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How Is Macbeth A Tyrant

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Macbeth is a tragic hero in Shakespeare's play Macbeth. He is a complex character with a multifaceted personality. Macbeth's personality undergoes a significant transformation throughout the play, from a loyal and respected general to a ruthless and paranoid tyrant. In this essay, I will discuss the different aspects of Macbeth's personality, including his strengths, weaknesses, and how they contribute to his downfall.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is depicted as a brave and loyal soldier. He is highly respected by his peers and has the trust of his king, Duncan. Macbeth is also shown to be ambitious, but this ambition is seen as a positive trait that motivates him to achieve greatness. Macbeth's ambition is first revealed in his soliloquy …show more content…

Macbeth is haunted by the witches' prophecy and becomes obsessed with maintaining his position as king. He becomes paranoid and suspicious of everyone around him, including his closest friends and allies. Macbeth's paranoia is evident in Act 3, Scene 4 when he sees the ghost of Banquo at the banquet. He says, "Thou canst not say I did it; never shake / Thy gory locks at me" (3.4.50-51). This line shows that Macbeth is haunted by his guilt and is afraid that his actions will be exposed. Macbeth's paranoia ultimately leads to his downfall as he becomes increasingly isolated and unable to trust anyone. Macbeth's greatest weakness is his lack of moral courage. He is easily influenced by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the witches' prophecies. Macbeth's moral cowardice is evident in Act 1, Scene 7 when he initially decides not to kill Duncan. He says, "We will proceed no further in this business. / He hath honored me of late, and I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people, / Which would be worn now in their newest gloss" (1.7.31-34). Macbeth's hesitation is a sign of his conscience, but he is quickly persuaded by Lady Macbeth to follow through with the plan. Macbeth's lack of moral courage is also evident when he decides to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. He hires murderers to do his dirty work, showing that he is not willing to get his hands

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Untae Langis points out that as the play opens, “Macbeth reveals himself caught between rational and appetitive will, virtue, and self-esteem… When Lady Macbeth chides him for having cold feet… Macbeth’s cowardice foretells the yielding of his desires for good to the desire for worldly power”. This desire for power is valued because Macbeth has innate nobility, and he has honorable character at the beginning of the play. One of his many tragic flaws includes ambition, which leads to his downfall at the end of the

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In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the consequences of unchecked ambition and greed paired with blind trust in the wrong people, and how this will ultimately result in inevitable repercussions. Shakespeare's character Macbeth explores these ideas through his political greed and desire to become King of Scotland. Macbeth was a virtuous man who was enrolled in the army, and this play represents how power can corrupt even these kinds of people. His ambition to be the king guides him to commit multiple heinous crimes, including the murder of his friends and allies. He lets this idealized version of himself control him, and lead him to malicious acts that eventually lead him to his death.

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Macbeth's suspicions towards Banquo make him decide that he is an obstacle to staying in power, thus he decides to hire murderers and manipulate them into thinking that Banquo “held you so under fortunes…had been out innocent self”(Shakespeare 3.1.83-86). Macbeth persuades the murderers that Banquo is the root of all of their problems and that he must die. This shows how he chose power over his best friend. Lastly, Macbeth's ambition makes him overly gullible and easily manipulated. Lady Macbeth’s need for power makes her put Macbeth's feelings aside and manipulates him into killing King Duncan, along with making other bad decisions, by questioning his manhood, and telling him to “Be…more than man”… “I had given suck”(Shakespeare 1.7.58-62).

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Unlike with the murder of Duncan, Macbeth lacks hesitation and says, "To act in safety. There is none but he Whose being I do fear; and under him My genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Antony's was by Caesar" (3.1 85). Banquo's concern that the Three Witches' prophecy will come true causes him to question whether or not Macbeth murdered King Duncan. Due to Banquo's rising suspicions, Macbeth fears him above all others. Therefore, Macbeth hired assassins to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance.

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With these words, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by reigniting his ambition to kill the king. After all, he does not want to disappoint his wife. Once Macbeth obtains the throne, his ambition fuels his insecurity and overrides his conscience, making him act in a ruthless, hasty manner. Macbeth's insecurity makes him doubt his valued friend Banquo’s loyalty to him, as he fears he knows his crimes because he was the only one with him when the witches spoke their prophecy. Macbeth also fears he destroyed his conscience for the benefit of only Banquo when he chose to kill

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When we are first presented with the character of Macbeth he is pictured as a noble and loyal warrior. However, once his future is presented to him by the witches saying that he, Macbeth, is to become the next great King of Scotland, he begins to lose focus and makes the wrong decisions. Macbeth begins to only make choices that will benefit only himself and to gain power. Becoming almost unrecognizable to the person he once was. After confronting his wife, Lady Macbeth, he isn't the only one with a lust for power.

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When the Witches' prophecy states Banquoes son will become king one day, Macbeth quickly acts and remarks, "I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat" (3.1.92-93). Macbeth decides to have Banquo and his son Fleance killed, despite his initial reluctance to harm his friend. Macbeth's determination remains evident in his language as he declares his resolve to carry out the "terrible feat," and in his interactions with the murderers he hires. Clearly, Macbeth's determination to maintain his hold on power overrides his moral qualms and personal relationships. Macbeth's actions as a King seem to only promote and help himself which becomes known when he states, "I'll make assurance double sure, / And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; / That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, / And sleep in spite of thunder" (3.4.90-93).

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Macbeth’s mental condition begins to dwindle as time goes on, starting with the murder of Duncan. At first, Macbeth is seen as a soldier that everyone aspires to be, strong, brave, and compassionate about his duties to the king. In act one scene two, Captain says, “...For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-...” This shows that he is a likeable person who has only the objective of serving his king. After meeting with the witches and hearing his prophecy, Macbeth starts to think about what it would be like to be king of Scotland.

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Macbeth begins to fear being found out as Banquo has suspicions that it was Macbeth when he accuses that “[Macbeth] playd’st foully for’t,” (3.1.3) in order to make the prophecy come true for Macbeth. This threat to his newfound power becomes a reality even more, causing Macbeth to plan to eliminate Banquo and his future heir, trying to prevent Banquo from threatening his rule and Banquo’s son from inheriting his throne. Macbeth recognizes the gravity of what he has done and that his grip on power is slipping when he fearfully reveals to Lady Macbeth that he has “scorch’d the snake...not kill’d,”(3.2.13) referring to the fact that Duncan is gone, but that their are other people, like Banquo, who threaten his reign and must be dealt with to maintain his power. With rhis fear stated, Macbeth orders his first of many murders to secure his throne, sending murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance, while his hands remain clean and free from suspicion. This is the first of many mistakes for Macbeth as he is successful in eliminating Banquo but not Fleance, who escapes when Banquo says to “[f]ly, good Fleance”(3.3.20) to safety.

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No boasting like a fool; This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool, (iv, ii, 149-153) This shows macbeth's ambition because he is willing to kill kids and a whole family just so he can stay king. Macbeth is a tragic hero because he meet that first requirement which is Hamartia This shows the that Macbeth is very desperate to stay king. By now, Macbeth has changed a lot.

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Shakespeare engineered a most impressionable character in Macbeth who easily succumbs to the extensive magnitude of opposing constraints. This character is Macbeth, who is the protagonist in the play and husband to a conniving wife, who in the end is the sole cause for Macbeth 's undoing. Conflicting forces in the play compel internal conflicts within Macbeth to thrive on his contentment and sanity as he his torn asunder between devotion, aspiration, morality and his very own being. He has developed a great sense of loyalty from being a brave soldier; however, his ambition soon challenges this allegiance. As his sincerity begins to deteriorate, his own sanity starts to disintegrate until the point where he cannot differentiate between reality

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Lady Macbeth orders a servant to fetch Macbeth and before he arrives, she bemoans “Naught’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content,” indicating that even though she has gotten everything she wants, Lady Macbeth is still not happy because she had to kill to get what she wanted. According to Edith Whitehurst Williams, Lady Macbeth has “a conscience far from dead” that is seen in how she is not happy despite having the power she wanted, since the means of obtaining that power were unsavory (Williams 222). Once Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth consults him, advising that “what’s done is done,” meaning that Duncan is dead and their plan is through, so he does not need to do anything more or kill anyone else (3.2.12). Macbeth can sense that Lady Macbeth will not advocate for any more murders and therefore he “does not make her a party to the murder of Banquo” (Williams 222) and so when Lady Macbeth tells him to “sleek o’er your rugged looks”(3.2.27) in order to stop him from his planning of further murders, he simply agrees. At the banquet where Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, after everyone has left, Macbeth is talking about how he has more schemes to kill people, it is seen that Lady Macbeth’s “dedications to evil… [are] not going to sustain her”(Williams 222).

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Macbeth's ambition leads him to turn on his friend Banquo, and have him murdered. As he contemplates doing so in this quote. "To be thus is nothing, / But to be safe thus: our fears in Banquo / Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature / Reign that which would be feared.

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I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on 't again I dare not.” (Act II, sc ii, Lines 48-50). Macbeth is getting extremely paranoid and feels bad killing Duncan. Macbeths ambitions caused him to murder Duncan, but he also had Banquo murdered, and wanted to murder Banquo 's son, Fleance. Macbeth wants Banquo killed because he saw him as a threat; however, Banquo had been Macbeth 's friend and thought he could trust him. "

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They told Macbeth that he was going to be king, and told Banquo that his children were going to be king. With the knowledge that there is a possibility to become king, along with the selfish human nature, noble Macbeth was easily swayed by this prophecy. At first, Macbeth’s conscience took care of his ambitions, he was afraid he would betray the king, because he knew that he was “his kinsman and his subject” (1.7.13). However as the three witches continue to encourage Macbeth with carefully chosen words, he eventually pushes his conscience away and committed crimes that were dishonourable. Macbeth, easily controlled by his ambitions, loses his noble and heroic title in fear of losing his power.

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