he tries to maintain his waning power, guiding the ambitious man to a tragic death.

The tragedy, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare details Macbeth’s expeditious rise and looming fall from power through his several wrongdoings and dark crimes across the play. Power as seen in Macbeth pushes the plot towards the downfall of the protagonist and often creates an image of struggle, whether it be portrayed internally or between characters. The juxtaposition of power and womanhood, uncommon for it’s time, used to emasculate Macbeth shows the peculiarity of his path to the throne, while he grapples with the results of his actions motivated by the hunger for power. Shakespeare uses the idea of status and recurring power struggles between characters in Macbeth to present a warning of the subsequent results of gaining power and shows the change of character Macbeth has through his acquiring of power.

Throughout reading the play, Macbeth changes a lot from being a man of loyalty and honesty, to a man of whom is power hungry and greedy. This shows how the more power you receive the more power you want; which in many cases, such as this one leads to destruction. Many of the choices that Macbeth made were influenced by the power that he had, and this power began to take over him. This then lead to greed and destruction of not only others, but himself as well.

Macbeth corrupts the power of rule and becomes self centered and greedy. The corruption of power creates self centeredness and revenge. Early in the play, Macbeth emerges as the definition of what it means to be a man, Macbeth takes his time so everything will be one right and no one will question him when he takes throne. Fortunately, Macbeth’s decision to rethink the plan of Duncan's murder enables him to change his plan so he can kill Duncan and will have it be “done quickly”.

In the play “Macbeth” the author furthers the ideas of ambition, manhood and violence throughout the play using a gender lens, mainly for masculinity in men. In the play “Macbeth” ambition plays a big role in the man characters life; Macbeth. In Act 1 scene 3, lines 125-129, “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm; The instruments of darkness tell us truth.” (Shakespeare 1.3.125-129). This quote stated by Banquo foreshadows Macbeth further into the play. Macbeth ends up killing King Duncan because he wants to be in power over the kingdom. When Banquo questions Macbeth about the killing of King Duncan, Macbeth’s ambition to kill Banquo skyrocketed. Macbeth didn’t want anybody to think or know that he ended up killing King Duncan for power. This started a cycle of death for Macbeth’s ambition to kill to stay in power. This example of ambition from “Macbeth” has a very similar motif from the movie called “The Mask You Live In”. In the movie, George Orwell states, “He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it.” The idea of the mask he wear fits his face helps us further the reason for men’s ambitions. Men’s ambitions are driven by power and dominance over people and prized possessions. For men to be able to gain power, they need to prove how masculine they are to society. In doing so they are dehumanizing their biological thoughts and feelings and turning them into artificial ones in order to be seen more powerful or dominate to the public.

Macbeth has a choice, as stated in Macbeth’s soliloquy “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overlaps itself and falls on th’other” (1.7.25). Macbeth tries to justify himself as to why he may kill King Duncan, unruly ambition is his only excuse and his determination begins to surface. Macbeth begins seeking his future as king and will overcome any obstacle “the prince our Cumberland, that is a step I must overleap, for in my way it lies” (1.5.50). This quote proves Macbeth has the ambition to become the new king, and that he alone is the instigator in the murder of King Duncan. “Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black desires” (1.5.50) clearly demonstrates that in order for Macbeth to achieve the throne and become king, he will have to commit deeds that are contrary to his fading sense of right and wrong.

Macbeth thirst for power causes him to consider killing King Duncan. To explain, Macbeth says, “My murderous thought is still only imaginary but it shakes my entire manhood so deeply that my power to act is smothered by expectation, and nothing seems real to be except what I imagine. ”(Act 1 scene 3 lines 149-151). Macbeth did not use to have these thoughts until he gained power. Now his thoughts and action are starting to change.

3. 157-159) Macbeth’s arrogance is made apparent with the immediacy of his thoughts of becoming king and it is clear that the supernatural has given him arrogant ambition as Macbeth is already beginning to think of how he will be crowned king. Macbeth eventually decides he will show his “Black and deep desires” (1. 4. 58) and murder Duncan, the current king of Scotland. This is a shift from Macbeth showing loyalty to Scotland and the king as he now has arrogantly, for the benefit of himself becoming king, murdered Duncan, the king of Scotland. Duncan was greatly admired and respected by the population of Scotland. Macbeth himself describes Duncan as “meek” (1. 7. 17) and being “so clear in his great office” (1. 7. 18). When Macduff first realizes the death of Duncan, he describes the scene as: “O horror, horror, horror!” (2. 3. 73) Macbeth acknowledges that the reaction to Duncan’s death would be mournful before murdering him: “Pity… / Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, / That tears shall drown the wind” (1.7. 21-25). However, Macbeth’s only goal is to become king, not to please the population of Scotland who admires their king greatly and sees him as a righteous person. After tempting Macbeth with the idea of becoming king, the supernatural gives Macbeth arrogant ambition, forcing him to contrast his loyal and courageous personality, which motivates him to kill Duncan.

Many of people have heard the tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The story revolves on a sequence of misfortunate events that take place when Macbeth makes immoral decisions to be king. In the play, Shakespeare shows how power can cause corruption in a human’s brain. Macbeth himself was not a very confident person, though he had a kind soul to begin with, he was easily influenced and gullible. Through the prophecies of the evil beings, an insignificant seed was planted in Macbeth. That spark of wealth and fortune caused the tyrant within him to awake. Which eventually lead to his fatal death. His ambition lead him to murder, go insane and become very superstitious.

Whilst the character of Macbeth is initially portrayed as a noble kinsman, his ambition and motivation, directly influenced by the witches and Lady Macbeth, ultimately transforms him into a corrupt and ruthless tyrant. William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy “Macbeth” clearly depicts this notion of change, illustrated through Shakespeare's utilisation of literary techniques. The tragic downfall of Macbeth is mainly attributed to Macbeth’s own greed and hubris.

Throughout reading the play, Macbeth changes a lot from being a man of loyalty and honesty, to a man of whom is power hungry and greedy. This shows how the more power you receive the more power you want; which in many cases, such as this one leads to destruction. Many of the choices that Macbeth made were influenced by the power that he had, and this power began to take over him. This then lead to greed and destruction of not only others, but himself as well.