Evil stands for profoundly immoral and malevolent which is exactly what the character Macbeth represents in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Macbeth is a warrior who gains the title Thane of Cawdor for killing the rebel Macdonwald and the previous Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth confronts three witches who foretell Macbeth’s ascension to the throne of Scotland. Unbeknownst to Macbeth, the witches actually will “drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid” (1.3.15-27). The witches’ prophesy says that Macbeth will be unable to sleep, which will drive any person mad. Macbeth ultimately turns toward murder and treachery to feed his ambition to become King of Scotland. Macbeth’s behavior in the play also proves that evil actions are worse than evil thoughts. Macbeth also shows exponential growth of evil actions throughout the play because of Macbeth’s progressively worse actions. The readers of Macbeth can learn to not allow unbridled ambition to possess one’s mind. Macbeth as a character proves how unchecked ambition can compel someone to commit egregious atrocities. Macbeth is the ultimate root of evil throughout the play. Macbeth plays an integral role in almost all the evil committed in Macbeth. Macbeth contemplates killing his king when he …show more content…
Macbeth starts his murder spree with the murder of Duncan. Macbeth has extreme hesitance in the scenes preceding Duncan’s demise. Macbeth worries that “in these cases We still have judgment here, that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague th' inventor” (1.7.7-10). After Macbeth commits his first treasonous murder, each act of murder becomes easier to him thereafter. As previously quoted, Macbeth shows a manic glee to the thought of murdering his friend Banquo. One who murders women and children clearly has a severely broken moral