Character Of Macbeth
Any man who steals something that is not rightfully his is a man who will live in fear for what was stolen being taken away from him. Shakespeare’s Macbeth displays a prime example of such a man. After murdering Duncan to acquire kingship of Scotland, Macbeth “shall sleep no more”Act 2, Scene 2, line 41 indeed. His fear that an unnatural man cannot rule a country spurs him to act desperately, doing anything, including killing others, to ensure his crown. Macbeth removes himself further and further away from the natural order, and becomes truly evil.
Besides foretelling Macbeth’s future, the weïrd sisters also said that Banquo “shalt get kings, though [Macbeth] shalt be none”Act 1, Scene 3, line 67. Macbeth becomes fixated on the fact that he will be overthrown, and that he himself holds only a “fruitless crown”Act 3, Scene 1, line 61 and a “barren scepter”Act 3, Scene 1, line 62. This fear is the cause for many of Macbeth’s actions. He feels “cabined, cribbed, confined, bound to saucy doubts and fears”25, and hires two assassins to kill Banquo and Fleance. Banquo’s ghost comes back to haunt Macbeth, and he becomes hysterical. He claims that he is a man “that dare look on that / Which might appall the devil”Act 3, Scene 4, line 60, not even denying that he is now part of the dark world. Macbeth cannot let go of his panic, and asks Lady Macbeth how she could “keep the natural ruby of [her] cheeks, / When [his are] blanched with fear”Act 3, Scene 4, line 115-117. Macbeth’s own insecurity causes him to become more irrational and banishes any last trace of humanity in him.
Macbeth’s becomes more and more unnatural as the play goes on. He initiates a visit to the weïrd sisters, and makes the excuse that he is “in blood / stepped in so far that, should [he] wade no more / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.”Act 4, Scene 1, line 137-139. Even the witches know that he is part of the unnatural world; the second witch senses “something wicked this way comes”Act 4,...
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