Characters Macbeth


Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most intriguing tragic figures. He paradoxically inspires both revulsion and sympathy in the audience as we watch the horror of his crimes played out against the backdrop of his increasingly guilty conscience. It is this contradiction within the character of Macbeth that casts him in the roles of both tragic hero and central villain.


Ambitious All tragic heroes are undone by a flaw in their character. In Macbeth’s case, ambition leads him on a path towards self-destruction. This is first evident in his meeting with the witches. When Macbeth learns that he will be Thane of Cawdor and king he is lost for words; Banquo notes how he is ‘rapt withal’. Even at this early stage of the play, Shakespeare connects Macbeth’s ambition with his violent crimes. As the witches make their prophecies, Macbeth’s mind immediately turns to murder as the only way to satisfy his ambitious nature: ‘why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs’ (Act 1, Sc 3). Similarly, his destructive sense of ambition is apparent when he hears Duncan name Malcolm as his successor: ‘The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o’er-leap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires’ (Act 1, Sc 4)


It is the prospect of power that encourages Macbeth’s dark and murderous thoughts. He himself recognises the danger of his excessive ambition. He reflects on the immorality of killing Duncan and realises that his sole motivation is his ambitious nature: ‘I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on the other’ (Act 1, Sc 7)


The image here is of an overly eager jockey who ambitiously jumps too far and falls on the other side. He clearly recognises how excessive ambition can potentially bring disaster. Lady Macbeth also acknowledges Macbeth’s ambition. She encourages him to kill Duncan by appealing to this side of his character: ‘Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life’ (Act 1, Sc 7). Macbeth’s tragic act stems from his overwhelming desire to be king. It is this excessive sense of ambition that leaves himvulnerable to the suggestive influence of thewitches and LadyMacbeth.


Proud However, Macbeth is also undone by his excessive pride. He considers himself to be a courageous, manly figure and this pride contributes towards his moral blindness. Lady Macbeth appeals to Macbeth’s pride in himself as a brave man to encourage him to murder


Duncan. She accuses himof dishonourably breaking a promise to her: ‘What beastwas’t, then, / That made you break this enterprise to me?’and calls him a coward for his reluctance in proceeding with the murder: ‘Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valour / As thou art in desire?’ (Act 1, Sc 7). The idea of manliness is central here as Lady Macbeth argues that Macbeth would be


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