Macbeth

A detailed Summary of Macbeth

In the tragic drama Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the hero, Macbeth, constantly has attitude changes from the beginning until his death at the end of the play. Because of his change of character from good to evil, Macbeth's attitude towards other characters, specifically Duncan, Banquo, Lady Macbeth, is affected.

The first of the four characters is Duncan. Since Macbeth interacts with Duncan only a minimal amount before Duncan's death, Macbeth's attitude towards him changes very rapidly. Before Macbeth hears the witches' first prophecy, he is very close to Duncan, and would never even think of doing something against him. When the thought of murdering Duncan crosses his mind immediately after he finds that he has just been named Thane of Cawdor, he cannot believe he "yield[s] to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (I, iii, 133-35). In scene 5 of act 1, however, his ambition is starting to take over, but partly because of his wife's persuasion. He agrees that they must "catch the nearest way" (17), and kill Duncan that night. However when the time for murder comes, he begins giving himself reasons not to murder Duncan:

Who should against his murderer shut the door,

When Lady Macbeth enters, though, she uses her pursuasive techniques to convince Macbeth that this is the right thing to do. He then tells her that "I am settled." (79). He is firmly seated in his beliefs that killing Duncan is the right thing to do-until he performs the murder. He is so horrified by this act that for a moment he forgets where he is or who he is with. We learn from this murder that Macbeth truly had faith in the king and was very loyal, but under the forces of his wife's persuasion and his own vaulting ambition, he is put in the evil frame of mind for just long enough to kill Duncan. This murder does permanently alter him from his moral state of mind, however, and he soon does not feel much remorse for murdering Duncan.

important reason that Macbeth kills Banquo is because of Banquo's suspicion of him, and what Banquo will do to him once he finds out for sure that Macbeth has commited the murder of Duncan. One can see that Macbeth becomes extremely harsh if he wants his way. He will go to deep extremes just so that he does not have to live his kingship in

fear, but instead "to be safely thus." (III, i, 49)

Macbeth starts out a heroic man of good doings, but his whole attitude completely changes because of the murders he commits. His relationships with many characters are broken or become weak. He starts trusting no one and hatin

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Approximate Word count = 960
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English