Macbeth as Victim.

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English Literature: Macbeth as Victim

Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth rise bloodied, but heroes.  They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades.  However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go. Macbeth cannot let go.  Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement.  Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice.  What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder most foul.  The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected.  Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature.

Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan.  However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him.  Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid.  Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters.

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The first person who influences Macbeth into his sin is not really a person at all.  The weird sisters, as is their art, wreak havoc with Macbeth’s mind and life.  From the moment they are introduced, their every word affects Macbeth’s actions.  They are the characters that put the idea of becoming king in Macbeth’s head to begin with: “All hail, Macbeth!  Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!  / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!  / All hail, Macbeth!  Hail to thee, that shalt be King hereafter!  (1.3.48-50).”  By addressing Macbeth first as he is, then ...

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