Firstly, Macbeth wears the cloak of disillusionment, which makes him appear as if he is a subject to honor, but in reality he is a man only of dishonor. Macbeth, a cousin of the king, is quickly established as a general of great prowess, who has decorated himself with the glory of defeating the rebellion and repelling an invasion against Scotland. He is “brave Macbeth” (1.2.16), “valor's minion” (1.2.19), “Bellona's bridegroom” (1.2.54), “noble Macbeth” (1.2.67). Even Duncan, the king himself, exclaims, “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!” (1.2.24). His courage in war is a thing of “honor” (1.3.104), and so he is presented with the tittle thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is repeatedly being painted with the strokes of these heroic lines of honor. …show more content…
He does not want to be a loyal servant to the king, but rather be the king with loyal servants to serve him. And because of these ambitious thoughts lurking in his mind, he must ask the “Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4.52-53). So that no one can see through his wall of false appearance and discern his true deepest desires. Hence, Macbeth appeared to be an honorable and exemplary candidate for the role that king Duncan bestows upon him, but in reality he is only dishonorable for he has notion of regicide to become king himself and must appears to be loyal to a king “whose murder yet is but fantastical” (1.3.139). Also, Lady Macbeth hides herself behind the wall of her false appearance which makes her seem as if she is the greatest of hostess, but in reality she too has “black and deep desires” (1.4.52-53), to kill king …show more content…
Lady Macbeth, who through her hospitality, appears to be of no threat to king Duncan, uses her “false face” (1.7.82), to “hide what the false heart doth know” (1.7.82), so that the king is mesmerized into a false sense of security. She, through her courtesy, appears only to be entertaining king Duncan and his grooms with a fine fest, but in reality is using the “wine and wassail” (1.7.64), as an instrument in the dastardly drugging of Duncan's grooms. She too, herself, makes it look as if "she is nothing but “th' innocent / flower” (1.5.56-57), when in reality she is nothing but the “serpent under’t” (1.5.58). Lastly, Banquo presents himself with a mirage of forever lasting loyalty towards Macbeth, but in reality he too wants the witches prophecies to come true for him and bare kings as children. Banquo, who did not fail in suspecting that Macbeth might have “played’st most foully” (3.1.3), for such a prestigious title, takes on the role of “chief guest” (3.1.11). Why would a man not fled nor turn against the one who he suspects to be
Themes are a huge representation in several stories as they deliver the truth and lesson about life. In Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, witches arrive and confess to Macbeth about his future of being King of Scotland. Macbeth becomes King of Scotland and murders masses of people to prevent them from taking his title so that he would remain as king forever. Blood is a relevant theme of this play as it runs throughout Shakespeare's story.
This shows he is brave because, due to his valiant efforts and bravery in the war, the King believed this was enough to bestow the title Thane of Cawdor upon him. Furthermore this shows that King Duncan believes it was him alone that won the war for Scotland. Macbeth is also shown as kind when Lady Macbeth says “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o ' th ' milk of human kindness” this tells me personally that Lady Macbeth thinks that he is so kind that it is actually a handicap for him, in the sense that because Lady Macbeth wants him to kill the King she believes that his kindness will prevent him from doing such a devious act to acquire power. This could also be a metaphor for the level of his kindness, you could say that the only way to
“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” is a quote from the movie The Dark Knight Rises. Seeing that, the quote gives an insight on tragic heroes with their tragic flaw/traits being what leads them to become a villain. In addition, Macbeth throughout act 1 has been portrayed with important lineaments through valorous, evil, and ambition traits.
Macbeth is a well trained soldier who seems like he’d be a great leader and lots of people look up to him which makes him powerful. “All hail Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, be king hereafter”(Act 1, Scene 1). This quote is showing what Macbeth will become in the future and why people will respect him and his power. People are too scared to stand up to King Macbeth because they are afraid of what he’ll do and the confidence he has with his power is dangerous. “The power of man for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”(Act 4, Scene 1).
Who’s to Blame Essay Who’s to blame for Macbeth’s decision to kill King Duncan. In Act one of Shakespeare’s exciting drama Macbeth, Macbeth, the Thane of Cawdor is convinced by different characters in the book to choose to kill King Duncan. By doing this, this will make Macbeth become the king which would give a tremendous amount of power in Scotland. Initially, Macbeth did not want to kill Duncan, however different characters convince him to do so. It is right to say that Lady Macbeth and the Three Witches are ones to blame for Macbeth’s decision to kill King Duncan.
Macbeth clearly distinguished himself as a great warrior, but his battlefield heroics did not carry over into heroic behavior off the battlefield. It is ironic that he, who had defended Duncan from traitors colluding with Irish and Norwegian armies, himself harbored traitorous thoughts. As he was contemplating assassinating Duncan, Macbeth was having trouble in justifying what he was about to do. “I am his kinsman and his subject, / Strong both against the
He was brave and had a lot of honor. He never suspected macbeth would turn on him.
Macbeth come across the three witches, there they state, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor” (Act 1, Scene 3). In reply to the three witches, Macbeth demanded “stay you imperfect speakers! Tell me more”. With just these few statements announced, Macbeth’s thirst for power and glory arises and is clearly seen.
Macbeth’s impatience for power leads to drastic actions. He murders the king in the belief that “this blow might be the be-all and end-all” (1.7.5). This assassination could never “trammel up the consequence” (1.7.2-3), as Macbeth believes, but only leads to more trouble. Although Macbeth seizes the throne, Macbeth had to betray his loyalty to the king whose “virtues will plead like angels” (1.7.18-19), and his morality has paid the price. Macbeth has now lost all sense of what honor is by using such dishonest ways to become king.
“Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.” (Act II, Scene II) Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare in the 1600’s, is the shortest of Shakespearian tragedies. The main character, Macbeth, receives a prophecy that he will become King of Scotland. Ambition takes over him and he commits many murders to keep the throne.
To fight for an individual’s country was a noble deed. However, in Macbeth’s case, it becomes a symbol of guilt and discomfort. In the beginning, Macbeth is a revered soldier and a confident nobleman but after murdering Duncan, he experiences a change in character, becoming uncomfortable and paranoid for committing such a horrible crime.
Throughout King Macbeth’s impassioned soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, his insecurity and inferiority complex is highlighted as he strives to rationalize his position as king and murderer. At the beginning of his soliloquy, Macbeth declares that “to be thus is nothing” despite having committed heinous crimes to become this “nothing”. The parallel structure used in “to be thus” and “to be safely thus” juxtaposes what he has and what he lacks as king, indicating his feeling of inferiority in and his lack of worth of his stolen crown (48). By committing horrible sins to achieve the crown, he had soiled the title of it and demoted it into “nothing”.
Subtext: The king has completely given his trust to Macbeth for a few very good reasons. The image Duncan has crafted of Macbeth is of a righteous man who is obedient to his king. Duncan even proclaims that Macbeth has “signs of nobleness” (1.4, 41). Duncan is completely blindsided and fooled by Macbeth and is unable to see underneath the mask that Macbeth has crafted.
During the first act, Duncan along with many others showered Macbeth with praises such as, “For brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name-”(1.2.16) and
As the plot develops he seems to bring out his negative side over the positive one. The extract is crucial as it ignites the lust for power and position in Macbeth. Thus it is the time where Macbeth starts to enhance his bad qualities which eventually become worse. Subsequently the phrase ‘the service and loyalty I owe ’ highlights his solider qualities and depicts his positive side whereas in the end of the extract the diction used such as ‘black and deep desires’, ‘hide’ showcases the dominance of the negative thoughts in his mind. This extract contradicts the idea that Lady Macbeth was the one who made Macbeth commit the murder.