Macbeth Characterization Essay-Carolyn Mellema 2nd hour

Carolyn Mellema

Mrs. Wood

English 11A, 2nd hour

22 February 2016

Macbeth Characterization Essay

Macbeth’s personality throughout the play can be interpreted many different ways. He is a round character, which means he has multiple different personalities. One could relate him to be similar to Jekyll from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although Macbeth appears to be  malicious, power-hungry and self-centered, he is, in fact, fearful, vulnerable, and eager-to-please, all characteristics that lead to his demise.  

Throughout the play Macbeth’s actions make him seem malicious, power-hungry, and self-centered. “ Glamis thou  art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised...too full o’ the milk of human kindness...to have thee crowned withal.”(I:v, 13-28)  This is right when Macbeth gets basically a slap in the face because he was not crowned Thane of Cawdor.  The witches tell Macbeth the visions for the future, and Lady Macbeth convinced him to kill King Duncan.  Macbeth does this because he wants to get the throne faster, and by killing the king he will.  Also another part of the play where you can see this demeanor is when he says “Fail not our feast.”(III:i, 27) in act three. The night he kills the king he invites him to his house to kill him, and he does the same thing to other people in a different part of the play. This shows he is self-centered because if killing the king was not enough for him. These two occurrences show his malicious, power-hungry, and self-centered actions which make readers overlook his personality.

Even though Macbeth’s actions lead people to believe he is malicious, power-hungry, and self-centered he is actually fearful, vulnerable, and eager-to-please. In the first act, this is explicitly shown by the kind: “brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name- Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution.”(I:ii, 16-18) Here you can see that all of the things he did for the king and how the king wanted to reward him by giving him more responsibilities.  He would not have done this for the king if he was not trying to please him. “The service and loyalty that I owe...love and honor.”(I:iv, 22-27) Another part of the play where Macbeth’s true temperament is shown is when he says he owes everything to the king later in act one. Finally the best example of his fearfulness and his vulnerability is in the last act when he says “I have almost forgotten the taste of fears.”(V:i, 9). Basically this tells the reader that he has no emotion anymore. He has been so vulnerable and fearful throughout the whole play that he has put a guard up to mask his feelings. The fear and vulnerability that he has is due to other characteristics, which eventually lead to his demise.

Throughout the story Macbeth changes because of other characters. One of the main characters that cause his demise are the witches.  In the fourth act they give Macbeth three visions and that is when he completely loses it.

4:i, 71-72: “ Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff. Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.”

4:i, 81-83: “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn. the power of man, for none of woman born. Shall harm Macbeth.”

4:i, 90-94: “Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care...Shall come against him.”

Once he hears these he starts to go crazy, and once these realities start to come true he is never the same person. Another scene where one can see that the other characters lead to his eradication is after he kills Duncan. He says: “What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes.Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood. Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather. The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”(2:2, 59-62) After Lady Macbeth spatters the blood she has a lot of guilt. This comes from Macbeth as well, because the king was like a father figure to him. Lady Macbeth’s quote strongly relates to what Macbeth is feeling at this time.

Overall Macbeth struggle throughout the play to go with what other people are telling him, and what he truly believes. Macbeth's actions do not represent the kind of character he actually is, so for most readers he can be misunderstood.Macbeth’s actions lead many to believe that he is malicious, power-hungry and self-centered. When in actuality he is fearful, vulnerable, and eager-to-please. All of the other characters are what ultimately lead to his demise.