Liam Wieringa
MacBeth characterization essay(rough draft)
Mrs. Wood
2/22/16
Although MacBeth is portrayed as a loyal, compassionate character, he is reversed by his wife’s wishes and becomes traitorous in his urgency for power.
In Shakespeare’s “MacBeth,” MacBeth is introduced as a loyal, courageous character. His family, friends, and everyone else around him are confounded by his bravery and cunning. For example, the Captain says: “For brave MacBeth-well he deserves that name-...” (1ii 16-18) In this passage, the captain is describing MacBeth’s bravery and loyalty. Later on, MacBeth states: “The service and loyalty I owe, in doing it, pays itself….” (1iv 22-27) In this passage, MacBeth is being humble in telling the king that the pay he receives is following the king. He also speaks about his loyalty and service towards his king.
After MacBeth hears from the witches that he will become king,(after them saying that he would become thane of cawdor, and it coming true.) he is troubled about how long it will take for him to become king. When Lady MacBeth hears about the prophecy of the witches, she is stirred to murder the king. MacBeth is most influenced by his wife’s wishes, and is forever changed. For example, Macbeth states: “Who can be wise, amazed, temp’rate and furious, loyal and neutral, in a moment?...” (2iii 102-122) MacBeth is already beginning to feel regret for killing the king, and knows that he is a traitor. Farther ahead, to maintain his power, MacBeth plans to have Banquo killed. He was to be attacked on his way to a party MacBeth planned. MacBeth wanted to make sure he would be coming, and said: “Fail not our feast.” (3i 270
Finally, MacBeth becomes a murderous traitor by the end of the play. When the killing of his best friend is botched, he decides to kill the rest of Banquo’s family too. But before that, MacBeth says to Lady MacBeth: “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.” (3ii 36-37) MacBeth is troubled by the past events, and the fact that he is about to have his best friend killed. MacBeth is also troubled that Banquo is still alive and could still reveal MacBeth’s secret.
To summate, Macbeth is first seen as a loyal, compassionate character. But his wife’s wishes lead him into becoming someone else, and his need for power then turns him traitorous.
In your thesis at " Although MacBeth is portrayed as a loyal, compassionate character, he is reversed by his wife’s wishes and becomes traitorous in his urgency for power", instead of saying that Macbeth was "reversed" by Lady Macbeth, you might want to consider saying that he was vulnerable or susceptible to her. Also, as far as the structure of the draft, it might be a good idea to lengthen your introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Lastly, in the conclusion paragraph at " To summate, Macbeth is first seen as a loyal, compassionate character. But his wife’s wishes lead him into becoming someone else, and his need for power then turns him traitorous", you could use a word besides "loyal" since it was already used in the thesis statement.
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ReplyDeletesorry i did something wrong
DeleteSo I'm going to try again!
ReplyDeleteGood essay Liam! I would just like to point out a couple of things:)
I agree with the two things that Autumn is saying above (about using the word
"reverse" and the length of your introduction and conclusion), so I think you should consider those two things.
Throughout your whole essay, I thought you should add more quotes in to each explanation. You do a great job explaining his character in your own words, and adding quotes would make it even more persuasive.
These are more like my personal opinions on the content, but firstly, you should explain more about Macbeth's internal conflict when killing Duncan, like hesitating between his obligation to the king and his greed for power. Also, in your fourth paragraph, you should add the fact that he killed Lady Macduff and her child, as an example of his murderous character.
Just to point out, I think you meant Fleance for the last sentence of the fourth paragraph, not Banquo.
Once again, Great job! These are just suggestions, but I hope they'll help make your essay better:)