How Does Shakespeare Create Sympathy For Macbeth

that someone will find out that it was he that murdered Duncan and all the

other bad things he has done during his reign.?

This can in some way aid a feeling of sympathy for Macbeth because the

audience knows what he is like inside and that he is falling apart, everything

he wanted has gone and there is nothing he can do about it.? Yet he has to put on this show of being

composed and not having anything wrong with him.? This must be a hard thing for Macbeth to do because of the way he

is feeling inside.It can be noticed that the

temper of Macbeth has become a lot worse.?

He is a lot more irritable and snappy ?Go prick thy face, and

over-red thy fear, thou lily-lier?d boy?.?

Macbeth turns on people for no apparent reason, when a servant tells

Macbeth about the soldiers that are n the way to the castle Macbeth calls him a

coward, he implies that the servant has ever been in battle and so would become

soaked with blood quickly.? He is attacking

the boy?s masculinity and has done so for no reason.? Macbeth?s irritability shows that he is finding it difficult for

him to carry on.? Macbeth is finding it

increasingly more difficult to carry on living a double life. His irritability

could be seen as a further indication of his depression and so it shows how he

is handling things and how they are getting on top of him.? Macbeth is keeping everything private and to

himself.? The audience seeing Macbeth in

both his public and private persona allows us to be more in touch with the

effect of everything and the audience can see more than the other characters in

the play can see and so see the effect of keeping up his false face.The witches still have a strong

hold on Macbeth, they have had this throughout the course of the play but it

has become stronger the longer Macbeth has been suffering.? The witches bring a feeling of relief for

Macbeth; they give him hope and confidence through the things that they have

told him.? They showed him apparitions

the second time he went to see them and gave him a further two prophecies which

established a sense of confidence and determination in Macbeth, which is partly

the reason why he will not committee suicide and give up on life.? The confidence that they gave him was false,

but it succeeded in doing both what he wanted and what the witches wanted.? It made Macbeth feel better about himself

and safer in life and it did what the witches wanted by dragging Macbeth

further into the world of evil, which is what they wanted.? They convinced Macbeth that no person could

kill him, the two prophecies that the witches gave him boost his confidence ?Bring

me no more reports; let them fly all: till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane?.? When told of the enclosing army Macbeth

comforts himself with the prophecy of the witches, he holds tight onto what

they told him, he believes that he cannot be defeated until the wood moves

towards the castle.? There is a sense of

arrogance to the way that Macbeth sees things ?I cannot taint with fear?

despite being an intelligent man and having the knowledge of how the initial

prophecies tricked him, Macbeth still holds strong to what the witches told

him.? It is as if all that Macbeth has

left n his life is the witches and the false confidence that they give

him.? However the audience soon becomes

aware that the witches have tricked Macbeth with regards to their prophecy

about the moving wood because in the following scene we soon become aware of

the fact that the marching soldiers will camouflage themselves with twigs and

leaves. ?thereby shall we shadow the numbers of our host, and make discovery

err in report of us?.? The watchers

at the castle will not know how many men there are in the army marching towards

them because they will be hidden from the eye.?

This illustrates that the witches have tricked Macbeth because the

confidence that he has with regards to the army is shattered, he has put his

trust in a lie.When Macbeth learns of the wood

walking towards him he is initially shocked, ?Liar and slave!? Macbeth

does understandably not believe what he has been told.? The messenger carries on explaining about

the wood more until it sinks into Macbeth.?

?If thou speak?st false, upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive?if

thy speech be sooth, I care not if thou dost for me as much? Macbeth reacts

rather unfairly to the servant by telling him he will be hung if he is lying to

Macbeth, but that he should hang him if he is telling the truth.? This is a realisation that Macbeth is going

to die, he now realises that this is not something he can avoid.? The audience can feel sorry for Macbeth

because he put all his hopes on the witches that has turned out to be no more

than trickery.? However this will also

remind the audience of his association with evil, at the time Shakespeare wrote

the play people believed strongly in witches and the paranormal.? They would see the witches as agents of the

devil who wanted to pull people into their world of evil.? The witches have succeeded in doing this by

manipulating Macbeth and distorting the truth for their own needs.? They have pulled Macbeth further and further

into evil and he is at the point where he has committed motiveless and brutal

crimes, the murder of Lady Macduff and family, they have sentenced Macbeth to

eternal damnation, which the audience would feel is what the witches wanted.The way in which Macbeth deals

with the situation he finds himself in is commendable, ?At least we?ll die

with harness on our back? he is not just going to go out with a whimper; he

is going to put up a fight and defend himself and his country.? This will in some sense help Macbeth to gain

back a little self-respect and like himself a little bit more.? His reaction helps to create pity for him

because it is the first time since the murder of Duncan that we can see a

glimpse of the real Macbeth (the one at the beginning of the play).? He is showing his loyalty to his country and

the solider that we saw who would not give up and went into battle against all

the odds.? He will not give up until the

end.? We then beginning to remember that

Macbeth was a good person but was pulled into evil by the witches and what they

told him.? This creates a feeling of

sadness, as we know that Macbeth could have been something great.? We see this through his honour and loyalty

even in certain death.Despite Macbeth being able to

see, and knowing that the witches have tricked him, with regards to one of the

prophecies they told him, yet he still believes that he cannot be killed.? ?What?s he that was not born of

woman?? Such a one am I to fear, or

none? the only shred of hope that he has is the final prophecy of the

witches, even though he already knows that they have betrayed him already.? He is at such a loss, and doesn?t know what

to do that he will hold onto any kind of hope.?

Even if it is from someone who has already tricked and betrayed him and

so he knows he should not be placing his trust in.? Everything in his life has gone and he has lost his dignity,

self-respect, the respect of others, his friends and family and everything he

was living for.? If Macbeth doesn?t hold

onto the sayings of the witches he will have noting left, he will have lost

absolutely everything.? Macbeth still

has an air of confidence about him.?

When Siward confronts him he goes into the situation by trying to scare ?Thou?lt

be afraid to hear it? Macbeth tells him that if he discloses his name to

him he will be afraid.? This shows his

confidence at the face of death because he is still influenced by the witches,

right up until the end.? Macbeth kills

Siward, which conveys the idea that nobody can harm Macbeth and it increases

his belief in the witches and the prophecies they gave him.? ?Weapons laugh to scorn, brandish?d by

man that?s born of woman? he is once again full of confidence, which is

boosted by him defeating Siward.?

Although Macbeth has killed someone the audience has their sympathy for

Macbeth come into play because we realise that it is only a matter or time

until the witches? final prophecy crumbles around Macbeth and this is too taken

away from him.? When we see Macbeth alone he

refuses to kill himself, ?Why should I play the Roman fool, and die on my

own sword?? Macbeth will not die of his own hand.? If it comes to him having to die he will do so with more dignity

and honour than suicide would give.? The

audience can here see that Macbeth is the man that he used to be, he will not

end his own life because of what he is facing.?

He is going to go into battle with whoever comes his way and do as much

as he can to defend himself and his castle.?

Macbeth reminds the audience that inside him is the solider who would do

all in his power to defend his king and country.? Macduff decides that for his own sanity he must be the one to

kill Macbeth, to avenge the murder of his family, otherwise it will haunt him

for the rest of his life, but when he confronts Macbeth he doesn?t get the

reaction that he wanted.? Macbeth

refuses to fight Macduff ?of all men I have avoided thee: but get thee back,

my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already?.? Macbeth shows here recognition of what he

has done, he will not fight Macduff because he already has a heavy soul.? Macbeth doesn?t want to kill any more and he

has had enough.? He makes reference to

the murders of the family of Macduff saying that he has enough of the blood of

his family on his hands and he will not have any more.? Macbeth says that he has shed enough of

Macduff?s blood through the murders of his family.? This will aid the audiences? pity for Macbeth because this is the

first time that Macbeth has showed remorse for the murders of Lady Macduff and

her children.? This was the most brutal

thing that Macbeth did and although seeing his remorse does not change that it

makes the audience soften a little in regards to their murders because we

didn?t know until now how he felt about it.Macduff will not except that

Macbeth will not fight him, he wants to avenge the murder of his family and so

pushes Macbeth into fighting him.?

Macbeth initially has the upper hand in the fight, partly because of the

confidence that he has through the witches? prophecy.? ?I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman

born? the confidence Macbeth has is due to him believing he cannot be

killed by a man born of a woman. ?He

brags about this whilst fighting with Macduff and uses it as a weapon to try

and shatter the confidence of Macduff.?

However the opposite happens, Macduff replies by telling him that he was

not born of a woman ?Tell thee Macduff was from his mother?s womb untimely

ripp?d?.? Macduff was born by

caesarean section and so was technically not born, the witches have tricked

Macbeth again.? Macduff therefore can

kill Macbeth and so all his confidence was because of noting.? Macbeth is understandably shocked.? He has had all that he put his trust in

ripped away from him in a second.? He

reacts by blaming the witches ?Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, for

it hath cow?d my better part of man: and be these juggling fiends no more

believed?.? He curses the witches

because he now realises that he has put all his hope into something that is

false and unstable.? Macbeth now

realises the extent of the witches trickery and what it has done to him, to his

life.? He loses all confidence and stops

fighting ?I?ll not fight thee? Macbeth backs away from Macduff and

refuses to fight him.? This shows that

all Macbeth had was that false prophecies of the witches which gave him the

confidence and will to do things.?

Macbeth is reduced to nothing ?Then yield thee, coward? he is not

even half of the man that he used to be, without the reassurance of the witches

Macbeth is nothing, he has nothing.? It

is like this is all that he was going on for, because he had the reassurance

that he would be safe.? The audience

will feel sorry for Macbeth by his reaction because we know that the prophecies

of the witches was all that Macbeth had, he has lost everything and we see how

it effects him.? He is at a loss and the

audience can sympathise a little because we have seen all that Macbeth has been

through, his pain and fear as well as his brutality, and we realise that it was

only the witches that kept him going.?

When someone has lost everything, all that they lived for, it is only

human for us to feel some sympathy for them.However once Macbeth is free of

the witches it is as if he sees things more clearly.? ?To kiss the ground before young Malcom?s feet, and to be

baited with the rabble?s curse?Yet I will try the last? he refuses to live

so that he can bow down before Malcolm; Macbeth has done so much in his life

that the thought of this is ridiculous.?

He will not give up and submit to Macduff he going to go out with a bang

he will go out fighting.? For the first

time since his encounter with them Macbeth is free from the witches.? He is not burdened with the things that they

have told him, he is once again his own person.? Macbeth has nobody left, his wife his dead, and he is free of the

witches, now he is not being manipulated or persuaded by anyone.? His actions are once again his own and we

see much more clearly the Macbeth from the start of the play, this is aided by

him wanted to go out fighting and refusing to give up in the face of almost

certain death.?? This will create sympathy

because the audience knows how much Macbeth has been dependant on other people,

he murdered Duncan because of his wife and everything after that he either did

out f fear because of what the witches told him.? This is the first time that Macbeth has been dependant on himself

and not other people and so the choices that he makes now are because of him

and no one else.Macbeth and Macduff go off

stage to fight and the audience is introduced to the father of Siward.? He is being told of the death of his son, although

we know that it was Macbeth that killed Siward we cannot help but see the

situation in Macbeth?s shoes and not those of Siward.? The conversation is about honour in death, ?Why then God?s

solider be he? Siward says that because his son was not stabbed in the back

he is proud because it means he went out fighting like a true solider.? It shows that his son was not a coward and

didn?t give up in the face of death, he is a solider of God.? We refer this to Macbeth because we know

that this is exactly what Macbeth has done.?

He has gone into battle against all the odds and not given up.? The last glimpse that we had of Macbeth was

of him being noble and like the Macbeth he used to be.? This aids a feeling of pity for him because

he has done the right thing for the first time in a while and we see that

without the pressure of other parties he is a good man.? This adds to the sense of loss and waste,

the situation that he is in could have easily been avoided.? Macduff kills Macbeth and then

everything seems to go back to the way it should be ?We will perform in

measure, time and place? now that Macbeth is dead everything can get back

to the right order.? Malcolm is the

rightful heir to the throne, as he is the son of Duncan and because of the divine

right of kings it is he who should be the king of Scotland.? With everything back how it should be the

country is a better place and order has been restored.? The land will be better now and everything

will be as it should be.? However there

is the reflection on Macbeth himself ?Of this dead butcher and his

fiend-like queen? Macbeth and his wife created havoc throughout the country

and without him the country is a far better place.? The play is left with a sense of relief, that because of the

divine right of kings all is good again.?

However there is a sense of waste created as well, that things didn?t

have to turn out like they have done, yes Macbeth deserved to die but it is a

pity that he has.? Through Act 5 Shakespeare

builds up pity and sympathy for Macbeth because of the way in which Macbeth is

coping with his life.? He creates a

feeling of waste and loss for Macbeth.?

The audience have been reintroduced to the real Macbeth slightly towards

the end of Act 5 which reminds us that he was not always bad and he only ended

up in the situation he was in because of mistakes that he made and stupid

judgements.? The audience sees how

Macbeth has been wrapped up in the world of evil and hence how this has led to

his eventual downfall.? Although it is a

hard task for Shakespeare to create sympathy for Macbeth, especially with the

audience last seeing him associated with the murder of Lady Macduff, before Act

5.? He does succeed in doing so, through

the use of Lady Macbeth, soliloquies and other dramatic techniques.