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Character Analysis: Macbeth
Character Profile – At a Glance
Role: Thane of Glamis, later King of Scotland; the protagonist and tragic villain.
Key Traits: Ambitious, imaginative, paranoid, ruthless, easily manipulated, and deeply insecure.
The Core Conflict: Torn between his moral conscience and his "black and deep desires" for the crown, fueled by the Witches' prophecies and his wife’s goading.
Key Actions: Murders King Duncan to seize the crown, orders the death of Banquo to secure his legacy, slaughters Macduff's family, and fights to the death at Dunsinane.
Famous Quote: "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." (Act 5, Scene 5).
The Outcome: He is killed and beheaded by Macduff, ending his tyrannical reign and restoring order to Scotland.
The Tortured Tyrant: Macbeth’s Psychology
Macbeth is a fascinating contradiction: a ruthless killer possessed of a terrifyingly vivid imagination. Unlike the cold, sociopathic villains in other Shakespeare plays (like Iago or Edmund), Macbeth feels every inch of his crimes.
When the play opens, he is a war hero, "Bellona’s bridegroom," respected for his violence on the battlefield. However, his psychology is defined by a dangerous malleability. He is easily swayed—first by the Witches, then by Lady Macbeth. He knows the difference between right and wrong, acknowledging that Duncan is his kinsman and king, yet he allows his ambition to override his moral compass.
His "fatal flaw" is often cited as ambition, but it is specifically an ambition he cannot control. He possesses a powerful conscience that does not stop him from sinning but tortures him immediately afterward.
Original: Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires. (Act 1, Scene 4)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Stars, do not shine,
So folk can't see these dark desires of mine.
The Poison of Ambition: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Macbeth’s descent is triggered by the Witches, but the evil lies within him. The prophecy acts as a catalyst for thoughts he likely already harboured.
Once the seed is planted, Macbeth’s imagination becomes his enemy. He hallucinates a dagger before the murder and hears voices crying "Sleep no more!" immediately after. This suggests that his punishment is not legal, but psychological. He transforms Scotland into a reflection of his own internal chaos.
Original:
I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (Act 3, Scene 4)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
I’ve so much blood
Upon my hands that, should I choose to backtrack,
It would be like repeating all I’ve done.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth: A Folie à Deux
The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is the engine of the play. Initially, they are partners in greatness. Lady Macbeth is the architect of the regicide, providing the resolve that Macbeth lacks. She attacks his masculinity to spur him to action ("When you durst do it, then you were a man" – Act 1, Scene 7).
However, as Macbeth grows more tyrannical, their dynamic inverts. He begins to act independently, hiding his plans for Banquo’s murder from her ("Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck" – Act 3, Scene 2). As he hardens into a butcher, she dissolves into madness. By the time she dies, they are estranged, physically and spiritually separated by the crimes they committed together.
“Macbeth is an occult thinker; he is a visionary, but his vision is of the evil within himself... He is a good man who does evil, and suffers intensely for it.”
The Tyrant's Journey: From Valiant Soldier to Nihilist
Macbeth’s arc is a straight line down into darkness. Unlike Hamlet, who circles around action, Macbeth sprints towards it, only to regret it instantly.
Act 1-2 (The Hero/The Murderer): He oscillates between loyalty and temptation, ultimately choosing power. The murder of Duncan creates an immediate schism in his soul.
Act 3 (The Paranoid King): He realises that "to be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus." He orders the death of his friend Banquo, marking his shift from reluctant killer to proactive tyrant.
Act 4-5 (The Butcher/The Nihilist): He slaughters Macduff's family without hesitation. By the end, stripped of friends, wife, and honour, he reaches a state of existential numbness. He fights Macduff not out of hope for victory, but out of grim defiance.
Original:
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. (Act 5, Scene 5)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Life’s just a mirage, where a lousy actor
Will strut and fret his time upon the stage,
But then is heard no more of.
Key Quotes by Macbeth
Quote 1:
Original:
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. (Act 2, Scene 1)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Is this a dagger that I see before me,
The handle pointing at my hand? I'll hold it.
Quote 2:
Original:
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? (Act 2, Scene 2)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Will all the oceans' water wash this blood
Clean from my hands?
Quote 3:
Original:
O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! (Act 3, Scene 2)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
My mind is full of scorpions, dear wife!
Quote 4:
Original:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day... (Act 5, Scene 5)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Tomorrow or the next day or the next,
Each day creeps slowly by, from day to day…
Key Takeaways
Macbeth is not a simple villain; he is a man with a conscience who violently suppresses it to gain power.
His imagination is his torture chamber; he visualises the horror of his actions before and after committing them.
The relationship with Lady Macbeth is central; her strength initiates the violence, but his paranoia sustains it long after she has broken down.
His journey ends in nihilism; he realises that the power he sacrificed his soul for is ultimately meaningless ("Signifying nothing").
Study Questions and Analysis
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While the Witches prophesy that he will be King, they never command him to kill Duncan. That leap is made entirely by Macbeth and his wife. He is a victim of his own interpretation of fate, not fate itself. As the play progresses, he actively challenges fate (trying to kill Banquo and Fleance to stop their prophecy), proving he believes he can alter the outcome.
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His flaw is often defined as "vaulting ambition," but it is arguably his imagination. He is not a cold-blooded killer; he envisions the horror of his deeds so vividly that he terrifies himself. He knows the consequences—"judgement here"—yet he lets his ambition override his reason, leading to his destruction.
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In the beginning, Macbeth speaks in rich, poetic imagery (daggers, angels, babies). As he hardens his heart, his language becomes flatter, cynical, and more direct. By Act 5, he is barking orders and expressing weary nihilism. The poetry of his soul dries up as his humanity withers.
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This marks the psychological point of no return. The murder of Duncan was for the crown; the murder of Banquo was for security. The murder of the Macduffs is purely spiteful and strategic cruelty. It signifies he has lost all human empathy and has become a true tyrant.
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Initially, Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner, shaming Macbeth into action. However, once Duncan is dead, they trade places. Macbeth becomes proactive and secretive, planning Banquo’s murder without her ("Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck" – Act 3, Scene 2). As he grows bolder in his tyranny, she is consumed by guilt and retreats into madness.
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Even after the prophecies are broken and he knows he is doomed, Macbeth refuses to "play the Roman fool" and commit suicide. His final fight is not out of hope, but out of a grim, animalistic defiance. It is the last shred of the soldier he once was—fighting simply because it is his nature.
The soliloquies track his character development, from his initial suicidal despair (Act 1, Scene 2), to his self-reproach for inaction (Act 2, Scene 2), his meditation on mortality ("To be or not to be" – Act 3, Scene 1), and his final commitment to bloody action (Act 4, Scene 4). Without the soliloquies, Hamlet's hesitation would be inexplicable.
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This soliloquy represents the absolute nadir (lowest point) of Macbeth's journey. Upon hearing of his wife’s death, he does not weep; he simply acknowledges the futility of life. He realises that all his "sound and fury" (violence and ambition) has amounted to nothing. It is a moment of total existential collapse.