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How Is Macbeth A Hero

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The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, tells the story of an honored general and thane of the King of Scotland. At the beginning even though Macbeth is well honored, after being told by three witches that he is to become king, he becomes obsessed with gaining more power and becoming king anyway he can. Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan and Banquo, and to also kill the whole Macduff family, shows that Macbeth was addicted to power and would do anything to gain power no matter who he killed to get it. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a hero in battle; he is admired by the king. Three witches appear to Macbeth and Banquo and say that Macbeth will not only become thane of Cawdor, but he will become king. During this …show more content…

He also tells her about the prophecy of the three witches, that he will become king. King Duncan has also announced that his son Malcolm, the Prince of Cumberland, will be heir to the throne. Macbeth tries to show his happiness to the king, but also realizes at this point that Malcolm will get in the way of him becoming king. Macbeth says to himself: “On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, / For in may way lies.” (Shakespeare, 1993, 1.4. 54-55). Lady Macbeth insists on Macbeth to go ahead with his feeling to kill Duncan, so he will not be able to have Malcolm as king, but he would be king. Macbeth thinks long and hard about killing the king, and at first decides against killing him. In this quote, foreshadowing is used, “Bloody instructions which, being taught return / To plague th’inventor” (Shakespeare, 1993, 1.7.9-10). Macbeth thinks about that he may be tormented by the decision to kill King Duncan. With the help of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth decides that even though the king is a good king that it is worth killing him to have more power and become king. Once Macbeth kills King Duncan, he is very shaken up. He is not able to return the dagger to the king’s room as planned. As he waits for Lady Macbeth to return he hears knocking and asks himself: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” (Shakespeare, 1993, 2.2.58–59), this is

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