macbeth profile essay
Gloriaa
English4Macbethprofileessay-GoogleDocs.pdf
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Gloria Huang
Mr. Haynie
English 4
10 December 2018
Macbeth’s Character Profile
“There are always consequences to wrong choices.” An American author Jim George
once said. It reflected the play the Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare. In the
play, he portrayed a tragic hero, Macbeth who does anything to fight for power and to become a
king of the Scottish. The higher Macbeth rose on his road of power the more corrupt and evil he
become. Macbeth is a violence tyrant because he is easy influenced and credulous and conceited.
Macbeth is easily influenced, which leads him to commit a lot of unforgivable crimes,
records his process from light to darkness. The three witches enlighten Macbeth with three
prophecies which two of them were already fulfilled. The witches said to the Macbeth: “All hail,
Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!” (III.iii,
7172) They put this idea in his head, which sparks his 'vaulting ambition'. Aso, it excited
Macbeth, and prompted him in sharing what happened to Lady Macbeth. She constantly
persuades Macbeth to kill for desire and his ambitious. After Macbeth decided to kill king
Duncan, he says to Lady Macbeth, “ I am settled, and bend up. Each corporal agent to this
terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false
heart doth know” (I.vii. 563566). With the mixture of the witches prophecies and persuasion by
his wife, it takes for Macbeth to so greatly desire his ambition. This shows that his ambitious has
defeated his consciousness, motivating him to commit a murder in order to get power. This is
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important because this is the first step on his way to pursuing power. His easy influenced
characterization push his ambition toward power motivates him to betray his consciousness.
After that, he keeps seeking for his absolute power of throne. In conclusion, although it may
seem that witches influenced him in killing the king, however, If he is not so easily affected, he
will keep his kindness and selfconsciousness to not commit the crimes.
He is credulous and conceited, which is a foundational cause of his inability of being a
wise king. In Macbeth’s final fight with Macduff’s army, when he knows that his soldiers run
away from the battle field, he says: “ Bring me no more reports. Let them fly all. Till Birnam
Wood remove to Dunsinane. I cannot taint with fear.” (V. iii. 13) This shows that he knows his
soldiers betray him and will not fight for him, Macbeth is over confident that he will win this war
because he believes the spirits prophecy which says until the wood march toward him, he will
not loose. This deeply shows that he is credulous and conceited he is so believed in the
prophecy that will lead his downfall soon. Not only that, while he is fight with young Siward, his
arrogance still make him no fear about everything, he said: “ Thou wast born of woman. But
swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Brandished by man that’s of a woman born.” (V. vii,
1214) He still believed that he will not die due to the witches prophecy. This is important
because he is so hopeful and dependent upon the prophecies of the witches he lets his guard
down and unintentionally allows for himself to become vulnerable to attack. In a word,
overconfident is a fatal flaw and it will catalyst one’s fall.
Due to what Macbeth did and what he committed, his relationship with his friends
,enemy and his subordinates has been fallen apart. When Macduff’s army are preparing to
against to Macbeth’s army, Angus, one of the military leader in Scotland army, says to his
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companion: “Now minutely revolts upbraid his faithbreach; Those he commands move only in
command, Nothing in love” (V. ii. 1020) This shows that Macbeth’s soldiers don’t want to fight
in the war to show their resistance. All of the soldiers and people are not loyal to Macbeth from
heart and honor, but they obey him just because they are afraid of him and he is the king, they
have to obey him. However, I still hold my view that he is a violence tyrant. After he received
the new information from Lennox, he decided how he will proceed next, he says: “From this
moment The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To
crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done.” (IV. ii.146148) This shows how he will
react after, without any kindness and hesitate. Everything he thinks will be put into action. It
implies that he will become more violence and decisive. He is ruining the country as a king and
people are suppressed by his violent laws and afraid not revolt.
In a nutshell, the murders made Macbeth to commit all sorts of crimes to be where he
wanted to be. Macbeth is easily influenced, he didn’t hold his consciousness and he is over
arrogant, which lead him become a violence tyrant. Just like Napoleon Bonaparte, who was one
most famous French military leader said: “Great ambition is the passion of a great character.
Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles
which direct them.” Ambitious is a great things, and it’s important to have it, but the way to
achieve one’s ambitious is also critical for one's life. Macbeth’s great ambition is pushing him
step by step into the failure.
