At the End of Macbeth, Malcom Refers to Macbeth as “This Dead Butcher”. to What Extent Do You Think This Is a Fair Assessment of Macbeth?

At the End of Macbeth, Malcom Refers to Macbeth as “This Dead Butcher”. to What Extent Do You Think This Is a Fair Assessment of Macbeth?

  • Submitted By: ellafenella
  • Date Submitted: 11/01/2010 5:38 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1035
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 497

I believe that the phrase “this dead butcher” is a fair assessment of Macbeth, as by the end of the play, he kills people all around him for no good reason, and frames others so that he doesn’t have to suffer the punishment. He kills for greed and ambition and lies to his henchmen to persuade them into killing people. However, at the beginning of the play he seemed to have some morals and is shown as a brave soldier who is prepared to fight to the death for his king and country.

It isn’t all Macbeth though; Lady Macbeth and the witches started him off. Macbeth had already gone from Thane of Glamis up to Thane of Cawdor, and all that was left was to become king. The witches were telling him that he will be the future king as the third witch says “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” They both thought that he could go one step further up the ladder by killing the king; they put thoughts in his head about it and how it was going to be done. Macbeth wouldn’t have even thought of killing the king if they hadn’t put the nasty and cruel ideas and thoughts into his head.

Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to kill King Duncan in order for them both to then be crowned king and queen of Scotland. Macbeth hosts a dinner, Lady Macbeth spikes the guards drinks so that it will be easier for Macbeth to kill the king and Macbeth will be able to do so without anyone finding out; however Macbeth soon realises that he doesn’t like the idea anymore and believes that King Duncan is a good person as he says “we will proceed no further in this business”. Lady Macbeth rapidly changes his mind by winding him up and calling him a coward as she says “What beast was it then that made you break this enterprise to me”. This then turns him into an evil murderer killing more and more people and caring less about it. Therefore this shows that it may not all be entirely his fault as he appears simply weak and easily lead.

Macbeth follows a dagger to King Duncan’s room, creeps...

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