The Savage Lifestyle of Macbeth

The Savage Lifestyle of Macbeth

  • Submitted By: madcow
  • Date Submitted: 02/24/2010 6:45 PM
  • Category: Miscellaneous
  • Words: 988
  • Page: 4
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Joel Samelson
2/5/10
4A

Macbeth Essay

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the primary character that works against the common good to become the villain is Macbeth. His savage lifestyle isn’t wholly his doing, though. His actions are prompted by fate and others around him showing violence leading to more violence, given by the witches’ predictions, Lady Macbeth’s role in taking over, and his blindness from power.
The fall of Macbeth begins with his first fateful meeting with the three witches. The witches know of his arrival, and hail him with prophecies: “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis…Thane of Cawdor…that shalt be king hereafter” (17)! Macbeth does not understand why they call him Thane of Cawdor and king hereafter, and is cautious. He soon finds that he has indeed become the Thane because the former one was a traitor and had been deposed. Macbeth, a now enamored man, now envisions greatness, imagining how he can become king. He had been an undefiled lord loyal to his leader, but now loses his reputation as a hero for one of a scheming traitor. When he returns to the witches to learn more about how to stay king, he eagerly accepts their prophecies as true. His doubt is gone, and he feels powerful and invincible. If the witches said it would come true, Macbeth was confident that it would and based his actions off of this. His faith really expresses how much the witches have influenced his life. Macbeth continues in his quest for supremacy, assured that he can’t be defeated. The witches are correct, but their prediction of Banquo’s heirs being kings also had to come true. The underlying power of determination, fate had to destroy Macbeth and his new power, then, and Macbeth is helpless to stop it. This proves that he is not in charge here, and fate is what brings about his kingship. His villainous actions that continue increasingly severely destroyed his innocence, which wouldn’t have happened without the witches’ outspoken and fateful...

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