Characters


Macbeth


Macduff. Macbeth seems reluctant to fight and says, ‘get thee back; my soul is too much charged / With blood of thine already’ (Act 5, Sc 8). In this final moment of his life, Macbeth expresses remorse for murdering Macduff’s family. The audience is fascinated by the vision of a man tortured by guilt and burdened by regret. This suffering partly explains the sympathy that is extended to him by the audience.


Anxious andWorld-Weary Macbeth suffers hugely as a result of his crimes. He becomes increasingly isolated and emotionally overwrought as the play progresses. This taxing emotional state leads to his eventualworld-weariness and deep sense of despair. The crown fails to give Macbeth any contentment or inner peace. After killing Duncan, he imagines voices saying, ‘Macbeth shall sleep no more.’ This foreshadows the paranoia and ‘saucy doubts and fears’ of which he later complains. He becomes increasingly distrustful of Banquo and complains to LadyMacbeth that hismind is ‘full of scorpions’.He is agitated and suffers nightmares having to ‘sleep / In the affliction of these terrible dreams / That shake us nightly’ (Act 3, Sc 2). Murdering Banquo brings no relief from his sense of insecurity. After killing Banquo andMacduff’s family,Macbeth becomes increasingly disillusionedwith life.


He pictures himself as a withered leaf, stripped of its vitality: ‘I have lived long / enough: my way of life / Is fall’n into the sear’ (Act 5, Sc 3). He comes to see life as futile, and existence as meaningless.He imagines life as a candle thatwill inevitably burn out and also compares it to a poor actor who is soon forgotten: ‘Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing’ (Act 5, Sc 5)


The absolute despair of these lines signalsMacbeth’sworld-weariness.His ambition, bravery and troubled conscience have given way to a profound sense of hopelessness.


ATragic Hero Macbeth is both the chief villain and the tragic hero of the play. He experiences a reversal of fortune: beginning from a privileged position in Duncan’s favour, he becomes a despised tyrannical ruler. He is also identifiable as a tragic hero by the flaws in his character: his excessive pride and ambition. This leads him on a path towards self-destruction. As his life spirals towards its tragic conclusion, he gains insight into the emptiness of his ambition. He becomes filled with remorse but is unable to change the course of his life. This inspires pity in the audience. (For a more detailed discussion of Macbeth as a tragic hero, see the Tragedy section of this book on page 138.)


Macbeth:


 Ambitious  Proud


 Courageous


 Readily influenced  Burdened by guilt


 Anxious and world-weary Atragic hero


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