“Macbeth” is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare. The main character that drove my enthusiasm to have this in-depth analysis is Macbeth. Macbeth is the main protagonist in the play. The author postulates his greedy self-nature which he fights until his demise. It is not always that a protagonist in any work of art is a hero. The very reason that made me write about this character was how he is depicted as a hero in the opening pages of the play, and only to learn how weak he is from his outlook and his bravery demise.
When the chapter opens, Macbeth is shown as a wounded captain. Pity comes to the audience with an ambiance of how brave he is. The picture created here is the manhood of warriors. This is a strong quality he has. Here, Macbeth has the capability of a warrior who returns home a victor. He is noble and honorable in his country. He is given a higher rank than all the soldiers. He is a loving and caring husband to his lady; when he sends a lovely and refreshing letter that carries a message that compliments Lady Macbeth as a woman who is greatest of all. From his bravery, frugality, and candor at the beginning of the play he is very ambitious and a dreamer of his hopes. He dreams of being a king. Hence, this shows Macbeth’s positive ambition with such indisputable nobility. Another positive quality Macbeth upholds is his view on morality. He names at least three reasons why he cannot be able to kill Duncan. For example, Macbeth believes that it is entirely wrong to kill Duncan because he is a devoted kinsman, a host and lovely subject that cannot be devoured by the cruel hand of murder (Shakespeare 25). For these reasons, there is an essence of religious feeling in his heart. The irony part unfolds when he feels remorseful after killing for his selfish gains. His wife understands that Macbeth has the kindness of humans and cannot succumb to killing Duncan.
He has the above-named abilities but also has a weakness when he encounters several characters in the play. For example, he has entangled self-doubt about his capabilities when he meets the witches. This makes him have an unfathomable intolerant aspiration that later makes him kill Duncan. His urge for leadership makes him selfish instead of being selfless. The witches are chosen by William Shakespeare to depict how humans are mixed with forces that determine their fate. Macbeth ponders on the prophecy made by the clairvoyant witches about Thane of Cawdor. He is affected by the grisly and terrifying image of claiming Duncan’s life. However, he does not think of himself that he can be able to kill.
His encounter with several characters in the play gives the true nature of his self and ambitions in life. The prophecy of Kingship is explained weirdly by Banquo that; evil forces present in the prophetic message of the witches can turn out to be true. This sounds like a warning to him but he becomes defiant. This is weakness driven by his pride nature and weakness to be subservient to Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is shown as a weak individual when he is told by his wife that he is not a man enough when he cannot kill Duncan, hence a coward. If there was one thing that Macbeth hated was being a coward. His first strategy was to wait for fate to see his way through Kingship, but when his wife calls him a coward this instigates the valor of a vengeful warrior. This makes him neglect his key virtues of morality and religion at the expense of his self-image and manhood. He commits double murder; killing Duncan and drunken guards to safeguard his reputation. He feels entirely remorseful for his committed sin of killing and this haunts him as he thinks about the unfathomable wrath that may befall him. Therefore, there is a lot of negative peer influence that makes his self-image come before the moral virtues that a candidate for a kingship position must show before getting such a leadership post.
Macbeth becomes king through selfish means. This made me continue to have a deep analysis of the aftermath. As discussed above, that: peer influence was the main reason for Macbeth to contemplate killing and doing the exact action; he is met with hard life as a king. First, he is afraid of Banquo and the witches if suspecting him as the principal killer of Duncan. Duncan’s murder makes him stop the prophetic lineage of Banquo of kingship. He goes further to kill him and he is haunted; this makes to have disturbed nights. With much fear his kingship is rendered insecure and drives him to seek clairvoyance help from the witches. In a dramatic irony, the witches lie to him that he may not encounter problems in his reign. The rest of the play tells how his wife’s death makes him have a negative sense of life. His encounter with his wife, Lady Macbeth tells of his weakness of choosing pride over virtues. The encounter with witches tells of how humans are weak and is vital to seek extra guidance from the outer world. Just to name a few characters like Banquo, Lady Macbeth, and the three witches evoked mixed feelings towards the tragic end of the play where he dies a brave soldier.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1996. Print.