macbeth profile essay

Wei 4

Erica Wei

English 4

Mr. Tucker

December 10, 2018

Macbeth’s Character Profile

“Every French soldier carries a marshal\'s baton in his knapsack.” —Napoleon, one of the most famous French military leader, once said so, which shows the importance for people to be aspirant and ambitious. However, in Macbeth, a famous tragedy written by William Shakespeare, it is Macbeth’s ambition that pushes him step by step into the failure. Macbeth, a brave and promising noble, is tempted by the witch’s prophecy and kills his king. After being the new king, he starts his tyranny and was defeated by the insurgents. The reason of the tragedy of this king can be concluded in three parts: his credulous and conceited characteristic; his excessive ambition and suspicion; and his broken relationships with enemy and subordinates.

He is credulous and conceited, which is a foundational cause of his inability of being a wise king. After Macbeth becomes Glamis and thane of Cawdor like what the witches said, he says, “Two truths are told, / As happy prologues to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme.--I thank you, gentlemen” (Mac. 1. 3. 240-242). This shows that Macbeth believes that the witches’ prophecies will become true as soon as two of them are proved to be true. This is important because this action shows that Macbeth is not a person who can stick to his principles and opinions. Instead, he will trust others’ words easily without careful consideration, which leads him to the first step of rebellion. At the meanwhile, he made a fatal mistake as a king. In Macbeth’s final fight with Malcom’s army, when he knows that his soldiers run away from the battle field, he says “The mind I sway by and the heart I bear / Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear” (Mac. 5. 8. 2255-2256). This shows that although his soldiers betray him and refuse to fight, Macbeth is still very confident that he will win this war because he believes the spirits prophecy which says no man born of woman can defeat him. This is important because his character flaws, credulous and conceited is shown in this action — he is too convinced of the spirits’ prophecies, leading him to have excessive confidence in his abilities. His arrogance blindfolded his eyes, so that he could not find a crisis close at hand. In a word, believing in a wrong person and ignoring the ominous signals will let him pay the price sooner or later.

Macbeth’s excessive ambition and suspicion, which leads him to commit a lot of unforgivable crimes, records his process from light to darkness. 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” (Mac. 1. 7. 563-566). This shows that his ambitious has defeated his consciousness, motivating him to commit a murder in order to get power. This is important because this is the first step on his way to pursuing power. His ambition toward power motivates him to betray his consciousness. Afterward, he keeps seeking for his absolute power of throne. Right after Macbeth becomes the king, he plans to kill. Banquo, the one who might overthrown his power in the future according to the prophecy. Macbeth says to the murders: “I will advise you where to plant yourselves; / Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time, / The moment on't; for't must be done to-night ” (Mac. 2. 3. 1150-1153). This shows that Macbeth tells the murders to murder Banquo in order to stabilize his throne. This is important because murdering Duncan is a sufficient and necessary condition for Macbeth to be a king, but murdering Banquo is not. Till this, Macbeth start killing people who he think is suspicious, which can be considered as tyrant behavior. As a conclusion, Macbeth’s excessive ambition leads him to rebellion and his excessive suspicion leads him to murder.

Macbeth’s bad reputation causes his broken relationship to both his enemy and his subordinates. When Macduff persuades Malcom to lead the rebellion, he says, “Bleed, bleed, poor country! / Great tyranny! lay thou thy basis sure, / For goodness dare not cheque thee: wear thou / thy wrongs; / The title is affeer'd! Fare thee well” (Mac. 4. 3. 1879-1883). This shows that Macduff thinks Macbeth is ruining the country as a king and people are suppressed by his violent laws and dare not resist. This is important because the insurgents consider themselves as justice and they are fighting for the peace of the country. Because of Macbeth’s wrong decisions, his enemy occupied the moral grounds. Furthermore, even people in Macbeth’s side is disloyal to him. Right before the war against Malcolm, Angus, one of the military leader in Scotland, says to his companion: “Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach; / Those he commands move only in command, / Nothing in love” (Mac. 5. 2. 2227-2229). This shows that Macbeth’s soldiers are quitting the war to show their resistance. All the soldiers are not loyal to Macbeth from heart, they obey him just because they are afraid of him. This is important because this is the consequence under Macbeth’s tyranny. Macbeth blindly believes in the power of destiny but forgets the importance of the loyalty. As has been noted, Macbeth’s broken relationship with others clearly shows his failure as being a king, which laid a foundation of his broken throne .

Although he once repents to the death of king Duncan and all the other innocent people he murdered, which shows he is not a completely ruthless murderer but an emotional person, he needs to face the consequence of the crimes he committed. An American author Jim George once said:“There are always consequences to wrong choices.” As a person who believes in fate and thus changes his life, fate will ultimately treat him fairly as well.