Macbeth

Macbeth is introduced in the play as a strong fighter on the battle field but shortly after turns into a soldier that is easily considered to be weak. When Macbeth is on the battlefield fighting against Norway he gains respect as a soldier because he shows qualities of a leader. “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, Like valor’s minion carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.(Shakespeare, Line 16).” In The beginning of the play it is easy to see how Macbeth could be seen as respectable, strong soldier because on the battlefield he fought hard and killed a lot of people. He put his life out for his king and his country and anyone who risks their own life for someone or something else demonstrates deep care. The play progresses when Macbeth is told by three witched that he could not be killed by someone who was born from a women which leads Macbeth to let his guard down from everyone, inferring that no man can kill him. Macbeth is shocked to find that Macduff is ripped out of his mother’s womb and is defeated by this information. “Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cowed my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends no more believed, that palter with us in a double sense, that keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee (Line 17).” Because Macbeth’s ego got in the way of his values as a soldier, It led him to become weak to an opponent, who before it would have been easy to kill. The witches prophecies allowed him to trust that he would never be harmed by someone women born, not allowing him to accept the technicalities that not everyone was born through natural labor. From Beginning to End, Macbeth’s ambition allowed his strength as a soldier to weaken.
In Addition to Macbeth losing his reputation as a soldier, his ambition also leads him to constantly murder in order to get his way. In the start of the story, Macbeth is pressured into killing king Duncan, by Lady Macbeth, for his title. Though Macbeth goes through with the murder, his guilty conscious causes him to second guess himself and his action. Making him weary and on edge in every moment “Whence is that knocking? How is’t with me when every noise appals me? What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather. The multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. (Act 2, Line 57)” This quote explains how Macbeths unwillingness to commit such crime for the title has led him to hallucinating. His guilt over his decision weighs down on him