"Macbeth" is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare
"Macbeth" is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare and regarded as one of his greatest works. It tells the story of Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, who was initially depicted as “valour’s minion”, the “valiant cousin” of King Duncan of Scotland. The king himself called him “worthy gentleman”. By the end of the play, Macbeth’s downfall is complete and Duncan’s son called him “this dead butcher”. In the play, Shakespeare explores how “chance” events can uncover hidden forces and can uncover hidden flaws in a personality. Macbeth had fatal flaws of ambition and total ruthlessness. When the witches, his wife, both instruments of darkness, and the chance arrival of Duncan put temptation in his path, Macbeth pushed any feelings of unease aside, and set off on a series of murders that finally destroyed him. Macbeth, therefore, is responsible for his.In 1603 Shakespeare’s company changed its name to the King’s Men when James I became its patron. No sensible playwright would have criticised the king, but Shakespeare would now have particularly wanted to flatter him. James would have liked Shakespeare showing that God appointed kings and that action against a rightful king was a crime against God. Shakespeare shows that chaos and disorder struck Scotland when Duncan, God’s choice of king was murdered by Macbeth. James would have approved of audiences seeing this, to turn them more against gunpowder plotters and anyone who opposed him. He showed traitors and witches as allies of Satan who was also responsible for any attacks on monarchs. People in the late 16th century in Scotland were very superstitious and James was more than most, particularly because some witches had supposedly tried to kill him. After that incident, James wrote “Demonology” in 1597, all about witchcraft. When he became King of England, these ideas came down with him and interest and a real belief in witches grew. Shakespeare wrote a play to include all these ideas from that time in a tragedy. The tragic hero, Macbeth, who killed
James’ ancestor finally destroyed himself. Finally James’ ancestor, Malcolm rightfully got the throne back at the end.At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as being brave, loyal to the monarch and undaunted by the re-enforcements for the rebels. Instead of surrendering to them, he “doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.” After the battle, Duncan, as a reward for his bravery, sent messengers to Macbeth telling him that he would be Thane of Cawdor as a reward for his bravery on the battle field. He believed that Macbeth would be a better, more loyal and honest Thane of Cawdor ...
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James’ ancestor finally destroyed himself. Finally James’ ancestor, Malcolm rightfully got the throne back at the end.At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as being brave, loyal to the monarch and undaunted by the re-enforcements for the rebels. Instead of surrendering to them, he “doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.” After the battle, Duncan, as a reward for his bravery, sent messengers to Macbeth telling him that he would be Thane of Cawdor as a reward for his bravery on the battle field. He believed that Macbeth would be a better, more loyal and honest Thane of Cawdor than the previous one, as he said “No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive”.After the witches vanished, Macbeth immediately wished that they could have stayed a little longer. They left without answering any of his questions and this made him want to see them again. Banquo, on the other hand seemed quite shocked. He asked if he and Macbeth had “eaten on the insane root”. He did not fully believe what they had just heard and wondered if what they had just seen was a figment of their imaginations. He believed that the witches were “aught that man may question”. Macbeth did not seem very concerned about what they were, he only seemed to care about what the witches had just said. Macbeth had been tempted and his fatal flaw of ambition began to grow.As soon as Macbeth was pronounced Thane of Cawdor, he immediately seemed to, almost subconsciously, suspect Banquo of wanting to somehow have the witches prophecy come true. “Do you not hope your children shall be kings,” he asked Banquo in an almost conversational way. He seemed to be asking Banquo in a friendly, un-concerned way, but secretly his ambition and desire for power had been ignited. Only moments before, he said to himself that “the greatest is behind.” Macbeth already believed that he would become king and that the witches were just telling him what would happen. He started to think that what they had just said “cannot be ill.” Immediately after Macbeth had been made Thane of Cawdor, he started to imagine himself as Duncan’s murderer. He seemed to be quite against the idea as the very thought of it “doth unfix my hair”. He tried to inwardly reason with himself about murdering Duncan and he felt fairly shocked that he could think of murder however “fantastical” the thought may have been. He finally decided that “chance may crown me without my stir”. Macbeth seemed to be trying to get the idea of murdering a king out of his mind. He seemed to feel that it would be better to act as though he had never even considered killing Duncan and he would accept whatever happened - as long as he became king in the end. But the ambition in him had been awakened. He could not resist it, he wanted to be king however he got there.After Malcolm was named Prince of Cumberland and heir to the throne, Macbeth decided that chance would not make him king. He saw Malcolm as an obstacle to the throne and felt that the only way to become king was to do something, almost anything to get past the obstacle that was in his way. His ambition was driving him onwards, tempting him to be utterly ruthlessMacbeth’s letter to Lady Macbeth about the witches’ prediction sparked off plans and thoughts about murder. She felt that her husband was “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”, and would be too noble to do anything remotely bad to get what he wanted, even if it meant that he would miss out on whatever it was. She too had ambition and Macbeth’s chance meeting with the witches uncovered it and showed her hidden ruthlessness too. Unlike Macbeth, she did not have enough ruthlessness to kill Duncan, despite her taunts to Macbeth that she would kill Duncan, or anyone else “had I sworn as you have done to this.” She did not like the idea of killing Duncan as he “resembled my father as he slept”.The first time Macbeth properly thought of murdering Duncan he thought that he would not be able to do it. He was afraid of being caught and he also saw himself as Duncan’s “kinsman and his subject”. He felt that Duncan was a good king and that he would be missed by all if he was murdered. Macbeth felt that he had no reason to murder Duncan and felt that the only thing that made him want to kill Duncan was his “vaulting ambition”. Before Macbeth murdered Duncan, he saw a dagger leading him towards Duncan’s room.Immediately after Macbeth killed Duncan, he became possessed by thoughts of eternal damnation. He felt as though he had been bewitched as the word “ Amen’ stuck in my throat”. Macbeth felt that the blood on his hands would dye every ocean “one red”. He did not want to know himself after committing the murder of Duncan and wishes he had not killed him. Lady Macbeth was un-concerned, however and felt that if she could be physically clean, then the water would also cleanse her soul. She seemed to have her wits about her and seems a little surprised that Macbeth’s self-control has left him. After the body of Duncan had been discovered, he killed the guards that were suspected of killing Duncan. After murdering the two guards, Macbeth seemed to have no qualms about murdering someone if they were in the way – his way. Macbeth was determined to see the witches again so that he could learn the worst news about his future from them. Macbeth actually asked to see the apparitions when he went back to the witches as he said “call ‘em, let me see ‘em”, when they asked if he wanted the witches to answer or their “masters” to show themselves. The prophecies were useful because although they were answering some of Macbeth’s questions, they were also very cryptic as they vanished the moment that they had said what they were meant to, leaving Macbeth to draw his own conclusions about the full meaning of them. The first prophecy was needed to make Macbeth kill Macduff’s family which, in turn, brought about his own murder. The second and third prophecies filled Macbeth with confidence as he took both literally and believed that everything would be all right for him. However, Macbeth felt very un-happy when the witches conjured up eight kings to symbolise that Banquo’s descendants would be future monarchs, not just of Scotland but also of England. He did not like the idea that he had worked hard just so another person’s descendants could be king. His greed made him feel very down-cast about the show of the kings, but his ambition made him feel that he should kill Macduff because he was a threat.The first prophecy was a helmeted head and symbolised Macduff. Macbeth saw him as a threat despite the fact that the second prophecy had said that “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”. He was slightly afraid of Macduff and thought that if he was killed, then he would have nothing to be afraid of and would be able to sleep through anything. Immediately after the witches vanished, Macbeth was informed that Macduff had “fled to England”. He was angry that he had not managed to have Macduff murdered, but decided to have his entire family murdered in the hope that Macduff’s family would no longer be in his way. Macbeth did not have to murder Macduff’s family after he had fled to England, but he did. By murdering Macduff’s family, Macbeth sealed his own fate as Macduff wanted revenge on Macbeth for murdering his family.At the end of the play, Macbeth was seen as a “usurper” of the kingdom of Scotland. He was thought of as a “butcher” because of the many people that he had murdered. One of Duncan’s sons, Malcolm was crowned King of Scotland. Macbeth is spoken of with disgust and contempt, he and his “fiend-like” queen are loathed by all. His own selfish greed and attempts to make the witches’ prophecies not come true made him think only of murder to get what he wanted; absolute power.Macbeth did not have to do any of the things he did, but he listened to the witches and Lady Macbeth, both “instruments of darkness”, even though he did not have to.Banquo said “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm...Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s, In deepest consequence”. In effect; the forces of evil encourage us to bring about our own destruction by giving us accurate information about things that are trivial, and misleading us on important matters. Macbeth did have temptations put in his way, but it was his own ambition and selfish greed that was responsible for his downfall. About the Author/Author Notes:For my English GCSE.
