Macbeth Paper

In the play “Macbeth”, Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as the normal man – at first. Through his skills as a warrior, his friendship with Banquo and his loyalty to Duncan, Macbeth attempts to be the everyday man. As the play develops, however, Macbeth becomes over ambitious and power hungry. Like the book A Simple Plan, where people become so involved in their own greed and self-prosper that they kill people they love, Macbeth gains power through extreme desire and corruption. Macbeth does not set out to possess these characteristics. His “simple plan” for life is to be a normal man, according to society, characterized by power, class, bravery, and pride. The plan goes astray as his greed and immorality destroy his pursuit of normalcy. Shakespeare clearly establishes that as Macbeth becomes immersed in his social goals, he becomes inhuman.

Although Macbeth does not appear in the first two scenes of the play, other characters talk about him in very descriptive terms. Macbeth is seen as a very brave and extremely valiant warrior:

“For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name – Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel Which smoked with bloody e

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Macbeth becomes so self-absorbed that he does not think that his wife’s death should be dealt with right then.

Shakespeare, at the beginning of the play, carefully portrays Macbeth as a man of great stature with the capacity to be good, with “milk of human kindness” (1. Macbeth had only killed on the battlefield. This time, Macbeth acts on his own without the encouragement of Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth realizes that he is next in line to replace Duncan as king.

While Macbeth decides to break his bond with morality, Banquo resists the temptation. He ultimately loses his wife, his kingdom and, finally, his life. When Duncan becomes too old to fight, Macbeth takes his place in the front line. He says that they will talk about it tomorrow. Macbeth, by contrast, represents medieval society in decline. Macbeth has served under Duncan for many years as Thane of Glamis. First, Banquo “represents one aspect of Macbeth, the side of ordinary humanity which Macbeth must destroy within himself before he can give his soul entirely to the forces of darkness” (Ribner 248).

Banquo suspects that Macbeth is behind Duncan’s murder. Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as linked to humanity, his fellow men, and to God. xecution, Like Valour’s minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave, Which ne’er shook hands, nor bade fare well to him, till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chaps and fixed his head upon out battlements” (1.

Approximate Word count = 1519
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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