The namesake of the play, “Macbeth” is a man who faced a decision between his own personal passion and his moral obligations and duties. The two choices pulled at him and seemed to torment him even after he made a decision. Through the conflict that Macbeth felt because of his decisions, the reader can better empathize with him, and can obtain a more profound lesson from the story concerning decisions between personal passions and moral obligations.
Macbeth is not what one would call “perfect.” He is neither a hero nor an absolute villain. The fact that he feels the stress or tension between his choices and desires helps to create a more human like, accessible character. For example, on page 30 while speaking to his wife after starting to have second thoughts with their plan to kill Duncan, Macbeth says, “I have no spur to prick the
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As stated in the previous paragraph, the beginning of the story Macbeth is a different character than by the end of the story. Again, at the beginning he seemed to be loyal and good, but with every step he took to secure power he gradually, and sometimes not so gradually, became more corrupted. The entire story itself serves as a very good example of this moral, but some points that really stick out are where he has Banquo murdered after killing Duncan, and when he has Macduff’s family killed after feeling threatened. Macbeth realized after killing Duncan that Banquo knew about the prophecy and could possibly link Macbeth to the murder. So, Macbeth does the unthinkable and kills his friend, all to keep his secret and to maintain his power. The reader receives a glimpse into the companionship that the two shared in the earliest parts of the story. So when Macbeth has him killed, it just shows exactly how far the corruption has gotten and how much humanity he has