Alex Bradshaw

Mrs. Wood

English 11A

16 February 2016

Macbeth Characterization Essay

In the beginning of the story we are blatantly told Macbeth is a brave man of whom is loyal to his king. This is the Macbeth we get to know until he relays a prophecy given to him by the witches to his wife. At this point we see some greed in Macbeth but also patience in his willingness to wait to be king. Lady Macbeth wants the throne now and she is willing to manipulate Macbeth to do so. Lady Macbeth is a key role in Macbeth's character development. She exploits Macbeth's vulnerabilities and manipulates the little greed he has. She gets Macbeth to kill the king which changes his persona, he goes from a kind hero to a blood lusting serpent. Although Macbeth appears avaricious and malevolent, he is, in fact vulnerable and eager to please which leads to his demise.

Macbeth appears to be greedy and cruel in this play, once he hears his prophecy to be king, he is intrigued, and then once he is not appointed as the prince of Cumberland he states, “The prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'er leap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires.” (Shakespeare Macbeth 1;IV,50-53). Macbeth realizes that this position is one he will have to overcome or give up on because now that Malcolm is the prince of Cumberland, Malcolm is in the way. Macbeth also tells the stars to not shine their lights on his dark and greedy desire to overstep Malcolm so he can be king. To want to overthrow Malcolm or in his case to take the throne, back then, was an act of treason against their king of which was punishable by death, this is why Macbeth wants the stars not to shine on his desires. We see Macbeth when he gets this throne through his greedy ways, and he abuses his power at the thought of Macduff forming a rebellion. Macbeth is so spiteful that he orders men to go and kill Macduff’s family saying, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.”(Shakespeare Macbeth 4;I,157-160). Macbeth not only wants Macduff’s family killed, but any of his descendants. Macbeth wants to wipe out Macduff’s entire lineage even though Macbeth has only word of mouth that Macduff is forming a rebellion.

While Macbeth does commit these atrocities, they were after he was snapped into his new persona, before he was a bloodthirsty tyrant, he was vulnerable and eager to please. “Yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.”(Shakespeare Macbeth 1;V,3-5). Macbeth is so kind that that even his wife has no problem with telling him about why he's too kind to kill the king. After being told that he is basically a pansy he is so eager to please his wife that he rushes to commit this breach of faith to show that he is a man, this only shows that he is very susceptible. If all that it takes to get the almighty Macbeth to do what you say is to emasculate him, then it’s no wonder that Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth to kill the king. Macbeth is wrapped around Lady Macbeth's finger all because he is so eager to please her by any means necessary.

“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well

It were done quickly. If the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch

With his surcease success; that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We’d jump the life to come.”(Shakespeare Macbeth 1;VII,1-7)

After hearing Lady Macbeth's plan, Macbeth veritably considers killing the king, not because he wants too, but because she wants the throne as soon as possible. He tries to reason with himself why it should be done and why it shouldn't. The fact that Macbeth considers to kill a man who has treated him with great respect and has been like a father to Macbeth, just shows how eager Macbeth truly is to please his wife, not to mention that he stops and reasons with himself about it. This shows the amount of power that Lady Macbeth has over her husband.

Once Macbeth committed perfidy by killing his king, we see a new Macbeth, a rapacious and sinister one. Macbeth's actions after that point are almost separately committed by this new Macbeth; if Macbeth was not so exposed and impetuous to please his wife he may have not become manipulated. It is only after he is manipulated into killing the king that his actions lead to his termination.

“I have given suck, and know

How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums

And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you

Have done to this.”(Shakespeare Macbeth 1;VII,55-60)

Macbeth tries to tell Lady Macbeth that he can't kill the king for he has honored Macbeth for a long time, Lady Macbeth tells him that she would kill a baby if she had sworn to, and that if she could kill a baby when she has sworn to then why couldn't he kill the king as he has affirmed to. Lady Macbeth emasculates Macbeth which causes him to feel the need to please her, she manipulates him into thinking that he needs to kill the king in order to gain his respect that he has lost by saying that he won't kill the king. By making Macbeth feel inadequate, Lady Macbeth has her husband wrapped around her finger and biting at the chomp to kill the king. “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done ’t.”(Shakespeare Macbeth 2;II,12-13). This was the last time that Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth before he kills the king. Lady Macbeth states that she would have killed him, and if she would have then why couldn't Macbeth kill the king. Lady Macbeth continues to exploit Macbeth's vulnerabilities to manipulate his ideology and morals. Once Macbeth kills the king he continues to make more and more brutish decisions that sequentially induce his collapse.

Macbeth was a two dimensional character, very predictable and heroic, but when opportunity came knocking on Macbeth's door, so did greed. This greed was manipulated by his wife and resulted in Lady Macbeth’s obsession with the throne. Macbeth's eager to please his wife left him with an enormous vulnerability, doing whatever it took to please Lady Macbeth. When she realizes this, Macbeth is putty in her hands, she has him commit one of the worst horrors of their time. This changes Macbeth into an avaricious martinet, this is when Macbeth becomes a very round, hard to read, and unpredictable character. The turning point of Macbeth's character development is when he kills the king, and Lady Macbeth's manipulation and exploitation of his vulnerabilities are the cause. If Macbeth was not so vulnerable he wouldn't have been exploited, saving his life and many others. This would have led to Macbeth waiting for the throne as the honorable and selfless man he was; not the tragic hero he morphed into.