Macbeth Essay

A detailed Summary of Macbeth Essay

Throughout Shakespeare's play Macbeth a full examination of his characters, Lady Mabeth and Macbeths portrayal leads to a more sympathetic view of them. The play does not portray Macbeth simply as a cold blooded murderer but rather as a tortured soul attempting to deal with the atrocities surrounding him. Lady Macbeth represses the better side of her nature and the pressure of this awareness and her guilt leads to sleepwalking, near - madness and death.

Macbeth entered the play as a man of honour, respected by his fellow soldiers and showed great bravery and physical strength, fighting under King Duncan. "Disdaining fortune with his brandished steel...smoked with bloody execution...carved out his passage...fixed his head upon our battlement" from this quote we can image Macbeths heroic qualities: courage, bravery and fearlessness. While Macbeth is in battle, the Thane Of Cawdor is found to be a traitor and executed. King Duncan hears of Macbeths bravery and grants him the Thane's title. "No more that Thane Of Cawdor shall deceive......Go pronounce his present death and with his former title greet Macbeth." This leads us to believe that Macbeth is in no way a traitor and that he is brave enough to deserve such a distinguishe

Macbeth plans the murder of Banquo without Lady MacBeth's knowledge because he does not need her now. He doesn't blame her for his evil doings, yet she is the one who initially put this drive on Macbeth. As soon as Macbeth kills Banquo he suffers horrible visions and nightmares. Lady Macbeth sees her husbands emotional anguish when Macbeth sees an apparition of Banquo. Macbeth starts to rave at the ghost "Prithee, see there! Behold, look, lo! How say you!" Lady Macbeth then tries to excuse her husband's behaviour to all the guests "Think of this good peers, but as a thing of custom, 'Tis no other, it only spoils the pleasure of the time." Lady Macbeth is not necessarily worried about Macbeth and his mental state because of her love for him, she is merely worried about her husband exposing the secret that only she and Macbeth know about, killing Duncan. After Macbeth's outburst she shows feeling of embarrassment and shame towards her husband's behaviour as he was showing that he was weak and not worthy of becoming King. "You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting with most admired disorder." It is clear that this comment was to humiliate Macbeth and make him feel ashamed and guilty of his lack of self.

Yet all in the end, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth only gained one thing. A history of murder and treachery. No one should feel any acts of sympathy towards these weak people overpowered by evil and love. Macbeth proved himself to Lady Macbeth by killing; but in the end he couldn't accept the man he had become. All that he had done eventually lead to the death of his love, Lady Macbeth, which was the original reason he felt the need to prove himself. Love is a powerful force and people act irrationally when under its spell. The love of Lady Macbeth inevitably led

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lady Macbeth, Thane Cawdor, Neptune's Oceans, Duncan Macbeth's, Cawdor Macbeth, Duncan Disdaining, Mabeth Macbeths, Lady MacBeth's, King Duncan, lady macbeth, Duncan Macbeth, macbeth lady macbeth, macbeth lady, king duncan, macbeth kills, thane cawdor, death macbeth, sympathy towards, macbeth killing, kill duncan, wash blood, love lady macbeth,

Approximate Word count = 1200
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English