Macbeth Essay
Ayomide Fakuade
Mrs. Corradi
ENG 3UE-01
Tuesday, May 19th, 2015
The Demise of Noble Macbeth Credited as one of William Shakespeare’s bloodiest and darkest works, The Tragedy of Macbeth is an emotionally tense, gripping play about loyalty, betrayal and ambition. Blinded by his vaulting ambition and encouraged by his wife, Macbeth attempted to remove the obstacles preventing him from being king; these obstacles happened to be other characters in the play. Macbeth accepted the prophecies of witches as a guide for what would be, and misjudged what they told him. In the end, his overconfidence led him to his death as he believed that he could not be harmed, when he was just a mortal man. Over the course of Macbeth, one can clearly see the deterioration of Macbeth’s character; at the beginning of the play Macbeth was hailed as, “Bellona’s bridegroom” (1.2. 54), “brave Macbeth” (1.2 16), and a “noble partner” (1.3. 54), but at the end of the play he was the villain and was described as, “an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptr’d” (Shakespeare 117). Macbeth is a tragic figure because he failed to live up to his great potential; he allowed the witches’ prophecies, his wife’s advice and his vaulting ambition to lead him to his unfortunate, untimely demise. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is responsible for his own destiny because he gave in to his vaulting ambition, succumbed to the wicked counsel of his wife and allowed the prophecies of the witches to fuel his greed and jealousy. The third scene of the first act of the play is where the major conflict begins. In this scene we see Macbeth with Banquo commenting on the contrast of their pleasant victory in the recent war with the inclement weather before they encounter the, “weird sisters”. Encouraged by Macbeth, the witches began their prophecies, “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!/ All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3. 48-50).
Mrs. Corradi
ENG 3UE-01
Tuesday, May 19th, 2015
The Demise of Noble Macbeth Credited as one of William Shakespeare’s bloodiest and darkest works, The Tragedy of Macbeth is an emotionally tense, gripping play about loyalty, betrayal and ambition. Blinded by his vaulting ambition and encouraged by his wife, Macbeth attempted to remove the obstacles preventing him from being king; these obstacles happened to be other characters in the play. Macbeth accepted the prophecies of witches as a guide for what would be, and misjudged what they told him. In the end, his overconfidence led him to his death as he believed that he could not be harmed, when he was just a mortal man. Over the course of Macbeth, one can clearly see the deterioration of Macbeth’s character; at the beginning of the play Macbeth was hailed as, “Bellona’s bridegroom” (1.2. 54), “brave Macbeth” (1.2 16), and a “noble partner” (1.3. 54), but at the end of the play he was the villain and was described as, “an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptr’d” (Shakespeare 117). Macbeth is a tragic figure because he failed to live up to his great potential; he allowed the witches’ prophecies, his wife’s advice and his vaulting ambition to lead him to his unfortunate, untimely demise. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is responsible for his own destiny because he gave in to his vaulting ambition, succumbed to the wicked counsel of his wife and allowed the prophecies of the witches to fuel his greed and jealousy. The third scene of the first act of the play is where the major conflict begins. In this scene we see Macbeth with Banquo commenting on the contrast of their pleasant victory in the recent war with the inclement weather before they encounter the, “weird sisters”. Encouraged by Macbeth, the witches began their prophecies, “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!/ All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3. 48-50).
Cited: "Macbeth Character List." Gulf Islands Secondary School. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://www.gulfislandssecondary.ca/ray/Ray_Colleran/Macbeth_files/Macbeth characters.cw>. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Thomas Marc Parrott. New York: American Book Co., 1904.Shakespeare Online. 10 Aug. 2010. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth_1_3.html >. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Macbeth.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. "The Three Witches and Macbeth – Essay." StudyNotesie The Three Witches and Macbeth Essay Comments. Web. 12 May 2015. "The Character of Lady Macbeth." BBC News. BBC. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/english/macbeth/char_l_macbeth/revision/1/>.