William Shakespeare created a play titled The Tragedy of Macbeth, which is set in Scotland. In the tale, Macbeth, who is driven by the desire of power goes down a dark, bloody, and destructive path to overcome those he sees as a threat once he becomes king.Macbeth’s malicious actions later lead to his horrific murder. The essential theme is the characteristics of Good vs. Evil shown throughout the kingdom of Scotland. To begin with, Lady Macbeth and Macduff demonstrate various attributes of the topic Good vs. Evil. Lady Macbeth stood out as one who was ruthless, manipulative, wicked, and a woman of words. These traits portray her as an evil character because of her desire for power just like her husband Macbeth, which also leads to the bloody deeds she commits with him. (Act I, Scene V, Line 40-54) The next character is one who follows the good characteristics and that would be Macduff. Macduff was described as a courageous, determined, well-respected, and strong-willed nobleman of Scotland. Macduff wanted to do everything in his power to purify Scotland and the reader gets to view his traits more throughout the play. (Act V, Scene VIII, Line 6-8) In addition to the characteristics of some of the citizens of Scotland, Lady Macbeth and Macduff were not the only ones who were categorized as “good and evil.” The main character Macbeth is also a …show more content…
The reader sees that the characters personality, actions, and diction justify the significant theme good vs. evil. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth displayed traits of evil and corruption by wanting power and wanting to get rid of King Duncan and others that were a threat. In contrast, Macduff showed readers that he wanted what was best for his country and refused to let Macbeth destroy his homeland. After reading The Tragedy of Macbeth, one can see that everyone is not what they seem because even the “brightest angel fell from
In “Act IV Scene I”, the witches warn Macbeth about Macduff and how he is trying to dethrone him. Macbeth thinks the solution of this is to slaughter all of Macduff’s family. This leads to Macduff now wanting to fight Macbeth and avenging his family. Macbeth's definition of being a man is doing whatever it takes to get what he wants. Macduff’s definition of being a man is getting justice for his family.
These are not considered evil until he caves into the temptation of power (Gimelli Martin 165). His weakness is shown when he makes the decision to murder King Duncan and secures the position as king. He even goes as far to murder his friend, Banquo, because he feels uneasy about his suspicions (182-183). At this point in the story he is even comparable to Satan, “Like Satan, Macbeth becomes the chief equivocator in his own hell, unwittingly uttering objective truths to his subjects even while telling subjective lies.” (183).
Though he has the right to be emotional regarding the murder of his king and family, Macduff is able to set them aside. Macduff is the character that the audience needs so they can have hope in the dismal situation. The layers of Macduff’s characteristics are unfolded to the audience throughout the play. It is a carefully orchestrated peeling away so that what emerges by the end of the play is a hero that you want to cheer for. The darkness of the play has a shining light in the character of Macduff.
In Macbeth, there are plenty of evil people and schemes that overshadow the good in the play. The entire play seems to be about backstabbing and lies and it’s hard to find anything good that happened. However, there is a hero in the play that ended the horrible reign of Macbeth. Macduff showed at the end that he is the true hero of the play because he killed Macbeth and he had the courage to do so. He stayed true to his morals and he stayed loyal to his country until the end.
“The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to the edge o’ the sword his wife his babes, and all the unfortunate souls” (4.1. 165-167). This shows Macbeth’s complete disregard for human life and his willingness to commit crimes to maintain his power. He sees Macduff as a significant threat and is willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate him, including murdering Macduff’s wife and children. His ambition has consumed him, and he has lost touch with morality or compassion.
Macbeth, throughout the play, is presented in an eminent position in society with major flaws, and, as such, fulfills the basic requirements of a tragic hero. Shakespeare introduces him as a brave general, an intelligent resolute man of action whose major flaw of ambition for power leads him to his last battle of death. Because Macbeth was such a strong character in the opening of the play, every perfect hero, has a dark side. The Thane of Cawdor, who later becomes King, is categorized in three sections: bravery, ambition and guilt- and to many, Macbeth, is a true tragic hero. "For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name — Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valour's minion carved out his passage till he faced the slave."
In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macduff proves to be the true hero. Macduff proves to be the true hero of the play for being loyal to his country and killing Macbeth. Macbeth and Macduff differ because Macbeth is conceded and a killer, while Macduff is not. Macduff, the Thane of Fife, proves to be a loyal man when it comes to his country and his people. For example, Macduff deserts his family in order to go to England to meet with Malcolm and the king of England, so all three of them can go back to Scotland to defeat Macbeth for once and all.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare set in Scotland about a murderous and vehement king who spirals on a path of destruction as he suffers from the consequences of determining his own fate. The predominant theme portrayed throughout the play is honor vs. loyalty. This is represented through the identification, actions, and quotes of numerous characters. To introduce the theme of honor vs. disloyalty, the characters Banquo and Macbeth exemplify traits that are equivalent with the moral of the story.
In many stories evil triumphs but never concurs. In the novel of to kill a mocking bird from Harper lee, evil is triumphed by ignorance and racism. How ever in the novel of Macbeth from William shake spear, evil is triumphed by greed, jealousy and ambition. Both have their own scenario and we will compare how both protagonists for both novel fight the evil that triumphs in their life’s. for the novel ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist is Macbeth and the protagonist for ‘To kill a mocking bird’ is Atticus both will be compared on how big of an impact was created by their decision and how they face evil.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth, in many cases, is portrayed as being evil. However, his character is not truly the evil force driving the actions of the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, as well as the witches and their misleading prophecies, are the real driving forces of Macbeth’s unspeakable actions. Macbeth is driven mad by the evil around him, causing him to turn to the violent behavior displayed throughout the many murders of the play.
To compare and contrast the roles of Lady Macbeth in the play, giving close consideration to their relationship their husbands. In the play ‘Macbeth’ we notice that the roles of Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff are very different. The contrast between these two ladies, is especially noted by each woman’s loyalties and manner of death. These two women, as similar as they were, also had dissimilarities that are far more striking. Although Lady Macduff and Lady Macbeth each had the ability to influence their family, they used this influence in entirely different ways.
Throughout literature, we see human characteristics in our characters. Characteristics such as punishment, downfall, middling character, free choice, and nobility. In this play called Macbeth we see all these characteristics fall into place throughout the good and bad choices acted on by our main character Macbeth. The play demonstrates how power will make or break character and lead to his/her own destruction by possessing a few of these characteristics. Macbeth demonstrates both literal and figurative nobility as the plot beings to grow throughout the play.
The killing of the characters made a process to help the main character, Macbeth, in a good way and a bad way. He was the main person to make the killing to become King of Scotland and remain there. In Macbeth, the good and evil shows a relation between the killing of King Duncan, the killing of Banquo, and the conflict between Macbeth and Macduff. In the killing of King Duncan, good and evil showed a relation in Macbeth.
William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the main character; Macbeth, is seen as an evil character. The play is based off of Macbeth’s decisions and his actions to become King. In the beginning Macbeth starts out as a hero in Scotland’s war with Ireland and towards the end he is transformed into a murderer. Macbeth is not wholly evil because of is heroism in the war, his love for Scotland, and because he didn’t want to kill King Duncan initially. Macbeth was brain washed by his wife and tricked into killing the King.
Celia Beyers Tinti Period 1/5 12 April 2015 Literary Analysis: Macbeth In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he presents the character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is shown, as a character that schemes into making rebellious plots. She reveals the desire for wanting to lose her feminine qualities in order to be able to gain more masculine ones.