Rewards Macbeth
Paige O’Connell
Mrs. Callahan
English 5th°
4 April 2014
Macbeth
Almost all people have experienced the feeling of being over-confident at some point in their life. Being too confident can affect you and all the people around you. It is easy to lose sight of yourself and not realize how poor your attitude is. This is exactly what happened to the main character in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth was overcome with too much confidence and ambition that led him to tragedy. Macbeth had many flaws that eventually led to his downfall.
Macbeth showed many of his flaws throughout this play. His first flaw is his blinding ambition for power. At the beginning of the play Macbeth showed his nobility and bravery when he conquers a captain in battle. In result of his success, Duncan, the king of Scotland, rewards Macbeth with the title of Thane of Cawdor. Afterwards, Macbeth is greeted by the three witches, the Weird sisters, who are planning to set Macbeth up for failure. Even though they know his real future, they plan to lie to him so he does things to make their predictions really happen. The witches tell Macbeth that he will soon become king of Scotland. Once they show him his future, Macbeth becomes obsessed with the idea of having power. When he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, about the news we learn that Macbeth lets his wife control him. Lady Macbeth describes her husband as “… too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way.” (1.5. 17-18). Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth not to be a coward and she comes up with a master plan on how to kill Duncan, and Macbeth follows through and murders him. If Macbeth would have done what he knew was right and not what others told him to do, he would have never done these tragic things that led to his downfall.
Throughout this play we see how corruptive Macbeth is by displaying violence and murder to seize power. His life becomes darkened and starts to fall apart when he is overcome with guilt and paranoia. His
Mrs. Callahan
English 5th°
4 April 2014
Macbeth
Almost all people have experienced the feeling of being over-confident at some point in their life. Being too confident can affect you and all the people around you. It is easy to lose sight of yourself and not realize how poor your attitude is. This is exactly what happened to the main character in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth was overcome with too much confidence and ambition that led him to tragedy. Macbeth had many flaws that eventually led to his downfall.
Macbeth showed many of his flaws throughout this play. His first flaw is his blinding ambition for power. At the beginning of the play Macbeth showed his nobility and bravery when he conquers a captain in battle. In result of his success, Duncan, the king of Scotland, rewards Macbeth with the title of Thane of Cawdor. Afterwards, Macbeth is greeted by the three witches, the Weird sisters, who are planning to set Macbeth up for failure. Even though they know his real future, they plan to lie to him so he does things to make their predictions really happen. The witches tell Macbeth that he will soon become king of Scotland. Once they show him his future, Macbeth becomes obsessed with the idea of having power. When he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, about the news we learn that Macbeth lets his wife control him. Lady Macbeth describes her husband as “… too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way.” (1.5. 17-18). Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth not to be a coward and she comes up with a master plan on how to kill Duncan, and Macbeth follows through and murders him. If Macbeth would have done what he knew was right and not what others told him to do, he would have never done these tragic things that led to his downfall.
Throughout this play we see how corruptive Macbeth is by displaying violence and murder to seize power. His life becomes darkened and starts to fall apart when he is overcome with guilt and paranoia. His