The Three Character Traits of Macbeth

English

Macbeth Essay

Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a very dark and powerful tragic play. There are many characters in this play that are two faced, loyal one minute, and deceiving the next. One of the individuals who immensely represents these attributes is Macbeth himself. Macbeth is a warrior who is manipulated by his own wife and the three witches which leads him to become a greedy, ambitious and brave king. Ultimately because of his overconfidence, he dies devastatingly.

. Macbeth bumped into three witches after his battle. The three witches tell Macbeth he will become thain of cawdor and glamis, and then king. He then becomes the thain which opened up an opportunity for him to become king. He then writes a letter to his wife in which he wrote to her about everything that was going on and she decides they need to kill the king in order for him to seize the throne. Macbeth kills the king but his wife has to return the daggers to the guards, to frame them for the crime, because Macbeth did not. After all that the King Duncans' sons run away becuase they fear that they were gonna be put to blame. Macbeth then becomes king. Once he became king, he did not want anyone else to have the same power as him or to do the same thing to him, as he did to King Duncan. Also he remembers one of the prophecies of the witch where they told Banquo the his children will be king. So he then orders the murderers to kill his best friend, Banquo and his son, Fleance . Macbeth is then haunted by Banquos ghost at his party. After all that he goes back to the witches and he sees three things; a bloody baby saying "beware Macduff", a bloody helmet saying that he cant be killed by anyone born of a woman, and a child with a crown and a tree branch saying that he does not need to worry till the Birnam woods moves to Dunsinane. Macbeth started to worry and demanded Macduff and all his family killed, but Macduff left already. Lady Macbeth starts getting crazy and comitts suicide. Macduff heads over to Macbeths' castle with the army to kill him. Macbeth is killed, and gets his head cut off by Macduff. Macuff was born by C-section which was not considered to be born of a woman.

One of the aspects that Macbeth grasps to make him an antagonist is greediness. The three witches that he met in the beginning told him his prophecy, which is that he is going to be the future king of Scotland, “ All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter” (I, iii, 53). At first he doesn't believe the prophecy at all and thought that they were being foolish. But then the prediction of the witches starts to come true after being persuaded by his wife, Lady Macbeth, that he had to take some steps to make it come true. Once the first prophecy came true, he wanted all the prophecies of the witches to come true. Once Macbeth is king, he becomes one of the most powerful person in his land, yet he still demands for more respect and power and does not want anyone to have any part in it. To make this happen he kills Banquo, his best friend, so he wouldn't create a line of king as it was one of the witches prophecy and attempts to kill Banquo's son, Fleance, however he escapes. Macbeth was told by the witches that no human born from a women, that is everyone, could kill him. “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn, The power of man, for none of woman born, Shall harm Macbeth” (IV, i, 85). Macbeth believes this and gets greedy making him trust that no one could kill him. Overall this proves that Macbeth is definitely a greedy person in this play.

Another open feature that Macbeth is distinguished for is ambition. Macbeth wants to prove to his wife that he is the one that she desires for and to do that, he listens to whatever she has to say. He is so deeply in love with his wife and ambitious towards her that he starts committing dangerous and risky crimes. Macbeth is also very ambitious towards becoming king. In order to become king he had to kill
King Duncan. “ I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell; That summons thee to heaven, or to hell” ( II, i, 69). This quote indicates that it is time to kill King Duncan. He is also speaking to Duncan though he is not actually present. He tells the imaginary Duncan to not pay attention to the bell as it marks his death and therefore will send him to either hell or heaven. Again, Macbeth was very ambitious in becoming king but he is also ambitious to remain king. He kills Banquo so that no could take over his position as king. “It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight; If it finds heaven, must find it out tonight” ( III, i, 157). This quote is saying Macbeth has made all the arrangements of the murder Banquo's and that he is going to heaven or hell because he is dying tonight. After that he also finds out the one of Banquo's children would be king, so his ambition towards remaining king leads him to kill Banquo's son, Fleance, however Fleance escapes and is never heard after that incident. To sum it up, ambition is definitely a character trait in this play.

Finally, the third character trait of Macbeth is bravery. It is barely noticeable in Macbeth but he is recognized for it. Macbeth at first seemed to be a courageous, brave and capable warrior who would risk anything for his country. At the beginning of the play Macbeth's skills and strength saved the day on the battlefield. “ For brave Macbeth -well he deserves that name-; Disdaining fortune with his brandish'd steel” ( I,ii, 18). The quote shows that Macbeth is brave and he is the one who helped defeat Sweno, the king of Norway. Macbeth also shows bravery because he goes after what he wants and accomplishes it. For instance, Macbeth wanted to become king, to do that he bravely killed King Duncan which is evil but it shows that he would do anything to full fill his desire. Macbeth is brave near the end because when all of his prophecies were finished, he still fought Macduff. “ Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb; Untimely ripp'd” ( V, viii, 19).The witches said that no human born from a women could kill Macbeth and Macduff said that he was delivered prematurely. So according to the witches prophecies he is able to kill Macbeth. Thus bravery is definitely one of the character traits of Macbeth in this play.

In conclusion Macbeth is a person who is consistently stuck in ugly situations. Macbeth holds the characteristic of a typical villian. At first he is very loyal and respectful towards the king by winning the important battle and the war but also brutal and cruel because after he killing Macdonwald by slicing him from his middle to his jaws and placed his head on a stick. Macbeth was also everybody's hero for winning the war. He was also a good friend to Banquo, in fact they were best friends. But then Macbeth changed, he become greedy. He met these three witches who completely changed his life When he was not happy and satisfied with what he had, Macbeth felt that he had to move up a level and become king. Macbeth was confused at first and was not sure if he should kill the king or not, started to argue to himself if he should stay on the good side or move to the bad side. He told his wife, Lady Macbeth, everything and she started to convince him to kill King Duncan and seize the throne. After all of this, once he becomes king, he becomes crazy when he sees blood on his hand and started to think that he can not get rid of the blood on his hands after killing the king. After that he is heartless and started to kill every single person who dared to cross his path or anyone that he suspects is a threat. Macbeth is ambitious to be totally in control. Macbeth without a doubt was out of control and evil when he kills Macduffs' children and wife. He is also very self assured and brave because he refuses to run away when an army is attacking his castle. But after all that, he still shows some kindness towards Macduff by saying that he does not want to kill him before he is killed by him. Although Macbeth would have been a great and brave king, it was the manipulation of his wife and the three witches that led him to an evil path. He became a greedy and very ambitious king. After a while, because of his fearlessness, he died devastatingly.

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