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Macbeth Character Development

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Shakespeare, the well known playwright, is believed to have created the well know play known as “Macbeth” in 1606. Shakespeare has been previously renowned for diverse character development, and the play “Macbeth” is no exception. Personal being, having a sense of belonging, straying from materialism, and overall morality and decency towards others are four main characteristics of a well developed humane character. Throughout the progression of the play Macbeth’s character development is well portrayed as Macbeth’s character is altered after turning points in his life. Macbeth gains a sense of personal being with his morals he tried to live by. Macbeth’s strong sense of belonging was with Lady Macbeth, throughout the entirety of the play they …show more content…

For example, Lady Macbeth told Macbeth, “What beast was't,/then,/That made you break this enterprise to me?/When you durst do it, then you were a man;...” (43). Lady Macbeth was telling Macbeth if he didn’t kill King Duncan he would no longer be a man. Lady Macbeth often questioned Macbeth’s masculinity throughout the play. In the 1600’s, when “Macbeth” was written, the standards for men were to be emotionally strong, heroic, and brave. When Macbeth showed any weakness in emotion throughout the play Lady Macbeth would question the actions that led to his “lack of masculinity”. She used Macbeth’s masculinity and lack thereof to manipulate him to follow through with his actions he had told to her or persuade him into committing the crimes she wanted him to do. Lady Macbeth’s manipulation often outweighed Macbeth’s attempts to stay true to his …show more content…

After Macbeth killed Duncan, Lady Macbeth told him, “...Go get some water , / And wash this filthy witness from your hand…” (59). Lady Macbeth was telling her husband he needed to wash his hands of the blood and his recollection of the murder. Lady Macbeth was telling Macbeth to try to forget murdering the king so he can live a normal life again. Macbeth says, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my Hand? No, this my hand will rather/The multitudinous seas incarnadine,/Making the green one red” (59). In the context that blood symbolizes crime, it means Macbeth didn’t think that the waters of something so grand such as an ocean can wash the blood from his hands or the crimes from his memory. This symbolizes that Macbeth’s crimes can never be forgotten by the people of Scotland, or even by Macbeth. This also shows that Macbeth didn’t think he could be forgiven for the murders he

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To fight for an individual’s country was a noble deed. However, in Macbeth’s case, it becomes a symbol of guilt and discomfort. In the beginning, Macbeth is a revered soldier and a confident nobleman but after murdering Duncan, he experiences a change in character, becoming uncomfortable and paranoid for committing such a horrible crime.

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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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Macbeth’s pride allowed his wife to use his ambition as leverage calling him a ‘coward’, ‘lesser than a man’. Macbeth was unable to withstand the belittlement and his masculinity mocked. Previously, Macbeths desire to obtain the

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Macbeth calls her his “dearest partner of greatness”, which indicates they have a close relationship, and he considers her equal to him. “Lady Macbeth must act and think "like a man" because good women are by definition subservient, and can exert no recognizable authority.” When there is the idea of murdering King Duncan, she takes control of the situation. She calls on the evil sprits saying, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full, of direst cruelty.” She needed to be male in order to kill Duncan because it was believed only men could commit murder, since women were too dainty to do

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In the beginning Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was a ruthless and masculine woman. She showed the audience that, mentally and emotionally, she was stronger than Macbeth. Although as the story started to continue the audience began to see that she was becoming mentally insane. Throughout the story there was also evidence of shakespeare showing the more masculinity you had the more cuel you became.

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William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a

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Of all the things people possess, their personality traits are among the most significant because their qualities are what define who they are. Each person is unique and distinct in their character, but there are some personal attributes that many humans have in common. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, the tragic hero, Macbeth, embodies several of such universal human traits. One important character trait that Macbeth holds is selfishness, and this facet of his is universal because it is reflected in great leaders like Steve Jobs and also in normal individuals such as the Rod Dreher.

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William Shakespeare, playwright of Macbeth, shows the importance that power and corruption can hold on a person’s humanity. In order to prove the true effect of personal gains, he uses the main character, Macbeth, to show how evil people are willing to become. Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, but at the same time is able to destroy a person’s true nature. Believe it or not, Macbeth once was a man of honor. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was loyal to King Duncan, a strong military leader, and a respected husband.

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At the beginning of the play, blood can often be seen to symbolise strength, heroism and stereotypical masculinity. The Captain describes Macbeth’s efforts on the battlefield with imagery such as “ smoked with bloody execution” to display blood as a war trophy and badge of bravery. Shakespeare’s use of descriptive language such as “smoked” conveys a tone of achievement and grandeur: which in turn implies that the act of murdering men on the battle field is heroic and praiseworthy, as it is displayed in such an impressive manner. However, Shakespeare shows the audience a very different side to Macbeth after the murder of Duncan. Shakespeare displays Macbeth’s overwhelming guilt and remorse in the words “my hand will rather/ the multitudinous seas incarnadine making the green one red” in which Macbeth states that all the oceans of the world could not wash away the blood from his hands and therefore implies that there is nothing on

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but is then cast aside by her husband at the end. Shakespeare thus presents masculinity in both a positive and negative light. In Act 1, Shakespeare presents Macbeth with admired masculine qualities countered with Lady Macbeth criticising his idiosyncrasies. Lady Macbeth’s definition of a man is disparate to others’.

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Macbeth indicates his guilt when he say’s "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand?”(2,2,61-62). He’s meaning if he would ever be able to forget about the deed that he has committed of killing the kind of Scotland Duncan. He also is saying that even the entire ocean could wash his hands clean of the blood. Macbeth feels that what he has done was wrong and shameful.

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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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In this time a man’s masculinity was all that he had and for someone to question it would have almost forced the man to prove himself. In the twenty first century this same idea of being a masculine man still exist. If someone questions a man’s masculinity they most often seek to prove them wrong or prove that they are hyper masculine. In reality Macbeth had no choice to be aggressive because aggression and violence are what identified someone as being a true man, without these traits Macbeth would have been demasculinized. His pride, self-worth, and ambition would not allow that to happen, therefore, to prove himself as a man he killed his friends to meet his own self desires and ended up paying the price for his ambitious

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1959 Words | 8 Pages

Her ambition is not only for herself but also for Macbeth. Nevertheless, with all her fervor, she wants him to be as strong as her. “Make thick my blood./Stop up the access and passage to remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature/ Shake my fell purpose/Come to my woman’s breasts,/And take my milk for gall” (1.5.44-49). Lady Macbeth never wavers in her goal.

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The Tragedy of Macbeth incorporates character development to present William Shakespeare’s motive; throughout the play it allows the audience to see the message the play relays. The play is a tragedy and it specifically shows the tragedy of humans as they self destruct. There is a use of literary devices to create different aspects of each character allowing them to portray different images of themselves that wouldn’t be noticed initially. Compared to how the audience views each character in the beginning of the play, the image develops into something new as different aspects are revealed. The characters and their continuous changes become the essence of the play.

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