Macbeth A Character Analysis
One of William Shakespeare's most famous tragic plays is Macbeth, aloosely biographical story of the infamous Scottish noble of the same name. The play opens with Scotland at war with Norway, and Macbeth has provenhimself to be a hero by battling a Scotsman who had betrayed Scotland.Macbeth has a pretty charmed life at this point. He is fiercely loyal toScotland and her cause, and he is gaining acclaim and honor for himself inbattle against Scotland's enemy. He is rewarded for his heroic efforts bybeing given the title of Thane of Cawdor by Duncan, Scotland's king. Thisis a huge honor, and a major step up in the world for Macbeth. ThoughMacbeth is already a noble, the title of Thane will give him much morepower, influence, and respect than he had before. Macbeth is definitely aman moving up in the world, a rising star, at the start of the play. Itseems as if his star is going to rise even further when he meets threewitches on his way home from battle, and these witches prophesize thatMacbeth will one day be king of Scotland. When Macbeth hears of his newtitle of Thane and also knows the witches have said he will be king,Macbeth feels as if he is on top of the world and nothing can stop
He is content, and feels no great ambitions to power as he has no thoughtof rising above his own station. Lady Macbeth,in the meantime, is going insane with the guilt of her role in murderingDuncan. Having come to his glorious power by unjust means, Macbeth is finding hisworld spiraling out of control, and that power that he so coveted isbecoming harder and harder to hold onto. At first, he is happywith his lot in life, and is content and proud to fight for Scotland and tobe of use in her service. This is unfortunate, because his Thanes begin to question hissanity, as no one wants an insane king. Since this is a tragedy, things do not go well for Macbeth after thispoint. Macbeth furtherdescends into the mire of his own actions when he commits murder again,this time murdering Macduff's wife and all of his children. While the witches give Macbeth informationthat makes him think he is infallible, they also confirm that Banquo'sdescendants will be kings, not the descendants of Macbeth. He decides to kill Duncan to facilitate hisbecoming king, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, is instrumental in bringingDuncan's murder about. Events are coming together to conspire against Macbeth even more thanhe knows. Malcolm and Macduff are gettingcloser to Macbeth's castle with their army. Macbeth has obviously been corrupted by power. On the night Banquo is killed, Macbeth isvisited by Banquo's ghost, which terrifies him and he goes into a fit ofhorror. The karma of these actions would not have come back to haunt him soterribly.
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