Throughout the narrative of the play “Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare, the audience witnesses the change in the character of Macbeth. As the plot develops his few good qualities disappear, whereas his evil character becomes more and more revealed to the audience. Shakespeare shows Macbeth as both positive and negative character throughout the narrative. He goes from good to bad, and from bad to worse, as Shakespeare shows these changes through Macbeth’s asides, soliloquies, and the other character’s opinion about his personality and behavior.
Shakespeare quickly establishes positive characterisation for Macbeth in the exposition of the play. This positive characterisation is shown through the way that people talk and speak of him or to him. The audience first hears about Macbeth from the Captain’s report: “But it’s too weak for brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name) … As eagles; or the hare the lion”. Shakespeare uses the adjective “brave”, as a literary device, and brackets, as a pause, conceived by himself, in the Captain’s report, in order to emphasize both Macbeth’s courage and fighting skills, and what a high opinion people have of Macbeth himself and his greatness. Moreover, Shakespeare uses imagery of an eagle and lion in this Captain’s report, in order to emphasize Macbeth’s status in the Great Chain of Being, as both the eagle and the lion are known as apex predators, which are located at the top of the food chain. Furthermore, as at the beginning of the play, Macbeth is presented as a worthy character, and one of the main aspects of his personality is the kindness. Lady Macbeth knows this aspect of his character and says to him: “Yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness…” Shakespeare uses an idiom “milk of human kindness” in order to emphasize the care and compassion of Macbeth for others. Additionally, by using the word “milk”, Shakespeare justifies that Macbeth’s character is not yet corrupted into an evil human being, as milk itself is a white liquid, and white is the connotation of this, so that the word milk is used by Shakespeare as a symbol in order to emphasize the purity of Macbeth’s soul.
The last and the third way Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a positive character before he had fully transformed into an evil tyrant, is through his soliloquies. Macbeth shares his thoughts to the audience that the idea of killing Duncan is a “… horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs against the use of nature?” The soliloquies function to reveal Macbeth’s true feelings to the audience. Shakespeare personifies Macbeth’s “heart”, as it knocks at his ribs, in order to show the audience that Macbeth is wrestling with his conscience, making him appear more sympathetic and less like a heartless murderer, in the eyes of the audience.
As the narrative progresses, Shakespeare gives increasingly negative characterisation for Macbeth. Towards the end of Act One of the play, the audience witnesses the starting point of Macbeth’s change in character. As Macbeth deteriorates into insanity, he no longer trusts his own senses: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” Shakespeare uses the daggers and hands of Macbeth as symbols of guilt and murder. Moreover, the question mark in the end of the sentence reveals the madness of Macbeth, and it is also used to emphasize the change in his character to the audience, as the asides and soliloquies in the beginning of the play now differ from each other.
Secondly, when Macbeth has killed Banquo, his best and only friend, he has completed his transformation into a negative character and now there are no doubts that he has gone insane. Macbeth is clearly lost and he is discouraged by his earlier actions, he does not know what he should do next, and he is not sure if at least some part of the former brave warrior and great leader has still remained in his character: “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” Shakespeare uses this metaphor in order to emphasize the insanity of Macbeth and to mention once again that there is nothing left of the former Macbeth, who was presented to the audience in the beginning of the play. Additionally, Shakespeare uses scorpions as a symbol of the poisoned consciousness of Macbeth’s character.
In the end of the play, Macbeth is clearly not the same person, the hero, the king who he was before. Lastly, Macbeth has lost his wife; his people and associates have lost the trust and faith in him, he has lost the will to live; in fact, he has lost everything that he has had and at this stage of the narrative there is no difference between him and the ordinary peasants: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day”. Shakespeare uses repetition of the word “tomorrow” in order to show the lack of emotion Macbeth is portraying for the death of his wife, and it shows the boredom and dullness of his life. Furthermore, Shakespeare personifies the “days” by saying that they “creep”, in other words, “move slowly”, in order to add and reveal the theme of boredom and that Macbeth feels as if time and life itself became dull, which shows the downfall in Macbeth’s career to the audience.
A play from the tragedy genre traditionally depicts a good, high-status male being brought low and destroyed by his fatal flaw. Thus, the play “Macbeth” can be classified as representative of this particular genre. Moreover, it is one of the best representatives. Macbeth himself is an example of the terrible effects guilt and ambition can have on a man who lacks the strength of character. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a positive hero, however, by the end of the play he has nothing left of his former, original character. In fact, he has become a completely new person. Shakespeare brilliantly shows the downfall of Macbeth, and by the end of the play, the audience itself may feel at the same time both empathy and enmity towards Macbeth. Although some people may consider Macbeth as an evil person, as his weak character shows, he is not strong enough to conquer both guilt and self-doubt. However, in the end of the play, Shakespeare leaves the audience with one main idea, which is, Macbeth is being a bad character, who is fully responsible for his evil murders planned and committed by himself, and truly deserved to end his life like this. Moreover by including the Great Chain of Being as of the themes in the play, Shakespeare wants to show the downfall of Macbeth’s career to the audience in order to use it as a metaphor, saying that everything is predetermined and all the choices and decisions you make only lead to your destined destiny.