Macbeth Character Analysis Essay

Macbeth Character Analysis Over the course of the play Macbeth the main character, Macbeth, advances the plot by believing the prophecies given by the witches’, trying to kill the king, attempting to kill people who could be king, wanting more prophecies, and struggling to stay king of Scotland. The first way Macbeth advances the plot is by believing the prophecies that he was given by the three witches’. In the middle of act one Macbeth says very confidently to Banquo, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me” (Shakespeare, 25). Macbeth is saying that if he has a chance of becoming king then he will do whatever it takes to become king. This statement by Macbeth will eventually lead him to come to the idea to kill the king. The second way Macbeth advances the plot is that he and his wife, Lady Macbeth, come up with a plan to murder the king. At the end of act one Macbeth says to himself very devilish, “With his surcease success…” (Shakespeare, 39). When Macbeth says, “his”, he is talking about the king, Duncan, and surcease means to come to an end which in this case means to end Duncan life. The plan works and he kills the king, which causes some people to flee. This is a very important to the plot because Macbeth does go ahead and kills Duncan which causes Macbeth to become king and really dictate what happens
At the beginning of Act 3 Macbeth says to the murders, “That is was he, in the times past, which held you so under fortune…” (Shakespeare, 87). When Macbeth says “he” Macbeth is talking about Banquo, and Macbeth is trying to persuade murders’ that Banquo is the reason that the murders’ lives are so miserable. The murders’ end up killing Banquo but his son escapes and this is very big because one of the witches’ prophecies is that one of Banquo’s sons will be king. That causes Macbeth to panic a little