“All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King here after”.
Through the act in the book the readers view of Macbeth changes completely. The character who entered the stage at the beginning is, in the eyes of the audience, completely different person from the character at the end of the first act. He transforms from a good man, a loyal soldier honest to one who is prepared to kill to be king.
Even before Macbeth himself appears on stage, he is discussed as a good man by the king and the king’s eldest son ‘Malcolm’. They speak of Macbeth as a great soldier after his recent success in the battlefield, while in the service of the King. The King then talks to Macbeth and tells him how the Thane of Cawdor was a loyal friend to him. It is a bit ironic as you see that Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor and then stabbed in the back by him.
After this you see his ambitious side come out as he writes a letter to his wife saying he will be King. This brings the woman’s evil side out as she tries to take all the good in her and replace it with evil as she says, “unsex me here, and fill me from head to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.”
After this the King says he will have dinner at Macbeths house which seems strange as it give them the perfect time to kill the King making a step closer to being King. That night they plan out to ill the King which they do but you see Macbeth arguing about not wanting to kill him. It says, “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject.” This means that he is my king and my guest and shouldn’t kill him. Macbeth mucks the plan up though as he feels very guilty for what he has done. Fortunately his wife manages to make it seem that it was the guards fault as she had drugged them.
Kind Duncan’s two children Donaldbain and Lennox are very curious about this and flee to England and Wales.
Further on in the play he becomes more ambitious and wants to make sure he stays King doing anything to stay there. To this he knew he had to kill his loyal friend Banquo as when he met the witches they said he would be a farther to a line of Kings. So while he was at a party he hired murderers to kill him and his son for him so he would be king. The murders were unable to kill Banquo’s son but killed him. Later at the party Macbeth saw the ghost of Banquo at the party here he should have been sitting. No one else could see it as he was the only one that knew what had happened to him. The ghost is a sign of his guiltiness showing that he isn’t a bad man after all. By this point Macbeth’s wife died because the evilness inside her gets the better of her.
At the end of the play Macduff, one of King Duncan’s followers, has got an army together to try and gain power of the crown once again as he had enough of Macbeths evil ways. To the reader you see Macbeth turn back into the soldier he once was at the beginning of the book, ready to fight like a true and loyal soldier would. He fights Macduff who said just surrender but Macbeth says no I wish to fight you like a true soldier.
Overall I believe that Macbeth is not a dead butcher as at the beginning at ending of the book he is a good and loyal soldier but ambition does get the better of him in the middle where he does want to become king. Not just down to him but his wife aswell. When he does kill people like the King and his loyal friend Banquo he always argues a case on why he should not kill them and then after he feel guilty for killing them by messing up plans or even seeing a ghost.
