The Character Of Macbeth In William Shakespeare's Play

Throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth, we see the character of Macbeth change from a person of great honor and respect to someone who is engulfed in the greed for power. When Shakespeare wrote his play, he was showing the world what a tragic hero seems to be like, but did he really know what it meant to be a tragic hero himself when writing his play. A tragic hero is a character who makes a judgment error with the right intentions in mind, but this ultimately leads to their demise even if they thought they were doing the right thing (Berquist). Now the way Macbeth’s character was written, he seems to be a little different than the usual tragic hero. He seems to go through a change in the play and that change makes it so that Macbeth is no longer

Immediately we realize that something wrong is going to happen because there are witches and something always goes wrong with witches. Later in Act I Macbeth is talked about by King Duncan how he is an honorable and respectful man who shall be named Thane of Cawdor for defeating the treacherous Macdonwald. Before even meeting Macbeth we know him to be a great man, but we also know he will be met by an evil stronger than he has ever faced before, the witches. This means that Macbeth 's soul will have to deal with a fight between good and evil. Soon after learning all this information, the audience soon reads about Macbeth and Banquo’s meeting with the three weird sisters. When Macbeth and Banquo arrive upon the witches they are told of their futures. Macbeth shall be named Thane of Cawdor and then King over all of Scotland, while Banquo shall father a line of kings (Shakespeare, 1.3). This is when things start to take a turn in Macbeth because he is soon named Thane of Cawdor meaning that the witches prophecies must be real. Later, Duncan reveals to his most trusted friends and advisors, including Macbeth and Banquo, that he shall name his son Malcolm the next king of Scotland. Learning this, Macbeth foresees his future of becoming king not coming true so he decides to kill Duncan and become king.

When first learn of the planning of Banquo’s murder in act III, scene 1, when Macbeth meets with the two murderers. When speaking of Banquo to the men, he tells of how he can survive while Banquo is still alive, even though Banquo has never wronged Macbeth, but just because he knows of the witches prophecy (Shakespeare, 3.1). This means that Macbeth wants to kill Banquo for just knowing of the future that already came true and no good reason at all. He then goes on to not even tell Lady Macbeth, his wife, of his plan, even though she was in on it with him from the start. In the beginning, “When Lady Macbeth is trying to convince him to do the murderous deed,” Macbeth only becomes convinced to do it after, “she first impugns his courage” (Berquist, 111). But now, Macbeth is won’t even let her be apart of it and he is the one that convinces himself of his own wrongdoings. He tells her, “We have scorched the snake, not killed it,” meaning that they still have more to do to keep the throne, but he won’t tell her. Because of Lady Macbeth not having a part in Macbeth’s works of cruelty anymore, he is no longer being manipulated to do wrong, and he henceforth is no longer a tragic character. Macbeth even says “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” This literally means that his head is filled with beastly intentions to do evil