Preview

Macbeth Change in Personality

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
759 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Macbeth Change in Personality
Macbeth is a very complex character. His personality changes drastically from the beginning of the play to the end of the play. Macbeth constantly declines in his level of morality until his death at the end of the play. His change of character from good to evil and Macbeth 's attitude towards other characters, specifically Duncan, Banquo, Lady
Macbeth is significantly affected. 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 Macbeth 's personality begins to change. At first he doesn 't want to murder Duncan, but with the helpful persuasion of his overly ambitious wife, Macbeth agrees to kill Duncan. However, as the time to murder Duncan rapidly approaches Macbeth questions his motives. Macbeth gives several justified reasons as to why he should not murder Duncan; one being that he is a great king and is loved by all the people. Another reason is that Macbeth is his kinsman and his subject. Once again Lady Macbeth uses her persuasive techniques and convinces her husband that killing Duncan will only advance his chances of acquiring the throne. 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 whom 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, and he soon does not feel much remorse for murdering Duncan. Before he murders

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The play shows how he evolves as a person. Although we are presented with his declination from good to evil, we can see his human side throughout the play, which makes it a tragedy. The themes of ‘Macbeth' are ambition, effects of evil, and violence. Once Macbeth's ambition has ‘set the ball rolling', events happen quickly in the play as it gathers momentum. The themes are demonstrated mainly by the language of the play. As in Shakespeare's time, plays were performed in daylight with very few props. Ambition is something that everyone can identify with, and ‘Macbeth' is a interesting study of how ambition can destroy you, so the audience is interested in Macbeth's character. Our first impression of Macbeth is of a heroic, famous, popular man who is well liked by the King, Duncan. Duncan refers to Macbeth as ‘noble Macbeth'.(Act 1 Scene 2 L67) Macbeth craves the title of king greatly, but realizes that he will have to commit some horrible crimes to get that position. Macbeth is tempted to follow through with the acts because of two sources of external evil - the witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth was already ambitious, but this was only heightened by the women as they made those desires appear as though they were achievable. This sets into motion the first of three great crimes.…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Macbeths attitude, view on things, and charcter changed dramatically throughout the play. In the beggining he shows us his honoring side. Soon after that, he begins to show us how he starts to regret the things he had done, said, or thought. Lastly, he starts to become a tyrant and with what he is doing he shows us.…

    • 58 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth vs macduff

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Macbeth was indeed a true tragic hero. He had many noble qualities as well as several tragic flaws, but this didn’t mean he wasn’t a courageous, brave and a good nobleman who was sadly haunted by superstition and a selfish ambition. Through the play, his flaws start to overcome his qualities to the point where they cannot be seen in him anymore. This major change starts right after he commits the murder of Duncan. Here Macbeth's personality is clearly becoming astray. Macbeth's theme becomes tyrannical and evil, completely opposite as in the start of the play.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pride is a very dangerous trait. It can take you over, make you feel self conscious, and eventually change you altogether. When put under pressure, pride will make a decision for you. In the book of Genesis in the Bible, Eve, along with the serpent, manipulates Adam to eat the fruit from the tree. She teases him and because of his pride he eats the apple and is thrown out of Heaven, just like in Shakespeare 's play Macbeth. Macbeth is full of pride and as Lady Macbeth manipulates him and makes him feel pathetic, so his character slowly but surely changes from a War Hero into an Evil Murderer.…

    • 1419 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In reading William Shakespeare's play, MacBeth, readers can plainly see that character development is crucial to developing the plot, as well as the overall appeal of the literature. One can see the growth in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the story. The changes in the characters' personas is very much visible to the reader throughout the storyline. In analyzing MacBeth, one can use Sean Covey's insightful book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, to show the seven characteristics, as Covey describes them, show the changes in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.<br><br>To teach one's self a lesson in changes of character, one should read up on the character Macbeth. This man made a turn from a, more or less, flat character in the beginning of the story to a much rounder character with many complex parts of a personality by the time the story was over. But the common denominator within his character in all parts of the story was that, despite his stature as a "good guy" or a "bad guy", Macbeth exhibited absolutely no good qualities as shown in Seven Habits. When the witches foretold of his destiny, Macbeth did not Begin with the End in Mind. Hewas not proactive in helping his destiny come to pass, having his wife actually scheme to assassinate King Duncan. He did not follow the habit: "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood". He never tried to understand anything. He just followed what his wife told him to do. When he thought that there was a threat to his position he would do anything, included cold-blooded murder, to alleviate the strain in his deranged mind. Even those close to him such as Banquo and others were killed just because of MacBeth's reactive nature. This is definitely a sign of a man with a win-lose paradigm. It was his way or the highway. MacBeth also had bad habits, such as being a procrastinator, waiting for Lady MacBeth to come up with a plan before he thought about the consequences. <br><br>On the other hand, Lady MacBeth exhibited some…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the novel and before the killing rampages, Macbeth is a noble and selfless leader who leads his troops to victory against the invading Irish and Norwegian armies. He gains Scottish King Duncan’s recognition, and goes on to be crowned Thane of Cawdor. Originally, Macbeth doesn’t want to kill Duncan because he is loyal and understands he may face repercussions. He doubts himself in soliloquies, but due to his great respect for his wife and ever mounting unease from taunts of his masculinity, Macbeth succumbs to Lady Macbeth’s exhortations and kills Duncan. Later, Macbeth regrets disrupting Duncan’s longevity and hallucinates- his guilty conscience kicks in and this further shows his goodness. All in all, Macbeth is the least to be blamed because he is sensitive and gentle- hearted- and thus killing Duncan is an adequate excuse for his paranoia.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Change In Macbeth

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Macbeth as we all know has changed drastically from the beginning of the play up to this point in the play. From being a very heroic character he has become now this vicious and dangerous character. In Act 3 Scene 2 we see how him and Lady Macbeth express their feelings to each other and Macbeth gives a sneak peek of what is to come. Macbeth exclaims “ Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance lives” how he fears Banquo and his son because they will take the throne from him ( Act 3 scene ii line 42). What happens in this scene is that he tells Lady Macbeth about his fear for Banquo but fails to tell her about the plan to kill Banquo and Fleance. The reason why this is important because in act 5 scene 1, Lady Macbeth is seen sleepwalking…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The character of Macbeth also goes through several stages during the play. At the beginning he is just a brave warrior who looks for power and recognition through his performance in the fields of battle. After having heard the witches and their predictions of Macbeth becoming king, he begins to think how it could be possible. The combination of his ambition and the bad influence of his wife lead him to commit the murdered of Duncan in order to fulfill the prophecy of the wishes. One may think of Macbeth as the typical criminal. However he doesn´t have the characteristics that…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Change In Macbeth

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the play, Macbeth, written by Shakespeare many mysterious things happen. In Scotland, a war rages on with Macbeth on the front lines. King Duncan hears of his bravery and decides to reward the bravery by making him the new Thane of Cawdor because of his traitorous. When news gets to Lady Macbeth she has mischievous thoughts to become the queen. Then hears news of King Duncan staying at the Macbeth household that night. The story of Macbeth is full of greed and anger. Macbeth is very greedy all the time, because of this greed he is anger at everyone trying to take what he has. Lady macbeth is also very greedy and angry. At the end of the story Lady Macbeth…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Evil Vs Evil

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Macbeth acknowledges that he has no other motive to kill King Duncan other than his vaulting ambition. Also, he knows about the repercussions of possessing such extreme and evil version of ambition. Macbeth will still succumb to his unnatural ambition. This way, Macbeth disregards all his morals when he murders Duncan, which further proves the overwhelming influence of evil that corrupts ambition. Throughout the play, Duncan seems like a kind and fair king. He rightfully punishes those who betray him and his country, and reward those who fight valiantly for their country. As a result, Macbeth is rewarded the Thane of Cawdor title by order of Duncan himself and instead of being grateful and noble, Macbeth is driven by his inordinate ambition to murder Duncan. To make matters worse, Duncan is Macbeth’s king, cousin, and house guest. The strength of Macbeth’s evil ambition is so incredible that Macbeth is able to neglect his morals duties as a loyal subject, a relative, and a host to fulfill his unnatural thirst to become king. Although Macbeth’s own ambition is at fault, Lady Macbeth’s own corrupted ambition also assists in the murder of King Duncan. As soon as Lady Macbeth receives the letter containing information about the prophecies, she immediately begins to plot the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth may be too kind to murder Duncan, so she…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although the witches’ predictions are somewhat responsible for influencing Macbeth’s thoughts, no one tells Macbeth to kill Duncan. Macbeth is responsible for putting power into the hands of Lady Macbeth and letting her influence him. Finally, Macbeth acknowledges his guilt of wrong doing and is thereby responsible for his actions.. Although the witches’ predictions initiate Macbeth’s desire to become king, . When the second prophecy becomes a reality, Macbeth immediately thinks of murdering Duncan. “I am of Cawdor: If good, why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose image doth unfix my hair” (I, iii, 143-145). For the first time in the story, we see a dark side to the brave and courageous Macbeth.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the play Macbeth was a noble, kind, ruthful, courageous and a loyal soldier. Throughout the play Macbeth changes from the beloved good man praised by most to an evil hated aggressive, ruthless murderer. Many different reasons were the cause of Macbeth’s changes for example; the influence of the witches’ predictions and Lady Macbeth’s manipulation had affected Macbeth extremely.…

    • 824 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Macbeth is an epic hero in one of William Shakespeare well known tragedy. In the story, Macbeth’s personality drastically changes over time. He goes from being an extremely powerful soldier to a blood thirsty king. Because of his ambition and the inner conflict encountered, Macbeth’s character diverges from what is expected.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages

    At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a respected general, a devoted husband, and a loyal subject of the king. The first of the witches' prophecies bring out his ambitious nature, but he struggles with killing the king. By attacking his manhood, Lady Macbeth convinces him to commit the first of his evil deeds. Macbeth's evil deed causes him to suffer from fear and guilt, which leads to even more evil crimes. Then Macbeth becomes paranoid, suffering from hallucinations and sleeplessness. He becomes less human as he tries over and over to establish his manhood. His ruthlessness in killing Banquo and Macduff's family shows how perverted his idea of manliness really is.…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth is the main character in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth is known as a noble and gifted man who chooses to become a treacherous character. The character Macbeth is interesting because he is well aware of the horror of his deeds. In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth’s growing ambition changed him from a respected war-hero to a ruthless murderer. As Macbeth became a ruthless murderer, guilt began to play a huge part in his life. His own guilt began to haunt him.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics