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Macbeth Character Changes

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Macbeth, a conflicted character, changes throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth. The challenge of wanting the title of King of Scotland lives within Macbeth. This caused him to make irrational decisions that eventually lead to his downfall. Deserving respect, craving power, and staying determined are qualities that Macbeth possesses and cycles through during the play. At the start of the play, Macbeth was known as a respectable and honest soldier. He worked under the King of Scotland, Duncan. Multiple characters spoke very highly of him. In the beginning, a battle took place involving an honorable and hardworking soldier, Macbeth. Macbeth and his fellow soldiers were victorious in this battle. Because of this, King Duncan named Macbeth the Thane …show more content…

He quickly learned about his bright future as the Thane of Cawdor and eventually receiving the title of king. His hunger for power forced him to follow through with regretful things throughout the play and switch to a murderous individual. Macbeth no longer showed loyalty to the King. He started his murder streak with the killing of Duncan. At first, he second guessed the bloody murder of his king. However, his wife, Lady Macbeth, talked him into this by calling him a coward and asking if he was a man. To prove to her that he was a strong individual, he followed through with the act of killing King Duncan. This confirms that the pressure of others persuaded Macbeth’s actions. Macbeth wanted the blame to be placed on someone other than himself so the people showed loyalty to him as the new king. In order to successfully gain the people’s respect, he planted the evidence on the guards. Then, he murdered these guards to show the people of Scotland that he was negatively impacted by the death of the king. This demonstrates the manipulative side of …show more content…

He starts as a respectable, honorable soldier under the control of Duncan. Then, the want for power overcame him and attacked the man he once worked for. He went through times of guilt and grief, but still ended the play as a determined and confident man. His personality ends the same way it began, a hardworking and strong soldier who never gave up for anything or anyone. He cycles through different personalities during the play, showing his complexity as a

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Macbeth... the valiant warrior who turned against himself due to an inner greediness for power. It all starts at the beginning when he gets “promoted” to Thane of Cawdor because of his excellent fighting skills and bravery in battle. Then if that’s not enough the three witches tell him he will be king. With the taste of power he has now gotten through his promotion, he can’t help but take what the witches say to heart. He wants more, he wants it faster: he continues to be impatient and eventually his “vaulting ambition o’erleaps itself and falls on thy other” (1.7.26-28).

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491 Words | 2 Pages

Macbeth knows that if he kills Duncan, he gets the satisfaction in being king. Once Macbeth receives the position of “Thane of Cawdor” for his bravery so easily. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my sir”(1.3.143-144). So he begins to think that since he received this higher position with doing nothing, then maybe doing nothing can crown him king. Although he was a very nice person, down deep he wanted to become king.

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973 Words | 4 Pages

The film Macbeth illustrates Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to have very different personalities than their original counterpart of the play. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a much more grieving mother. Her characteristics change and are more revealed during the killing of the Macduff family. Throughout the film Lady Macbeth is demonstrated as a much more emotional character, with her grieving over her child's death, to the breakdown during the terrifying burning of the Macduff family. The new characteristics of the character also again give a new feel to the storyline of the character.

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780 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth only becomes Thane of Cawdor, because of a traitor, but he himself later becomes a traitor. In the beginning it was easy for Macbeth to fight for his king and to honor the name of the man who ruled his land, but once he finds out his future, his entire mindset changes. Macbeth fights and wins a battle in favor for Scotland and king Duncan. A few hours after the battle, the Weird Sisters tell Macbeth what his future looks like. He becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming king and one can sense his thirst for power.

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429 Words | 2 Pages

MacBeth is the main character in Shakespeare's MacBeth and rightfully so. He is the character that changes the most and has the greatest impact on the story. MacBeth is the one whom the tragedy is placed on, and because of this it is his story. MacBeth's dynamic character changes throughout the play driving the story forward and showing the theme of visions of power create ambition in individuals. The first point that has to be explained is MacBeth's dynamic character.

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

The Thane of King Duncan, Macbeth hears a prophecy that he himself will become king later on in the future after King Duncan. This then leads to Macbeth being overcome by greed. Since Macbeth greeds to be king so bad, he murders King Duncan and takes his place of the throne. Macbeth starts to live with so much guilt and fear that he commits even more murders to have his power safe. Macbeth is so confident in the prophecies that his life comes to a downfall and he gets killed by the people he did wrong.

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931 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the tragedy, Macbeth 's character takes a big, yet gradual change for the worst as ambition starts to completely take over him. Once the three witches give Macbeth his prophecies he transitions from a brave, loyal man to a cold blooded murderer. His power hungry personality leads to a character change from who he was before he knew about the witches prophecies, after he learned of them, and right before he was murdered. In Macbeth, Shakespeare dramatises the damaging physical and mental effects of ambition on those who seek power for their own sake.

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673 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth shows that he is willing to kill King Duncan because he is interested in the witches prophecy, after they tell him that he will become ‘Thane of Cawdor’ and then the King.

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Lady Macbeth and Macbeth: The Manipulation of the Soft-hearted Disruption and criminality could be seen within the very first lines of the famous play by Shakespeare and towards the end as well. In this old Shakespearean play, Macbeth is a fierce warrior who receives the tittle known as the Thane of Cawdor by emerging victoriously from the battle of the Kingdom of Scotland. After this great battle, Macbeth encounters three unusual ladies who appear to be witches known as the Weird Sisters. The Weird Sisters claim in a prophecy that Macbeth will rule as the future King of Scotland. But, Macbeth begins to feel uneasy when he learns that King Duncan will be passing the throne to his, Malcolm, the Prince of Cumberland.

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630 Words | 3 Pages

What seemed like a fearless soldier soon would have his life turned around by his own innocent ambition that furthermore evolved into blinding greed, need for power, and selfishness. This soldier was Macbeth, he didn 't realize the toll this had on his mental health and others. Macbeth had many distinct layers to him that he personally didn 't know he acquired over the course of time. This is what you 'd call a complex character, one who can 't be cognized yet till you fully get to know their mindset and thoughts. Traditionally this would be a great way to describe Macbeth, throughout this book readers slowly started to comprehend his intentions and actions .

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1288 Words | 6 Pages

Macbeth was the Thane of Cawdor but he wanted to be king more than anything. The witches had told him that he would one day be king but he did not know how long that would take so when King Duncan had been invited to stay the night at his house he exclaimed that “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/ shakes so my single state of man/ that function is smother 'd in surmise,/ and nothing is but what is not”(1.3.52-55). He felt that if he were to kill King Duncan that he would have a better chance of becoming king. Though the witches had never told him that someone would need to get murdered for him to become king, his ambition tempted him to quicken this process the only way he felt he could. This was the beginning of the murderer that the witches had created with the fortune telling.

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999 Words | 4 Pages

This led to him going insane. Macbeth didn 't have to do this, he had already been promoted and had a better job than he had had beforehand. he was very well off and did not need the responsibilities of a king. he could have moved on and lived his life but, he killed the king. This event in the movie was portrayed with much more emotion than expected.

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1021 Words | 5 Pages

He goes from being a loyal soldier to a cruel tyrant killing all of his enemies. In the beginning of the play he is presented as a loyal soldier to King Duncan and he is widely respected and admired by people. It can seem questionable as to why Macbeth is an antagonist when he has the trope of a hero. Despite that image, his inner thoughts begin to reveal themselves, showing another side to Macbeth that people don’t know about. Macbeth soon admits to his dark lust for power and status beyond his capability.

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876 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth started off as a valiant and courageous soldier, who would do anything for the king. By the end of the play, Macbeth was a tyrant and a horrible leader who killed those who trusted him to maintain the throne. It takes many factors to take a strong man and transform him into an evil monster. Macbeth’s downfall was caused by the deception and temptation of the witches and their prophecies, Lady Macbeth’s greed and aspirations for her husband to be king, and Macbeth’s own greed, jealousy and ambition.

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593 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth was introduced as a hero and everyone thought very highly of him. King Duncan trusted and was comfortable around Macbeth. He considered him as his friend and someone he could confide in. Macbeth’s love for the King and for Scotland makes him not seem wholly evil. It was Lady Macbeth who influenced Macbeth into killing King Duncan.

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