Macbeth - Victim or Villain?

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Macbeth

Victim or Villain

Upon the opening of the play of Macbeth we hear of him through narrative but do not see him, though the sergeant is biased towards Macbeth and Banquo in his report of them in battle. We find out from the sergeant that Macbeth is someone who portrayed valour on the battlefield. However, this is interesting because we find out later that Macbeth is not as ruthless when he is not on the battlefield. Macbeth was frightened of the witches when he first saw them. Firstly by their appearance and secondly by their predictions, but what is interesting is that the witches predicted things which were positive so Macbeth was afraid of how he might react after hearing their predictions. So we have clues that Macbeth had already thought about plotting to kill the king because of his ambition. All he needed was a little push to carry it through. I will convey to you the changes that take place in Macbeth´s character and his thought process as he changes.

It is clear that Macbeth is well respected in the beginning of the play because of the sergeant’s report. The sergeant’s report made Macbeth sound gallant and the traitor Mackdonwald sound ruthless and not worthy of being killed by Macbeth. For example: "Merciless Mackdonwald" and "brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)". The sergeant spoke with passion as he described Macbeth cutting through crowds of people to face Mackdonwald:
"Brandished steel….smoked with bloody execution….carved out his passage….till he faced the slave…unseamed him from the naves to the chops".
The sergeant then describes how Macbeth:
"fixed his head upon our battlements".
Macbeth would of done this to show his victory and to prove to everyone on the battlefields who is the bravest. This portrays Macbeth to be a very ruthless character capable of killing in single combat. However, this is interesting as further into the play we find at first Macbeth is unable to murder the king.

The sergeant also talks about how Macbeth and Banquo were so ferocious that he described them as:
"cannons overcharged with double cracks".
This quote means that Macbeth and Banquo were nearly exploding with aggressiveness and the adrenaline needed to kill. Ross describes Macbeth as: "Bellona´s bridegroom". Bellona was the Greek Goddess of war, so to be her bridegroom you would have to be as equally warlike or more. We can conceive from this that Macbeth was someone that is brave on the battlefield and is respected by many people. There does not yet seem to be any maliciousness involved in his behaviour.

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In this scene of Macbeth, his ambition starts to make him become more demanding and selfish, we see his second nature start to become stronger. When he firsts meets the witches, Macbeth is frightened because they know so much about him. Upon greeting him they mention his name and hail him "Thane of Glamis".
Their predictions arouse his fear:
"Why do you…fear things that….sound so fair"
What the witches predict is that he will become thane of Cawdor and become king. What makes Macbeth wary is that the present king has not proclaimed him his successor. Therefore in order for Macbeth to claim ...

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