To what extent would you agree that the world of Macbeth is not entirely evil?
To what extent would you agree with the view that the world of the play is not entirely evil? At the climax of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” the antihero of the play has been so consumed by his hamartia, “vaulting ambition”, that he has become a character who’s life “signi(fies) nothing” and who’s soldiers “Move only in command/ Nothing in love” . This reflects the descent into chaos of the play itself as the world appears to be completely treacherous and has lost all order by the last act of the play. Macbeth could be said to epitomise the evil as he ruthlessly kills numerous people, including the monarch. However at the end his guilty conscience prevails and his human side is uncovered; showing that the world of “Macbeth” is not as evil as it seems on the surface. Macbeth is immediately introduced as a hero: “For brave Macbeth....Like Valour’s minion”, when in Act One Scene Two the bleeding Captain is describing him and his actions on the battlefield. Macbeth is put on a heroic pedestal straight away as he is not even introduced properly yet, the first impression is that he is a tragic hero, masked in mystery and bravery. However as the play proceeds it is evident that there is a tragic flaw in his character, his ambition. The witches, who are an embodiment of evil themselves, feed on this crippling flaw and awaken the bad side of Macbeth’s character which causes him to brutally murder the natural king and others, also causing the world of “Macbeth” to spiral into a world where, “horses...’Tis said, they eat each other”. By the end Macbeth has been “supped fill with horrors” and evil no longer appears to affect him. However Macbeths’ anagnorisis after Lady Macbeth dies reveals his human side and lets the audience relate to him through the catharsis; his outpour of emotions and regret: “Lifes but a walking shadow”. It could be interpreted that Macbeth has lost all meaning to his life and has come under the realisation that his actions have done more harm than