Macbeth Overview Essay, Research Paper
Macbeth is one of the most well known plays written by Shakespeare.
The play is about a leader of men who is portrayed as a loyal, honest and trust
worthy person who turns against his own king in a bid to rule the country. He
is led to this decision, by the influence of his wife- lady Macbeth. The play shows how the main character is so easily deceived by the three
witches, who show him his successful future using their evil magic.
When Macbeth met the witches they were the first to show that Macbeth’s ability
had come to use by praising him with what he wanted to hear. (Act 1 scene 3 line 48-50)
FIRST WITCH: ?All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis?
SECOND WITCH: ?All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor?
THIRD WITCH: ?All hail, Macbeth! Thou shalt be king thereafter ? These are a selection of the most important lines in the entire play, as
this is where Macbeth starts to take from others what is not his. Lady Macbeth uses her wording to persuade Macbeth to murder King Duncan
because she cannot kill him herself because he reminds her of her dead father.
By doing this Macbeth turns from a decent being to a monster, killing everyone
in the way of him and his throne. With King Duncan murdered, Macbeth completes
his first step and while doing so he manages to scare away Malcolm. Here is
where Macduff comes in. Macduff is a Scottish Thane who becomes very noticeable
after the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth is slightly afraid of this new person
and later in the play arranges to have him and his family killed. Unfortunately
for him, Macduff does not get killed, only Mucduff?s wife and son die. Later
Macbeth remembers what the witches said to Banquo. (Act 1 scene 1 line 65-69)
?Lesser than Macbeth and greater, not so happy, yet much happier, thou shalt
get kings though thou be none: so, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! Banquo and
Macbeth, all hail! Macbeth then realises that his best friend Banquo or his son Fleance would
be the next king. Macbeth does not want to take any chances so he sends his men
to go and kill the both of them, fortunately Fleance, Banquo?s son had already
got away.
Macbeth automatically gained control of the throne after the murder of King
Duncan and Banquo, but with this new leadership Macbeth brought with him a
great reign of terror.
Soon after the murder of Duncan Lady Macbeth felt the guilt grow inside her so
much that it actually drove her to suicide, Macbeth could see that his world
was failing apart, his wife was dead, and there was Anarchy across the land. He
realised the time had come for him to die also. The witches then approached him
and told him to have faith and that he would never be killed by a natural born
child. (Act 4 scene 1 lines 79-81)
SECOND APPARITION: ?Be bloody, bold and resolute: a laugh to scorn the power of
man, for none of women born shalt harm Macbeth?. Malcolm, with the aid of Macduff?s soldiers, gets closer to Macbeth?s
castle. In the end Macbeth comes face to face with Macduff who brings upon
Macbeth his death. (Act 5 scene 7 lines 42-45)
MACDUFF: ?Despair thy charm; And let thee, Macduff was from his mother?s womb
Untimely ripp?d? This was a briefing of the play Macbeth. I have tried to highlight certain
points in the play to show how Shakespeare has wound the story in such a way
that he has left this one hero with only one flaw in his character which the
circumstances play upon and turn this good, honest and loyal person into such a
beast of monstrosity. Even by turning Macbeth in to this evil being,
Shakespeare manages to somehow turn the thinking point of the audience around
so far as to even make them feel sorry for Macbeth when he is killed. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a strong ambitious individual who can influence
her husband very much. She can make him do whatever she pleases and she is the
sort of person who will not take no for an answer. In this play, Lady Macbeth
is compared to a cat, who will eat whatever is thrown her way as long she
doesn?t have to work for it, which in sub-text means to me that this is a woman
that will do anything to get her way.
Macbeth seems to pass on Lady Macbeth?s judgement at every step, it?s like with
out Lady Macbeth?s permission or influence, Macbeth would not have killed
Duncan and he would have just ignored the witches prophecies. This show?s Lady
Macbeth to be a vile disgusting creature who would use anyone and anything to
fulfil her dark desires.
This play is clouded by the use the supernatural powers. The play is formed
around the darker side of humanity and human nature. Shakespeare shows this darker
side using the images of evil, witchcraft and black magic.
The three witches in the play conjure up evil, with the stereotypical view of
evil entrapping souls for their own pleasure. Shakespeare also uses the weather
as a sort of image definition because in the time when the play was written,
people thought that whenever any evil was thought of, the weather would turn
grey and nasty.
He uses the images of ?dark blustery weather? to show the feeling of Macbeth,
the dark feeling of Macbeth.
Shakespeare is known to use a supporting angle of a play and in this play it
must be the supernatural, as it will make it easier for the audience to
understand the play simply. In a certain way I must admit that I did feel a twinge of pity for Lady
Macbeth. This was a strong ambitious lady who deserved to die a tad bit more
dramatically. The death she got was overall not very tragic and it was not
right for her to die at that certain point. I feel that the plot should have
gone deeper so that when Lady Macbeth did die, it would have made more of an
effect on the way the plot ran. Her death should have been so tragic that it
was enough to bring the play to a stand still as she was the one that had
Macbeth?s attention so far as he would have done anything in exchange for her
happiness. After her tragic death the play should have been able to bring
itself back to the tense situation it had been in. Overall the play was a certain tragedy, not of two lovers (as in Romeo and
Juliet), but of a man who let evil weaken his own self morale, he who was
basically a tragic waste let evil take over and control his life in such a way
that was not really expected of him as he was portrayed as a good, loyal and
trustworthy person at the beginning of the play. Macbeth, a good man who had only flaw in his way of life which was played
upon by temptation and circumstance
and which eventually led him to his grave. It makes you think and feel pity for
him, what a tragic waste.