In the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as a loyal, valiant warrior who it seems would do anything for his King and Country.

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ENGLISH ESSAY

In the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as a loyal, valiant warrior who it seems would do anything for his King and Country. When he meets with three witches, this triggers a series of changes in his character which, with the help and persuasion of his wife Lady Macbeth, leads to the death of King Duncan.

In Act 1 Scene 1 Macbeth is not actually present himself and so we only hear about him second hand from the perceptions of others. The stage directions in this scene mention "thunder" and "lightening" which immediately makes the audience think something bad is going to happen, since thunder is associated with darkeness and this is associated with hell. When the play was written, it was strongly believed in and people were terrified of it.

In this scene we hear the witches talking to each other. When the play was written witches were heavily believed in and they were associated with the devil and evil forces. When we hear "There to meet with Macbeth" the audience immediately associates Macbeth with this evil. This thought is finalised when the witches murmur "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" which introduces the idea of double appearances. The fact they speak in turn (first witch,second witch and then third witch) and that they speak in rhyme makes it seems as though they are psychic if they can do this. They say everything mystically,  which builds up the dramatic effect of this scene, and makes the audience think that  Macbeth will be associated with evil doings.

However, in Act one Scene two we hear a total contrast to the previous scene. It is a contrast of good and evil. Throughout the play, Shakespeare constantly compares good to evil. This was of massive importance to the people watching again utilizing their fear of hell. The first two scenes are a great example of this comparison , and later on Shakespeare uses Banquo as another comparison to evil. Again we only hear of Macbeth from the words of others, significant because the audience are forced to make up their own minds about him, and may jump to false conclusions and thereforeform preconceptions about him. We hear of the Captain telling King Duncan the events of the battle. The first time Macbeth's name is mentioned in this scene the word "brave" accompanies it, so our first impression from this makes us associate him with good. We are told how in a second battle Macbeth and Banquo "redoubled strokes upon the foe". This gives us a hint the Macbeth is a brave warrior. Ross ( a thane) described how the "Thane of Cawdor began a dismal conflict till that Bellona's bridegroom lapped in proof confronted him". This tells the audience that Macbeth must be a strong fighter because he is referred to as Mars, the Roman god of war, who was Bellona's Bridegroom.  Also Macbeth is courageous. We are told how he "unseamed" a warrior from "the nave to the chops". This may give a bad impression of Macbeth by today's standards, but when it was written if you were bloodthirsty you were considered to be heroic. In this scene we get an increasingly good impression of Macbeth. He is considered to be "valiant" and "noble" and "worthy" by the King and the Captain. Because it is the King who says this makes the audience believe it is genuine, as kings were thought of as honest, trustworthy people in the day of Shakespeare, and they were highly respected people. We find out that what the Thane of Cawdor "has lost Macbeth hath won", which is an echoe of what we heard the witches saying, and again Macbeth's name is mentioned in conjunction with this. Although they are saying how good he is, it hints to the audience all may not be what it seems and Macbeth has something to do with the witches evil.

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        Macbeth's first line in the whole play echoes the witches chants again. "So foul and fair a day." This has a enourmous impact on the audience because although Macbeth and the witches have not met yet, there seems to be a paranoraml relationship between them. In question of what the whitches have proclaimed, to Macbeth, Banquo "neither begs nor fears their favour nor their hate." Macbeth on the other hand desires them to "stay." He wants to know more, hinting to the audience he has a selfish side benith the outside appearance of his character. At the news that Macbeth ...

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