Macbeth William Shakespeare

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Macbeth William Shakespeare

In his play “Macbeth”, William Shakespeare faced the problem of gaining sympathy for the main character, from his audience. Although Macbeth has many qualities which are less than attractive and he does much which we can criticise him for, he is ultimately seen as a man who inspires a grudging but real admiration.

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is seen as a valiant and noble solider by Duncan, the King of Scotland. A wounded captain informs the king that Macbeth fought bravely in battle and won the war for Scotland.

“For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-” When Macbeth returns from the battle fields with his friend Banquo, three witches appear before them. They make three predictions:

“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 shall be king hereafter!”

The first prediction didn’t really perturb Macbeth as he already held the title ‘thane of Glamis’, but the ‘thane of Cawdor’ was still alive and to be king was totally unbelievable. Unknown to them, King Duncan had rewarded Macbeth for his bravery in battle by giving him the new title ‘thane of Cawdor’. When Macbeth and Banquo hear this news, they started to think the witch’s predictions may come true and Macbeth starts to think because the first two predictions came true without any effort on his behalf, he believes the third will happen naturally.

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It is difficult to associate the brave Macbeth with such evil creatures as witches, but believing these predictions was his downfall.

Macbeth sent a letter to his wife, Lady Macbeth telling her about the witches and their predictions. When Macbeth returns she tells him that if he wants to be king he must kill Duncan, when he comes to stay: “O never Shall sun that morrow see”

Lady Macbeth is very much in control of this murderous plan and Macbeth is unsure what to do. I feel sorry for Macbeth at this point, as we ...

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