Macbeth
Macbeth: Character Analysis The Tragedy of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is about a soldier, Macbeth, and his friend, Banquo, who meet up with three strange witches who share prophecies with the two men. Macbeth is told that he will become king someday and rule the land of Scotland. The rest of the play follows the actions of once a loyal soldier turned into a greedy king, who seeks to hold the crown forever no matter what the consequences may be. Throughout the play Macbeth displays himself as a dynamic character. At the beginning of the play, he is indecisive about becoming evil and taking over Scotland by committing crimes and murders, or if he should stay loyal to the king and leave things to destiny. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s greed begins to take over and he only cares about becoming king. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is described as a good and hardy soldier (Shakespeare 6), yet once he hears that he will be king, his honorable nature is in question. Three witches begin to share their prophecies with Macbeth and Banquo. The third witch in Act I says to Macbeth “All Hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!” (11). The witches’ prophecies start to bring out Macbeth’s ambitious nature. As Act I progresses, Macbeth starts to contemplate killing King Duncan, who is the current king of Scotland, so that he will be able to rule. He struggles with the thought of murdering King Duncan. In Macbeth’s aside he says, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (13). This line displays Macbeth’s first thought of killing Duncan, but also shows his hesitance of whether he should follow through or not. He decides to leave it to fate whether he shall become king or not (13). Macbeth then goes from contemplating murder to showing respect to the King by telling him that the people of Scotland should do everything loyal to his love and honor
Cited: Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005. Print.