The Character of MacBeth

             Macbeth is presented as a mature man of definitely
             established character, successful in certain fields of
             activity and enjoying an enviable reputation. We must not
             conclude, there, that all his volitions and actions are
             predictable; Macbeth's character, like any other man's at a
             given moment, is what is being made out of potentialities
             plus environment, and no one, not even Macbeth himself, can
             know all his inordinate self-love whose actions are
             discovered to be-and no doubt have been for a long time-
             determined mainly by an inordinate desire for some temporal
             Macbeth is actuated in his conduct mainly by an
             inordinate desire for worldly honors; his delight lies
             primarily in buying golden opinions from all sorts of people.
             But we must not, therefore, deny him an entirely human
             complexity of motives. For example, his fighting in Duncan's
             service is magnificent and courageous, and his evident joy in
             it is traceable in art to the natural pleasure which
             accompanies the explosive expenditure of prodigious physical
             energy and the euphoria which follows. He also rejoices no
             doubt in the success which crowns his efforts in battle - and
             so on. He may even conceived of the proper motive which
             should energize back of his great deed:
             The service and the loyalty I owe,
             But while he destroys the king's enemies, such motives work
             but dimly at best and are obscured in his consciousness by
             more vigorous urges. In the main, as we have said, his nature
             violently demands rewards: he fights valiantly in order that
             he may be reported in such terms a "valour's minion" and
             "Bellona's bridegroom"' he values success because it brings
             spectacular fame and new titles and royal favor heaped upon
             him in public. Now so long as these mutable goods are at all
             commensurate with his inordinate desires - and such is the
             case, up until he covets the kingship - Ma...

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The Character of MacBeth. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 19:58, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/73328.html