Can loyalty make a difference when someone is craving a higher rank of power? The author William Shakespeare wrote a drama titled “The Tragedy of Macbeth” which took place in Scotland during the 1000s. In the drama, the main character Macbeth became consumed with the idea of becoming king. During Macbeth’s quest, he was willing to take any means necessary to obtain the throne. The prevailing theme and moral of this drama is honor vs. disloyalty. This was exemplified through Macbeth’s interactions with Duncan, Lady Macbeth, and Macduff.
Like all of Shakespeare’s other plays, “Macbeth’s” protagonist Macbeth is incredibly successful but suffers from one fatal flaw, his great ambition. His ambition will be the cause of his great success but ultimately also of his downfall. The man’s ambition drives him to seize every opportunity to promote his own agenda. His ambition hurts him the most when he decides to kill King Duncan and Macduff.
Macbeth is asking the Three Witches about his future as a King. The first apparition they show him is an armed head which was a warning to him. He told Macbeth that he should beware of Macduff. The apparition showed Macbeth he should be afraid of Macduff. Macbeth was so terrified that he went to attack his castle and sent a murderer to kill his sons. Macbeth thinks that Macduff was a traitor and had never been loyal to him. Macduff wanted to kill him, so he will not do any harm to the country (Shakespeare 63).
“Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ the’sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls (4, 1,151-152) .The tragedy of Macbeth is one of the greatest tragedies written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Shakespeare is recognized as the most influential writer in the English language. The story of Macbeth was written to please the king of Scotland, who thought that he was the descendent of an 11th century historical figure, Banquo. In the tragedy, Macbeth is misguided by the three witches and Macbeth, a loyal warrior to the king of Scotland, becomes a power thirsty murderer and kills king Duncan of Scotland. Because of his killing of King Duncan, Macbeth start’s to feel guilty of his actions and in order to cover that guilt, he becomes
Yet he is still infuriated because Macduff fled to get Malcolm and Donalbain to help him get rid of him. In reaction he sends murderers to kill Macduff’s family in act 4 scene 3. This was the start of his undoing. Macduff arrives to Malcolm and succeeds in convincing him to help him rid of Macbeth then the prophecies start to come true. Macduff is coming to kill Macbeth. He is not of woman born because he wasn't naturally born. Also the army brings the Great Birnam Wood to the castle which is the third and final prophecy Macbeth was told. The army gets through the castle walls and they kill all Macbeth’s soldiers and guards without any trouble. Then Macduff begins to battle Macbeth. In act 5 scene 8, Macduff defeats Macbeth by beheading him and to celebrate the ending of Macbeth he penetrates it with a stick and carries it around as if it was a trophy. Thus ends the reign of Macbeth and all the trouble and pain he brought with
In Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare, the author conveys the nature and choices of humans using the literary elements fate, internal struggles, and the supernatural in order to demonstrate how humans can be corrupted and affected by the grandeur or fear of their future. The actions and thoughts of Macbeth in the play are a great example of these things and give a demonstration of human nature when confronted with things such as murder, prophecies, and knowledge of their downfall. Macbeth is a story that serves to show the effects of fate and how it affects their own attitude and actions.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s visions and hallucination’s play a role and contribute to the development of his character. Macbeth starts to see hallucinations the night he kills Duncan. The first thing he sees is a dagger floating in front of him. Once he sees the dagger he gets it and kills Duncan on his room. They make the guards get drunk so they could be able to get into Duncan’s room. After they kill him they blame the guards for his death. This hallucinations get worse as time passes. Macbeth starts seeing death body’s on his dinner table while having guessed over. Everyone sees Macbeth as someone crazy after that night. Macbeth’s wife tries to make things better while he talks to the ghost seating in his chair. All of this ghost that appear in front of Macbeth because they represent all the people that he has killed to get where he is now. Macbeth is where he is because he has killed a few people in order to take them out of the kingdom. But all of what he has done is
He does not want to kill Macduff because he has already killed his whole family. This causes Macduff to have more reason in wanting to kill Macbeth. It would have been avoided for Macbeth to run into Macduff if he have not approached him first, since he no longer needs interaction with blood of thine already. Erin Connelly furthers the discussion on the conflict between Macbeth and Macduff by stating, “manliness is a conditional characteristic, consistently defined in opposition to other attributes” (Connelly 111). Macbeth being boastful about murdering all of Macduff’s family is camouflaging his true fears towards his pathway to the throne. Macduff succeeds in his long intentions to kill Macbeth, and does so within his own hands. To sum up, the path that Macbeth is choosing to become king comes with consequences of how emotions are handled during conflicting
Only a true king can sit upon the holy throne. Kingship: being a king, a king’s position or reign.
He realized that no one is not born of woman and so he does not worry about what the first apparition told Macbeth. He does not take the warning seriously. “Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him” (Shakespeare, 4.1.94-98). Listening to the third apparition as a threat he takes it as a something that will boast his confidence even more. He does not take this as a warning and believes that he is going to be king forever and that woods cannot move and that he will be the king until he dies. Macduff, lit up the Great Birnam woods on fire and moved along with it. Making it seem the Great Birnam woods were coming forward. Macbeth saw this and feared due to the weird sisters prophecy coming true. Macduff and Macbeth get in a battle. Macbeth stating that “no man born of woman” could hurt him. Macduff stating that “Despair thy charm, and let the angel whom thou still hast served tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.” (Shakespeare, 5.8.14-16). This is when Macbeth realizes he is going to be defeated and Macduff kills Macbeth and places the rightful person on the
How far can the lusting of power drive one innocent man? William Shakespeare composed a classic drama entitled “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, which took place in Scotland. Throughout the play, Macbeth attempted to gain power by becoming king. Although he succeeded, the process definitely led him down a path of destruction. Ambition highly influenced many of the characters: Macbeth was willing to do anything to get to the throne, Lady Macbeth was even more eager to become queen, and finally Macduff abandoned his family for Scotland. Ambition is a pro-dominant theme throughout this adventurous drama.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare presents a ‘butcher and his fiend-like queen’. To what extent would you agree with this presentation of the two main character in Acts 1-4?
At the beginning he does not want to kill Duncan but he is forced to by his wife. He later then starts hallucinating, gets no sleep, and regrets killing Duncan. As the story continues he then kills banquo and Macduff's family. He becomes very cold hearted and no longer cares to kill, he will kill anybody who gets in his way. Macbeth sends some men to kill Macduff's family because Lennox tells Macbeth that “`Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word Macduff is fled to England” (4.1.141). Macduff fleds to England to seek for help because Macbeth is basically destroying Scotland and killing everybody. He becomes once again stubborn and seeks for more information from the witches and so they tell him three prophecies and he becomes over confident.
The role of a king is one of great importance. Kings wield great authority and therefore must be chosen wisely. In the Elizabethan Era, kings were even believed to be appointed by God. William Shakespeare, a famous writer from this era, wrote a renowned play titled Macbeth. It follows the story of Macbeth, a mighty warrior, after he meets three witches that tell him prophecies about his future. One of the three prophecies state that Macbeth will be crowned king. In Act Four of the play, the former king’s oldest son, Malcolm, names the twelve “king-becoming graces”. Three of the twelve qualities include: temperance, verity and justice. Although Macbeth is crowned king in Act Two, it becomes evident that he does not possess these three qualities that are required to be a good king.
Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is also known as Scottish Play. Written between 1603-1606. The play is about the power and betrayal of friends. The play begins with the supernatural power.