essay
Write a comparative essay between two characters in the play.
Compare and Contrast the Characters of Macbeth and Banquo
Macbeth and Banquo share many similar characteristics: they are both courageous and valiant leaders on the battlefield, widely respected by the men they and lead and they are both loyal to the King and patriotic to Scotland. Shakespeare introduces the two men through the Captain who describes their courage and heroic performance in the face of the enemy, ' ...Like Valour's minion carved out his passage / Till he faced the slave... ' (Act 1, Scene 2). Macbeth has killed rebels, captured the traitor, obtained the ransom money for his King and negotiated a peace treaty; he is a ruthless yet honourable man with a capacity for humanity.
Macbeth and Banquo meet the Weird Sisters, who foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, and King of Scotland and that Banquo's descendants will be Kings. When Macbeth finds out he will be Thane of Cawdor his character begins to change, we see the beginning of Macbeth's ambition - the tragic flaw in his personality. The Supernatural in Macbeth More than a few elements of the supernatural can be discovered within the action and dialogue of Shakespeare's plays. However, the extent and nature of those elements differs to a large degree. There are traces of it to be found in Henry V, "Pardon, gentles all,/The flat unraised spirit that hath dar'd...to bring forth/So great and object" (Lucy 1). There are also elements of it apparent in Winter's Tale, "What I did not well I meant well" (Lucy 1). The supernatural is used most fearsomely in Hamlet, with the ghost of Hamlet's father representing the most frightening apparition in all of the Bard's plays. However, the supernatural is used to an almost whimsical degree in A Midsummer's Night Dream and The Tempest. In both of these plays the supernatural does not assume an evil demeanor, though it does wreak havoc on the lives of those in its
Compare and Contrast the Characters of Macbeth and Banquo
Macbeth and Banquo share many similar characteristics: they are both courageous and valiant leaders on the battlefield, widely respected by the men they and lead and they are both loyal to the King and patriotic to Scotland. Shakespeare introduces the two men through the Captain who describes their courage and heroic performance in the face of the enemy, ' ...Like Valour's minion carved out his passage / Till he faced the slave... ' (Act 1, Scene 2). Macbeth has killed rebels, captured the traitor, obtained the ransom money for his King and negotiated a peace treaty; he is a ruthless yet honourable man with a capacity for humanity.
Macbeth and Banquo meet the Weird Sisters, who foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, and King of Scotland and that Banquo's descendants will be Kings. When Macbeth finds out he will be Thane of Cawdor his character begins to change, we see the beginning of Macbeth's ambition - the tragic flaw in his personality. The Supernatural in Macbeth More than a few elements of the supernatural can be discovered within the action and dialogue of Shakespeare's plays. However, the extent and nature of those elements differs to a large degree. There are traces of it to be found in Henry V, "Pardon, gentles all,/The flat unraised spirit that hath dar'd...to bring forth/So great and object" (Lucy 1). There are also elements of it apparent in Winter's Tale, "What I did not well I meant well" (Lucy 1). The supernatural is used most fearsomely in Hamlet, with the ghost of Hamlet's father representing the most frightening apparition in all of the Bard's plays. However, the supernatural is used to an almost whimsical degree in A Midsummer's Night Dream and The Tempest. In both of these plays the supernatural does not assume an evil demeanor, though it does wreak havoc on the lives of those in its