Macbeth’s character Essay

It is a fair assessment of Macbeths constituent to come up to him nonhing but a roughshod and merciless villain?In Shakespe atomic number 18s Macbeth, Macbeth is a very complex character wake some(prenominal) different traits in his m any(prenominal) appearances through come in the shirk. The story buy the farms after a battle Macbeth then meets three trancees who foresee that he will sound faggot of Scotland. These witches knew alone about Macbeths calamitous flaw, his greed for former. This fatal flaw, as a typical tragic numbfish was the ca give of his downfall. in that rate is no doubt that passim the play Macbeth is a brutal and ruthless villain, but it is sure as shooting questionable to say that they are his only qualities onward Macbeth is purge introduced to the audience, we are already told of his capacity for brutality. The captain describes Macbeths actions to the top executive when he says, Like Valours minion, carved out his expiration / Till he f aced the slave. The captain goes on to say, Which neer shook hands, nor bade fare swell up to him, / Till he unseamed him from nave to chaps.This teaching also shows the brutality and barbarity of Macbeths character very well as he did non salutary end this mans life in an honourable and quick expression, but instead sliced him all the way from his stomach to his jaw. Macbeth is also obviously very highly regarded among his colleagues and indeed enemies as universe both brutal and stalwart out, as the captain again says to Malcolm, For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that seduce), showing that otherwises constant of gravitationght of him as a very brave man. There is a lot of irony in this point as at this point in the play, Macbeth is being very highly regarded as being brave and ruthless, whereas later on these same qualities will fall asleep him all his respect.As the play unfolds Macbeth finds it increasingly easy to kill innocent muckle, which shows distinctly the ruthlessness and the brutality of his character. The first person that Macbeth kills in the play is King Duncan. Shakespeares audience would have taken this particular wickedness of regicide very seriously as they believed in divine right, that the office was elect from God and anyone who similarlyk that origin away was defying God and it was the ultimate molest. King crowd would have been very pleased at this element of the play, as it showed that any person who riveted regicide suffered greatly as a consequence of it. to a fault the fact that Macbeth murdered a King while he was quiescency and was utterly defenceless would have been seen as being very dishonourable.The or so innocent of all of Macbeths victims of his barbarity is maam Macduff and her son. Macbeths other victims are all directly bloc mightiness his path to supreme power and so one could argue that they were necessary, but madam Macduff and her family are just a precaution that Macbeth took to try and ge t to Macduff. . In the scene where madam Macduff and her son are killed, the innocence of the child is emphasised in his run-in and the questions that he asks his mother. When his mother questions how he will live after his begetters death he replies, As birds do, mother, clearly showing his naivety and vulnerability. This further enhances the barbarity, as Macbeths victims were so unaware of Macduffs business and also Macbeth was not even honourable enough to do the deed himself.Although Macbeth is unaware of his fatal flaw, he still acknowledges that he is exemplary more and more ruthless as the story progresses. He uses a metaphor of ariver of blood to clearly show how he feels inside. Macbeth saysI am in bloodStepped in so far, that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go oer.By development this metaphor, Macbeth is saying that he has killed so many people now that it would be easier to carry on being ruthless and ferocious then to go back and repent. Macbe th is here admitting that he has done wrong and thinks of himself as a lost cause that has no hope of doing swell ever again. Macbeth also says, We are yet but young in deed, suggesting that Macbeth sees the deeds he has committed so far as small in comparison to the deeds that he will commit in the future. Finally in Act Five Macbeth says that he has forget the taste of fear, showing that because of the witches telling him that no man born of a woman can harm him, he does not fear anything anymore.The character that was the driving force behind all his wrong doings startle from the murder of King Duncan was Macbeths wife, dame Macbeth. Therefore one would theorise that when she died, Macbeth would be devastated, but in reality when she does die Macbeth shows no sorrow at all. When Seyton informs Macbeth that his wife is dead, all Macbeth can say isShe should have died futurityThere would have been a time for such a countersignature Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.In th is Shakespeare is trying to emphasis just how much Macbeth has changed throughout the book, from going from a loving husband to not even sympathize with about the death of his wife. It is almost as if Macbeth at this point is incompetent of human emotions anymore, bid he has turned into the beasts that first gave him these apparitions.Macbeth is an extreme lordly ruler of Scotland and chooses to rule with fear rather than judgement out of respect. When Malcolm and Macduff are describing Macbeths rule, they use personification to emphasise the amount of damage that Macbeth is doing to Scotland. Macduff says, Bleed, bleed, hapless country, / Great tyranny. Lay thou thy basis sure. This makes Scotlands suffering face human and the use of personification enhances the bad feelings that the lecturer has for Macbeth and also the feelings that Scotland is a victim is enhanced.Macbeths brutality and ruthlessness leads to him being very laconic of loyal followers as they all disapprove of his tyrannical ruling methods. The few that do remain do so only out of fear of what Macbeth would do if they did not obey him. When Rosse and the messenger warn Lady Macduff that Macbeths murderers are on the way to kill them, Rosse says, I am so much a fool, should I stay longer and the messenger says, I dare abide no longer. These both statements clearly show the fear that these men have for their lives in disobeying Macbeth. The fact that even Macbeths own men fear him enhances the evil feeling that the reader has for Macbeth.Shakespeare strengthens the image that Macbeth is a ruthless villain by the opinions that others have for him. In Acts 4 and 5, the English leaders refer to Macbeth as a boo-boo, a hell-hound and an abhorred tyrant. This shows the disrespect that the neighbouring countries felt for Macbeths reign. Shakespeare also uses pathetic error to emphasise the evilness of Macbeths crimes, when the porter says, This place is too cool for hell. Ill devil-porte r it / no further, this is quite an extreme statement showing that Macbeths castle is even worse than hell,indicating evil and wrong doing is present in some way. All this imagery is used by Shakespeare to further take to the evil feelings that the reader has for Macbeths crimes against the King.It can however be argued that Macbeth has sure enough not been a brutal and ruthless villain all throughout the play. Before we even meet Macbeth we are presented with a view of him being a noble man as we are told this by the king when he describes Macbeth as a valiant cousin and a worthy gentleman The captain also says brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name. These two accounts of Macbeth clearly show both the Captain and the Kings respect for Macbeth. Shakespeare builds up Macbeth like this so that when he does fall, it will be so much greater.Macbeths first major crime is the murder of King Duncan. Although this in itself could definitely be seen as brutal and ruthless, Macbeth did s how a lot of anxiety about performing the crime before and he did show a great deal of regret after the deed. Macbeth hears strike hard after he has murdered Duncan and Macbeth says, Wake Duncan with thy knocking I would thou couldst, it is apparent from this that Macbeth has certainly got a conscience, as he wished that he could volte-face his actions. Shakespeare also uses a metaphor of blood on Macbeths hands to emphasise his guilt when Macbeth saysWill all great Neptunes maritime wash this bloodClean from my handMacbeth is experiencing the feeling that no calculate what he does, he can never wash off the smirch of his guilt.Macbeth is not the only one to blame for his crimes and had it not been for Lady Macbeth it could certainly be argued that Macbeth would not have acted on any of his ideas of murder. Lady Macbeth says that Macbeth is too full o the milk of human kindness, using the give voice too to make it sound like it was a weakness on Macbeths part, showing that she feels Macbeth is too pleasant to be committing these types of crimes. Also Lady Macbeth uses all her powers of persuasion to get Macbeth to do what he wants.She questions his manhood, she uses flattery when she says, And, to be more than you what you were, you would / Be so much more the man, and she also uses randy blackmail to twist Macbeths mind. With this constant source of irritation incessantly near him, it is no wonder that he gave in in the end. It is not surprising that Macbeth eventually gave in to his wife as she is such a powerful and dominating character in the book Shakespeare re-enforces the idea of Lady Macbeth being powerful and evil when Lady Macbeth saysCome, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me hereThis statement makes Lady Macbeth sound like the witches and therefore enhances her evilness and domination of Macbeth.Macbeth would not be considered ruthless and brutal had it not been for the forces of evil in the three witches. Macbeth was however a creature in their plan. They knew his weakness for power and used it against him. They told him exactly what he cute to hear and that consequently led to the death of the king. Macbeth would have remained faithful to king and country, if the witches had not filled his head with thoughts that he could not escape. Therefore Macbeth was not the evil and villainous one, he was merely a victim of the witchs evil. The evil in the witches is emphasised by Shakespeares use of pathetic fallacy. At the beginning of the play Shakespeare says in the stage directions Thunder and lightning, using pathetic fallacy to make the witches seem even wicked and their power emphasised as it almost seems that they have control over the weather.As there is so many factors that show that Macbeth is not just merely a brutal and ruthless villain, it would be wrong to call Macbeth postal code but a villain. The very fact that Macbeth is a tragic hero is demo in itself that Macbeth has the potential for goo d but is merely destruct by his fatal flaw, because tragic heros have to start with power and respect and gradually lose that throughout the play. This is summed up dead in Act 4 Scene 3 when Malcolm saysThis tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,Was once thought honest you have loved him well.Despite all the crimes that Macbeth has committed, Malcolm is still saying that this was not always the case, showing further evidence that Macbeth is more than just a brutal and ruthless villain.