Ambition to the Extreme Characterisation of Macbeth
Overview of Characteristics Macbeth knows what he plans to do is wrong, yet swears to do them anyway - why? Not entirely committed to evil Lacks motivation to carry out his deeds - this is provided through the influence of others around him Namely: Lady Macbeth and The Witches Macbeth does not have a justifiable reason to kill - only his own ambition
Overview of Characteristics (2) When Macbeth kills King Duncan he eliminates the only sane nurturer left in his life and cuts the very root that feeds him He disrupts the natural order by murdering the king he is meant to serve, and we see this agony in his soliloquy in Act 1 Sc 7
Initial Characteristics When we first hear of Macbeth from the battlefield in Act 1 Sc 2, he is shown to be the confident hero: “Brave Macbeth...Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel...unseamed him from the nave to th' chops, and fixed his head upon our battlements” He is referred to by many positive titles throughout this scene: “Brave Macbeth”, “Valiant cousin! Worthy Gentleman!”, “Noble Macbeth”
Macbeth’s Undoing It is in Act 1 Sc 3 that Macbeth begins to lose his confidence and surety. This is initially shown in the symbolism of the weather: “So foul and fair a day I have not seen” foreshadows confusion Both the prophesies and Lady Macbeth can be interpreted as giving life to his ambition to gain power, especially when Ross brings news of his promotion to Thane of Cawdor Banquo - “Can the devil speak true?” In A1 Sc5 Lady Macbeth instructs him in deception: “To beguile the time, look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under ’t”
How Does He Change? He kills for his own gain A2 Sc 1: he kills Duncan in order to become King: “I have done the deed” A3 Sc 4: he sets out to murder Banquo to preserve his kingship: “Who wear our health but sickly in his life, which in his death were perfect” He feels guilt and acts erratically A5 Sc 2: Angus states that “Now does (Macbeth) feel his secret murders sticking on his hands”
How Does He Change? (2) Macbeth loses his confidence and becomes fixated on the war at hand A5 Sc3: he repeats the prophesies to himself as a method of self-reassurance: “Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane I cannot taint with fear” A5 Sc3: he is desperate to fix Scotland, little knowing that he is the problem: “If thou couldst, doctor, cast the water of my land, find her disease, and purge it to a sound and pristine health...what...purgative drug, would scour these English hence? [metaphor of body]
Macbeth Loses Touch: A5 Sc5
Concepts of Power? What are some ideas about power that we learn from the character of Macbeth?