The Changing Character Of Macbeth And Macduff's Family
Compare the murders of King Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family and explore Macbeth’s changing character.
Within the play ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth’s character changes considerably. Macbeth starts a very noble and praiseworthy general in the army; however throughout the play various yet similar events cause Macbeth to become an evil and vicious man. This essay will comment on how Shakespeare presents the changing character of Macbeth through a comparison of the three key murder scenes.
The witches is ‘Macbeth’ are full of evil and make Macbeth do things he would never dream of doing. “Fair is foul and foul is fair”, shows that the witches are always contrasting which is similar to the way in which “Macbeth” is a story full of contrast.
When Macbeth meets King Duncan he has a great deal of respect for the king and is seen as a very righteous general. King Duncan appreciates the work that Macbeth had done for him and cannot even comprehend how greatly obliged he is to Macbeth. …show more content…
“O worthiest cousin!
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me”
This is evidence that Macbeth is such a righteous and admirable soldier that even the king himself cannot repay him for all he has done. This is the final time in ‘Macbeth’ that Macbeth is seen to be righteous and admirable as from this point onwards greed and wickedness takeover.
The first murder in ‘Macbeth’ is the murder of King Duncan, a man that Macbeth used to treat with a vast amount of respect. Macbeth is in two states of mind about killing King Duncan, one side, surpassed with greed wants to kill and wants to kill King Duncan; however the other side cannot even contemplate killing King Duncan. Nevertheless a soliloquy from Macbeth shows his true feelings about the idea of killing King Duncan.
“If it were done, when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly: if th’ assassination could trammel up the consequences, and
catch,
With his surcrease, success;
… He’s here in double trust:”
This shows that Macbeth is really and truly bewildered in what decision to make as he is wrestling with his conscious but, because he is so overpowered by his will for power and control, he decides treason is the best option. The soliloquy is a great use of dramatic irony as the audience discovers the fate of King Duncan whilst King Duncan himself still believes Macbeth to be a noble and trustworthy soldier. This is also show by the “double” trust shown to Macbeth meaning that the king trusts him with all his heart. Moreover this is a much more effective way for Macbeth to tell the audience what he feels deep inside without the other characters knowing and without, more importantly, Lady Macbeth knowing
It is obvious that Macbeth cannot decide which path to follow nonetheless Lady Macbeth enters and convinces Macbeth that he must murder King
Within the play ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth’s character changes considerably. Macbeth starts a very noble and praiseworthy general in the army; however throughout the play various yet similar events cause Macbeth to become an evil and vicious man. This essay will comment on how Shakespeare presents the changing character of Macbeth through a comparison of the three key murder scenes.
The witches is ‘Macbeth’ are full of evil and make Macbeth do things he would never dream of doing. “Fair is foul and foul is fair”, shows that the witches are always contrasting which is similar to the way in which “Macbeth” is a story full of contrast.
When Macbeth meets King Duncan he has a great deal of respect for the king and is seen as a very righteous general. King Duncan appreciates the work that Macbeth had done for him and cannot even comprehend how greatly obliged he is to Macbeth. …show more content…
“O worthiest cousin!
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me”
This is evidence that Macbeth is such a righteous and admirable soldier that even the king himself cannot repay him for all he has done. This is the final time in ‘Macbeth’ that Macbeth is seen to be righteous and admirable as from this point onwards greed and wickedness takeover.
The first murder in ‘Macbeth’ is the murder of King Duncan, a man that Macbeth used to treat with a vast amount of respect. Macbeth is in two states of mind about killing King Duncan, one side, surpassed with greed wants to kill and wants to kill King Duncan; however the other side cannot even contemplate killing King Duncan. Nevertheless a soliloquy from Macbeth shows his true feelings about the idea of killing King Duncan.
“If it were done, when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly: if th’ assassination could trammel up the consequences, and
catch,
With his surcrease, success;
… He’s here in double trust:”
This shows that Macbeth is really and truly bewildered in what decision to make as he is wrestling with his conscious but, because he is so overpowered by his will for power and control, he decides treason is the best option. The soliloquy is a great use of dramatic irony as the audience discovers the fate of King Duncan whilst King Duncan himself still believes Macbeth to be a noble and trustworthy soldier. This is also show by the “double” trust shown to Macbeth meaning that the king trusts him with all his heart. Moreover this is a much more effective way for Macbeth to tell the audience what he feels deep inside without the other characters knowing and without, more importantly, Lady Macbeth knowing
It is obvious that Macbeth cannot decide which path to follow nonetheless Lady Macbeth enters and convinces Macbeth that he must murder King