Short Analysis Of Macbeth Essay, Research Paper
Macbeth is a play about the folly of vaulting ambition! Discuss!!!
Macbeth is a play mainly about ambition, there are many other issues in the play such as, manipulation, jealousy, regret, paranoia, bravery and courage. But out of all of these issues I would have to say that ambition is the main issue in the play. All of these other issues are a part of the play and they all come into the play at certain times.
Macbeth had once heard from the witches prophecy that one day he would become king. When Macbeth heard this was going to happen, this made him feel more ambitious and this was what lead to Duncan’s murder. After Macbeth became king of Scotland his personality changed he became a totally different person who was very cruel and violent. After he had committed the crime of murdering Duncan he always felt guilty and didn’t really know what was going to happen next. Macbeth was very scared of Macduff and ordered murderer’s to kill Lady Macduff and their son. Macduff told Malcolm to lead an army against Macbeth, this was at the end of the play, where Macbeth was killed by Macduff.
Macbeth’s ambition is extraordinary throughout the play in a way that Macbeth is very courageous throughout the battle that occurred. When Macbeth was given the title ‘thane of cawdor’ he felt that he had power over everything which made him more powerful, In act 1 scene 3 when Macbeth said to himself Glamis, and the ‘thane of cawdor’, the greatest is behind. He said this because he is now the king and by saying the greatest is behind, this meant something like he was going to rule the world.
At the start of the play Duncan and Macbeth win the victory for Scotland. Duncan rewarded Macbeth for the courage Macbeth had for himself throughout the victory. He rewarded Macbeth by giving him the title ‘thane of cawdor’. At this stage of the play it wasn’t to be known that Macbeth was a traitor.
Macbeth had a lot of courage throughout the play, we know this by many things Macbeth did throughout the play. The first thing that showed he had a lot of courage was how he won the battle for Scotland. As Macbeth was the man who made it all possible he was then presented the title ‘thane of cawdor’. If Macbeth did not have as much courage as he does he would not have gotten the title ‘thane of cawdor’. This title makes Macbeth feel more powerful, more strong and more brave.
Macbeth’s courage is mainly based on the trust that the other characters have for him, it makes him feel more courageous. Due to Macbeth being honest and truthful to nearly everyone in the play he had a different kind of honesty to his wife, he would tell and share almost everything with her. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth understand one another very clearly. Macbeth has great ambitions, as Lady Macbeth also knows that Macbeth is honorable.
As Macbeth thinks about committing the crime of murdering Duncan he realizes that if he does commit the crime and kill Duncan that it will be found out and everyone will know who the murderer of Duncan was. Macbeth thinks very deeply into this murder, he is very stressed and feels that he is living in a nightmare. While Macbeth is still thinking about the murder, he says ‘that summons thee to heaven or to hell’. By saying this, Macbeth means that after he commits the crime of murdering Duncan it will summon him to either heaven or to hell.
Macbeth went to Duncan’s room and committed the murder, he then went back to his room where Lady Macbeth was waiting for him. He came into the room with Duncan’s blood all over his hands, this showed Lady Macbeth that the murder had been committed. It also showed her that Macbeth proved himself to be a real man. Soon after this Macbeth realizes that he has committed a really big crime. Now that Macbeth has murderer Duncan, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are losing sleep over what happened, they are spending too much time thinking about what is going to happen next. Macbeth murdered Duncan so that what the witches said would come true. Macbeth now wants to kill Banquo so that what the witches said would not come true.
Macbeth is not really scared of the witches, he believes in what they have to say to him, mostly about his future and this is
Lady Macbeth has had a lot of problems dealing with all of this crime that had been committed by her own husband. She had problems even though she wanted Macbeth to murder Duncan in a way. Macbeth had frightening dreams about what happened on the night of Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth would lay next to her husband and feel pity for him as he went through these awful dreams.
As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were very honest and truthful to one another, there was one thing that Macbeth hadn’t told Lady Macbeth and this was that Macbeth was planning on killing Banquo and Fleance. What Macbeth did by hiding this from Lady Macbeth was not such a good thing to do as this is not very honest and truthful. It was also not such a good thing to do as this was the start of their relationship breaking up.
In Act 4 the witches make some more apparitions for Macbeth. The first apparition represented ‘an armed head’ and this head was Macbeth’s very own head. The next one was of the ‘bloody child’ which is Macduff and he was ‘untimely ripp’d’ from his mothers womb. This last one was of Malcolm , the royal child with a tree in his hand, he approached the palace at Dunsinane which was camouflaged with the branches.
As I said earlier how Macbeth was cruel, you will now be told how cruel he is by what he did. Macbeth and a few of his men went to lady Macduff and her son, and killed her son for no apparent reason. Macbeth had no shame for what he did, he didn’t really care or realize what he had done and how wrong it was. Macduff was very upset over what happened, this is obvious from when he says ‘but I must also feel it like a man’. As Macduff is using the word ‘man’ he does not mean it as bravery, he intends to use it as a human being with emotions of love and grief.
Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep and in her mind are constant memories of the night of Duncan’s murder and what events happened that night. Lady Macbeth does not come into the play after this part this is mainly because Lady Macbeth kills herself with her own self and violent hands. When Macbeth was given the news about his wife and that she was dead and how she killed herself, it didn’t really make much of a difference to Macbeth because he didn’t feel anything for her and for her death. This obviously shows that Macbeth is very selfish to not even care about his own wife’s death. This also shows that Macbeth didn’t really have strong feelings for Lady Macbeth and didn’t really care about what happened to her.
In the last scene of the play Macbeth gets forced into confronting Macduff, and is also forced into confronting other things such as truth, as some things that haven’t been told to Macduff. The castle gets surrendered and Macbeth gets defeated and dies. It was something that Macbeth would never think would happen to him, this is because he is ‘thane of cawdor’ and he rules the world. The victory is then proclaimed. Malcolm then announces the beginning of a new reign. Everything gets restored to Scotland and the affairs start again.
It was as if everything that had been done in the play was about to start all over again and that all the same things were about to happen again but just to different people. I think that it was a good thing that Macbeth dies at the end of the play this is because he put a number of people through pain and torture and didn’t feel anything after he committed the crimes. I also believe that Macbeth lived long enough and that it was his time to be killed and to be put through pain and torture.
The way Lady Macbeth died was unexpected, I truly thought that when she did die that Macbeth would feel really unhappy but I was mistaken. Macbeth is truly someone who doesn’t really care much about anything but himself. There was a lot of revenge throughout the play such as where Macbeth wanted to kill Duncan, and where Macduff wanted to kill Macbeth. I realize that both of these murders occurred and both of the people who died were put through pain.
33a