Abigail Stark Macbeth - 5th Hour

Abigail Stark

Mrs. Wood

English 11A 5th Hour

MACBETH

Macbeth- one of Shakespeare’s most acclaimed and recognized tragedies. A play with heroes, villains, sociopaths, love, irony, and murder that thrives on the stage and script. The main character, Macbeth, is a classic human being.  He symbolizes human nature and good vs. evil. Failing to live up to expectations of his own as well as those he loves, he makes hard decisions through his peer pressure and push to be the greatest for everyone around him.  He turns submissive, emotional, and guilt ridden after a long history of being the most beloved kingsmen. It is arguable that it is not Macbeth that is the tragic hero of this phenomenal storyline, but more his personality. We feel the loss and tragedy of the play as he loses himself and his identity, not when he loses his physical being. Although Macbeth is a devoted and contemplative protagonist, his easily influenced and malleable nature soon transforms him into a morally distressed man who is haunted by his hunger for reassurance.

Temptation and persuasion are not a good mix. Usually, someone will fall for either one, but with both, it’s almost a sure shot of getting one to do what you want. In Macbeth’s case, his peers use temptation and persuasion in a perfect mix to bring him to doing unthinkable things. He is told by the three sister witches that he will be Thane of Cawdor and then King, and this makes him rethink how these decisions would affect him and whether he desires them or not.
A vivid example is when Macbeth is contemplating the outcome of becoming King and Thane of Cawdor towards the very beginning of the play. He says, “This supernatural soliciting / Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill / Why hath it given me earnest of success, / Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor: / If good, why do I yield to that suggestion/ Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, / Against the use of nature?” (1: iii, 128-142).  Macbeth analyzes everything the witches have prophesied and is still troubled. Here, he considers his choices and their outcomes. After long contemplation, the malleable Macbeth falls into a state of moral distress. He understand what is ethically right, but feels no power to carry out those honorable actions. Macbeth introduces this idea to the reader when he says, “Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1: iv, 50-51). In this quote, the protagonist reveals how guilty he feels as he knows his mind wants one thing while his heart wants another. Macbeth proves in these lines that he understands what is morally right, but gives us a glimpse of his thought process in which he wants what is morally wrong; proving his moral distress. It is hard to be able to decipher right from wrong, but even harder to pick from them.

Being decisive and respecting yourself well enough to have your morals set in stone is an impressive and beneficial trait. Unfortunately, most people are easily influenced and do not have those traits right off the bad. We experience this first hand watching Macbeth become influenced by the Three Witches and his own wife, Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, the Witches appear to Macbeth and Banquo and prophesize their futures. Macbeth is promised power, specifically Thane of Cawdor and King. He was a loyal kingsmen all his life, but he starts to be influenced by the Witches at this point. This is proven when he says, “ Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: / … You owe this strange intelligence? Or why / Upon this blasted heath you stop our way / With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you” (1: iii, 70-78). This quote shows Macbeth’s intrigue for what they have said and is entirely interested in their prophecies. Just from a conversation with supernatural women, he now is already influenced to see where his revelations would take him. Then, once his wife hears word of this, she takes advantage of his malleable nature and uses it to her benefit. Who wouldn’t want a king as a husband? She attempts to convince him to kill the king so he can immediately take his place. It only takes a few simple pleads to convince him. “When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man” (1: vii, 49-51). Here, Lady Macbeth is embarrassing and humiliating him into doing what she wants- which happens to be killing the king. She feels if she insults his manhood, he will fall into her trap. It works, as his response is “If we should fail?” (1: vii, 59). Macbeth, being the manipulated soul he is, easily falls for these traps, which in turn, ultimately lead to his demise. He premeditated his own downfall.

Macbeth is a haunted soul in general, but he is haunted by himself, not otherworldly creatures. He is terrorized by his own bad decisions, but also his hunger for reassurance. Everything Macbeth does is for the acceptance of those around him, not for himself. This is proven when Macbeth shows off the fact that he feels guilty for killing the king, showing that he did the deed for someone else's benefit, not his own. “To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself” (2: ii, 72). He explains in this quote that he wants to disassociate his actions from himself, as they were an act for someone else. He ultimately feels better afterward, as for a little while, his wife is extremely happy with him in his new power position. After that quick period, he goes into remorse and realizes that all the bad things and crimes he had to commit to get the where he is didn’t pay off. He explains this pain and defeat in one of his most famous quotes, “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow / Creeps in at this petty pace from day to day, / … It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing” (5: v, 19-28). Here, Macbeth really shows his depression and emptiness. He is upset that nothing worked out in his favor, and is almost accepting his demise and defeat, and ultimately death. In the beginning of the play, one wouldn’t have guessed a man so noble and honored would turn so empty and scorned.

Ultimately, it is Macbeth’s weak character and easily influenced nature that causes his defeat throughout the end of his life. Macbeth is the tale of a tragic hero turned villain, who you still can’t help but feel badly for. He ends up being a man of weak character with too little self respect to even have authority over himself and his actions, nonetheless an entire kingdom. From faithful to faithless, Macbeth definitely is a dynamic protagonist of this fateful tale. Peer pressure and power get the best of him, as he turns from the most honored warrior into the most disrespected and disloyal king. Depressed and fearless, Macbeth is a changed man- for the worse.