Blog Post- Macbeth Character Analysis

Quarter one Benchmark was my first benchmark ever for English. This was a project based around a Shakespeare’s play called Macbeth. I was walking into this project naive and a little nervous. This was a project I wasn’t used to because we had to create a thesis and I had to create a essay on a Shakespeare play.

Thesis- In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a beast on the battlefield and a very loyal friend, but by the end he had a frozen heart and would do anything to get to the top.

In Act 1, Scene 3 of Macbeth, King Duncan has sent Angus and Ross to go pronounce the title Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth. King Duncan gave this title to Macbeth because he heard of the incident on the battlefield and felt that he deserved it. Also, the previous King of Cawdor was not trustworthy and sneaky. So, King Duncan sent someone to kill him and sent Angus and Ross to pronounce the title to Macbeth. Macbeth and Banquo had just got their prophesies from the weird sisters. Macbeth’s prophecy stated that he would be pronounced Thane of Cawdor, and later would be pronounced King.  Angus and Ross surprised Macbeth and Banquo to pronounce Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor. After this, aside Macbeth says, “Two truths are told, as happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme” (Act 1, Scene 3, lines 128-129). Macbeth is in shock right at this minute. He really can’t believe all this just came true because he didn’t believe the weird sisters. Macbeth was saying that part of his prophecy came true and he can’t believe it. He has all these different emotions stirring up inside.

In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth started to think of what the murder of King Duncan would do to his reputation. Also he felt that he didn’t have the guts to do it. King Duncan was very good to Macbeth and trusted him. Macbeth just felt that he couldn’t betray King Duncan’s trust and loyalty. In a result of this, Macbeth went to Lady Macbeth and says, “We will proceed no further in this business” (Act 1, Scene 7, lines 31). What Macbeth means is that Lady Macbeth and himself will not go through with the plan of murdering King Duncan. He can’t cough up the courage to do something that cruel. He seemed to be very upset and stern with this statement. Lady Macbeth was enraged with this decision that Macbeth has made. She feels that he is being a wuss and needs to man up. She tries to convince him in a very sexy and sneaky way to be back in tune with the plan.

In Act 1, Scene 7, Lady Macbeth is trying to convince Macbeth to go through with the plan. However, Macbeth was being kind of stubborn and strict with his decision not to murder King Duncan. Then Lady Macbeth started to become convincing and Macbeth started to become very gullible. Macbeth started to kick back in gear with the plan and started listening to Lady Macbeth. Macbeth was feeling uneasy with the plan so he asked Lady Macbeth “If we should fail?” (Act 1, Scene 7, line 59). Macbeth asks Lady Macbeth this he wanted to know if she knew what they were going to do if they did fail. However, Lady Macbeth came back with a very confident answer. Basically, she told him to man up and don’t think about that type of stuff and that they were not going to lose.

In Act 2, Scene 2, King Duncan is a guest at Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s home. They decide to go through with the plan. They were going to get the guards drunk and wait till Duncan was asleep and murder him with daggers. After that, they were going to plant the bloody daggers on the guards. Macbeth noticed that King Duncan was asleep and wanted to get the deed over with. He had murdered Duncan and walked in the room. Lady Macbeth was in the room and stated to Lady Macbeth “I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?” (Act 2, Scene 2, line 15). He said this in a very shaken up tone. Macbeth was terrified and paranoid. He couldn’t believe he just did what he did and swore someone was going to find. He was so shaken up, that he brought back the bloody daggers. Lady Macbeth noticed that he had them and told him to go plant them on the guards while they were still out of it. He was so paranoid that he couldn’t do that.

In Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth has decided to kill Banquo because he is getting to suspicious about the murder of Duncan. Macbeth hires three murderers to kill Banquo. This was going to take place while Macbeth and the lords were at dinner. Banquo was suppose to attend this dinner, but this was all Macbeth’s plan so he could kill him. However, Lady Macbeth wanted to know what was going on with this plan and wanted to know what it was about. Macbeth wanted this plan to stay a secret and on the “down low”. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed” (Act 3, Scene 2, lines 46-47). What Macbeth was saying was that he was not going to tell Lady Macbeth until his plan was accomplished. He wasn’t going to tell anyone about this because he didn’t want it to get out to anyone. He also wanted to think of this on his own and didn’t want anyone to change his mind or manipulate his plan. He even went through lying to his wife to successfully accomplish his plan.

In Act 3, Scene 4, Macbeth was at the dinner with the lord and Lady Macbeth. Banquo was suppose to be there, but Macbeth sent out hit men to kill Banquo. The murderers came back and told Macbeth that the deed was done and Banquo was no longer alive. The murderers then started to explain what they did to him. They told Macbeth that Banquo’s throat was cut. Then Macbeth states “Thou the best of the cut throats” (Act 3, Scene 4, line 19). This is when Macbeths really starts getting mean and cruel. What he means by this is that he is glad that Banquo is out of the picture and in an indirect way, he is saying good job to the murderers. Macbeth starts to get hardhearted at this point.

            In Act 4, Scene 1, “The Weird Sisters” had came back. There were also three Apparitions, which are ghost like images of people. These Apparitions were telling Macbeth to be aware of Macduff and his family. Macbeth took this in to great consideration when they had told him this. Macbeth then starts to think and wonder why should I fear of thee. Macbeth says “But yet I will make assurance double sure and take a bond of fate” (Act 4, Scene 1, lines 105-106). What Macbeth means is that he will make sure that Macduff and his family is out of the way. In other words, Macbeth is going to kill Macduff and his family. He goes about doing it the same way he kills Banquo. He sends murderers to Macduff’s home and only his family was there, there was no Macduff. The murderer ends up killing Macduff’s family.

In Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth has just found out that Lady Macbeth has died from her mind disease. Lady Macbeth had went in sane because she was guilty about the murder of King Duncan and that was haunting her. Seyton has informed him about this tragic news. However, there was also a very important war going on right now, so Macbeth states to Seyton “She should have died hereafter” (Act 5, Scene 5, line 17). What Macbeth is trying to say is that there is nothing he could have done about her dying or keep her from dying. However, he is kind of glad that she has died because that is one less thing he has to worry about while he fighting a war.

In Act 5, Scene 8, Macbeth and Macduff are in the battlefield. “The Weird Sisters” had told Macbeth in a Act before that Macbeth could not be harmed “none of woman born”. Because of this Macbeth did not fear the English army. Then Macduff and Macbeth start to fight and Macduff reveals to Macbeth that he was born form his mother’s womb untimely ripped. Macbeth starts to get frightened by the situation now. However, Macbeth is to stubborn to even back down. He says to Macduff “I will not yield, to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet and to be baited with rabble’s curse” (Act 5, Scene 8, lines 28-29). What Macbeth is trying to say is he is not backing down. He is not going to apologize for what he has done because it is already done. He is not going to back down to Malcolm basically.

In the play Macbeth, Macbeth started out as a very loyal and caring friend. However as the play went on, Macbeth started to get very greedy, stubborn, and in some way evil. My quotes support my thesis very well. In the beginning you could see that Macbeth was just not one to betray his friends and cared about them. He also cared about what people would think about him. However, by the end of the play, Macbeth would do anything to get what he want and didn’t care about what a soul thought about him. He also became very careless about people’s feelings. Shakespeare’s lesson or message to the readers could have been don’t let anything take away your self-respect, no matter how much it means to you to get it because it can do you dirty at the end.