Essay: How does Shakespeare present the character of Macbeth?

Macbeth is a play written in 1606 by William Shakespeare. This play was about a man named Macbeth who receives prophecies from three witches, that end up altering his life. He starts off as an honourable warrior, who later gets ravaged by guilt with an over-ambitious nature which eventually leads him to his death.
At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces the character of Macbeth as a faithful and courageous soldier, who is supportive of his king. In act 1.2, Captain honours Macbeth through a compelling speech where he reinforces his bravery for fighting in the battle between Scotland against the Norwegians. The deliberate use of a dash, a punctuation mark which creates emphasis in the sentence and highlights some key information about Macbeth – he deserves the label of “brave.” This reveals that King Duncan had nothing but praise for Macbeth from his heroic actions. Following this, Macbeth is personified as a ‘valour’s minion’ which is suggesting that Macbeth is a servant for bravery, displaying his courage. The noun ‘valour’ depicts Macbeth as an act of heroic courage and determination, however, the word minion describes Macbeth as a servant or follower. Duncan also reinforces Macbeth’s bravery with the characterisation, “O valiant cousin, worthy gentlemen,” Duncan is making Macbeth’s victory known to all as he is given the title of Thane of Cawdor, this gives Macbeth a positive reputation and Shakespeare is building up Macbeth’s character to look good. Additionally, this fortifies King Duncan’s appreciation of him and that he takes trusts in Macbeth. The significant line “what he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won” told by the King depicts that one man’s failure is another man’s success – essentially McDonald, the previous Thane of Cawdor who lost his position because he was a traitor, this meant that Macbeth would take his place. Again, Macbeth’s bravery is reinforced when the evocative adjective “noble” is used to emphasise Macbeth’s worthiness of his title. This is further exemplified through the line “and with his former title greet Macbeth.” The King is placing his trust in Macbeth by giving him a greater title. This is ironic as Macbeth will later kill and betray Duncan to take his place as King. Macbeth’s continues to get praise when he is referred to as “Bellona’s bridegroom” by Ross. Bellona was the Roman goddess of war, Ross is complimenting Macbeth’s skills on the battlefield. In this part of the play, Shakespeare explores loyalty and trust as he reveals Macbeth and King Duncan’s strong relationship as Macbeth is given a new title, showing that they have trust with one another.
Later in the play, Macbeth starts to get manipulated by Lady Macbeth and the witches, as a result causing him to feel overwhelmed by guilt. Lady Macbeth is controlling and tries to trick Macbeth into killing the King in hopes of getting something out of it. She tries to manage Macbeth’s emotions as she says, “thou wouldst be great; art not without ambition” and “infirm of purpose!”. Lady Macbeth is manipulating him and urging on his ambition, causing him to feel overwhelmed with guilt through the actions he has committed. The disyllabic conjunction ‘wouldst’ is in the future tense, basically, she is stating he could be great if he had ambition. The line “infirm of purpose,” is essentially addressing him as a ‘coward’. By doing this, she hopes to provoke him enough so he would try to prove her wrong, to convince her that he is strong enough. In the end, her clever influences worked on Macbeth as later they end up perpetrating regicide. The audience would now view Macbeth as an ominous person as he is able to do such a thing. Yet, Macbeth still believes he made the right decision, so he is trying to assure himself that he is still innocent as he did nothing wrong. At this part of the play, Shakespeare starts to reveal Macbeth’s emotional side as he starts to feel guilty for what he did. Both he and Lady Macbeth are apprehensive about what will happen next. Macbeth reveals his guilt of killing the King when he utters “but wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’” he admits to betraying God which is why he is incapable of saying the word Amen. Shakespeare continues to reinforce this idea, as Lady Macbeth starts shaming Macbeth, “my hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white.” She is saying that Macbeth is wrongful because of his actions. The reflective noun ‘white’ relates to pureness and innocence – so she is accepting that she is guilty as she doesn’t want to associate herself with anything pure. At this point, the audience might be starting to dislike Macbeth’s character.
Towards the end of the play, Macbeth had a clear desire for dominance and success and he is determined to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. The intensity of his ambition causes turnovers in Macbeth’s actions, including deceiving those he is closest to. Macbeth is doubting his lack of motivation when he speaks “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’ other”. His only justification for killing Duncan is his ‘ambition’ and for him, that is a good enough reason. The reference to a horse personifies Macbeth as an animal of strength and perseverance. Also, the perfunctory adjective ‘vaulting’ and the repressed noun ‘spur’ both signify the morality of his ambition. Shakespeare continues to divulge Macbeth’s ambition after Macbeth has committed Banquo’s murder when he speaks “tis better thee without than he within” in act 3.4. This imagery is truly Macbeth stating that Banquo’s blood is better of on his face, rather than in his veins. Also, this explicates how his ambition has taken over as he feels no sorrow for the death of his best friend. Macbeth’s ambition maintains as he says “stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires”. Macbeth uses this metaphor in his depiction of the contrasting nouns ‘light’ and ‘black’ to show his real intentions. The juxtaposition of the words light and dark highlight Macbeth’s mental state. Primarily, he doesn’t want the good and pure to know his evil plans. Furthermore, Macbeth uses the alliteration ‘let light’ and ‘deep desires’, to reinforce his zeal towards these messages. Following this, Macbeth’s over-ambitious nature has caused him to gain abrogating traits as a king. He is addressed as a ‘tyrant’ throughout the rest of the play. The line “this tyrant. whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest” explains the audience that he has lost support from his country. Malcolm is stating that a man who was once great, has now betrayed everyone and will continue to do so.
In conclusion, Shakespeare presents the character of Macbeth in a variety of ways. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a brave and loyal soldier who fought to protect his country. Later on, he starts to believe the witches prophecies which leads to a major downfall. He gets manipulated by Lady Macbeth and the witches into killing King Duncan, so he could take his place on the throne. From there on, his only goal is to keep his crown, this obsession is what causes his death.
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