To what extent does shakespeare present macbeth as a villain free essay sample

Shakespeare presents Macbeth more extensively as a villain using methods which would be more understood in the era the play was composed, which was the Jacobean period, but influenced by the reign of Elizabeth. During the Elizabethan period people were preoccupied with the supernatural, which is one of the main topics in Shakespeare’s play. In my opinion Shakespeare structures the play to make the audience see Macbeth transforming from a hero into a villain, we can also see how Macbeth’s character transfigures from a valiant, noble soldier to a deceitful traitor. Shakespeare exhibits Macbeth as being heroic both at the prelude and the climax of the play by portraying him as being brave and gallant. These heroic qualities supported by Macbeth’s will to fight for king and country are illustrated when fighting the rebellion, by Duncan, who is the king of Scotland. Duncan commends Macbeth, without the hero being present, which shows high respect from Duncan to Macbeth. This is shown in Act 1 Scene 2: â€Å"O Valiant cousin, worthy gentleman! † This is Duncan speaking and he is talking about Macbeth. Having the king call a soldier a cousin is a great honour and it is almost like Duncan is calling Macbeth his equal because of the heroic qualities Macbeth has shown him. At this point Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a hero more than a villain because of what Duncan says to Macbeth. The audience in the Jacobean period would have immediately started to like Macbeth because of this heroism towards the king. This response is important because the audience in the 1600s was exceedingly religious and they believed in the Divine Order; the king was a messenger from God, therefore Macbeth was helping to protect God by fighting for Duncan. However, at this point the audience were not the only people who were admiring him; all the soldiers that Macbeth fought with, Banquo and unsurprisingly the king. This is because Macbeth has relinquished his life and will to save and protect the king. An example to show how the king gratifies Macbeth is shown in Act 1 Scene 4: â€Å" the proportion of both thanks and payment might have been mine † This is showing that Duncan is very appreciative of Macbeth’s heroic acts and no amount of money could suffice Duncan’s gratitude. Language and dramatic techniques are used throughout the play by Shakespeare to emphasize certain aspects and themes. To accentuate Macbeth’s heroism, Shakespeare has used similes such as the one found in Act 1 Scene 2 Line 35: â€Å"As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. † This compares Banquo and Macbeth to eagles and lions killing sparrows and hares; it is too easy to accomplish and there is no challenge. This is a comparison of Macbeth and Banquo fighting the rebellion which they did very easily. This technique is used to emphasize Macbeth’s valour and how other characters admire him. Another technique is irony used within the speech of the Thane of Ross: â€Å"God save the king. † This is ironical because we, as the audience, know what happens to Duncan and know that not even God can save him. The dramatic irony here is shown because the Thane of Ross literally says ‘May the king live forever’, but as the audience we know that Duncan will die in the hands of Macbeth who he put so much trust in to. The dramatic irony is that the Thane of Ross is saying the opposite of reality and the irony comes because the audience know and Duncan does not know that he will die. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a tragic hero by allowing him to be influenced by external sources of evil and power. The definition of a tragic hero is a hero who has a tragic flaw or makes an error which eventually leads to his downfall. Macbeth’s tragic flaw or error is succumbing to his ambition, which seems to be decided by a preordained fate. Moreover, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as having convened with external influence such as his wife and the witches. Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to perform regicide by manipulating him through her speech and her actions. She has her own ambition which she wishes to achieve through Macbeth’s evil deeds; her ambition commences after receiving the letter from Macbeth, which is a dramatic device used by Shakespeare. The letter triggers the series of evil acts committed by the Macbeths, which starts with the killing of Duncan as a result of Lady Macbeth’s manipulative ambition. Lady Macbeth acts as a catalyst to make Macbeth’s transition happen faster because she starts to become manipulative as soon as she hears the witches’ prophecies: â€Å"All hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter. † The prophecy comes from the supernatural aspect of the play: the witches and Lady Macbeth is indirectly persuaded by the witches to manipulate Macbeth in this matter. The reason for her manipulating Macbeth is her own ambition to become queen, which in ways is stronger than Macbeth’s. This is actually shown by Macbeth in his speech in Act 1 Scene 7: â€Å"Nothing but males,† here Macbeth is stating that he knows how much time and effort Lady Macbeth has put into the planning of the regicide and he will go through with it. In my opinion the quote shows that Lady Macbeth has got more ambition than Macbeth because she is the one that has planned the entire plot and she is the one who keeps trying to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan. At this point in the play the Jacobean audience would have started having suspicions about Macbeth because of his dealings with the supernatural, which was considered evil and wrong; people in those times would have been executed for dealing with witches because it was considered a sign of being bewitched. Shakespeare continues to present Macbeth as a tragic hero by having the witches’ prophecies influencing Macbeth’s life by giving him ambition to become king, which was fuelled by Lady Macbeth’s manipulative words. Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth by challenging his manhood: â€Å"Hath it slept since † This quote spoken with sibilance shows Lady Macbeth freely challenging Macbeth’s masculinity in a way that will make him respond by saying that his valour sleeps in between battles and can therefore not be used for fighting his every day problems. Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth’s personality and knows he will not stand a direct challenge of his manhood, which is when Macbeth turns in to a villain; he accepts the challenge to kill the king showing the extent of his transformation. Shakespeare’s presentation of Macbeths as a tragic hero is emphasised by Shakespeare using Lady Macbeth’s speech to input language devices, such as a proverb: â€Å" like the poor cat i’th’adage? † This says the cat wanted a fish but would not get her paws wet, which is what Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth to; a man wanting to become king but not willing to do anything to get it. Shakespeare uses this in Lady Macbeth’s speech to show how manipulative she is because again she is teasing Macbeth by stating what he wants but that he is not willing to work for it. Shakespeare shows how manipulative Lady Macbeth can which will inevitably be how Macbeth is transformed into a villain. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a transforming hero by the decisions he begins to make, which are becoming more necessary for him as he climbs the ladder of hierarchy; these decisions now influence his whole life, but they have already been decided for him by the Divine Order. Macbeth changes his mind at the point where Lady Macbeth has manipulated him so much that his mind is in turmoil. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan by telling him everything will be fine and no one will find out what happened. Macbeth knows he wants to become king so he gives in to his ambition. An example of how Macbeth convinces himself that he is going to commit regicide is: â€Å"I am settled† This means that nothing will change his mind on whether or not to kill the King. It shows Macbeth’s transition has almost completely finished and he is now evil. At this point the suspicions of the Jacobean audience would be very strong because here Macbeth is agreeing to regicide, which is killing the king and against the Divine Order. The Divine Order says that kings are God’s messengers and a crime against a king is a crime against God. Macbeth agreeing to this decision now will cause him to be influenced to kill again in the future which he will not care about and it will result in him dealing with evil from now on as a result of the external influences and his over ambition. To show the transformation of Macbeth, Shakespeare uses soliloquy. The soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 7 shows Macbeth’s conflicting interests as he fights with his conscience to decide what the right thing to do is. Within the soliloquy Shakespeare uses metaphor: â€Å" upon this bank and shoal of time † This is figuratively saying Macbeth is a fish in the river of time where opportunities come and go so he may have another chance to become king. Shakespeare uses dramatic devices by showing a dagger to Macbeth pointing towards Duncan’s chamber. The dramatic device used is imagery because it allows us the audience to picture what is going on in Macbeth’s mind and the actual imagery occurs when Macbeth is seeing the silhouette of the dagger, but nothing is there creating the shadow. The quote â€Å"And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes † shows that Macbeth’s mind is in turmoil because the first part shows that he now sees blood on a figurative dagger, which is a dramatic device to show that the dagger is with blood on is what Macbeth will produce when he kills Duncan. The second part of the quote shows that Macbeth is thinking about the murder in a way that is evil; it means that the thoughts of murder are playing tricks with his eyes. This implies that Macbeth is just imagining the dagger and it was never there. Nevertheless, the dagger pointing towards Duncan’s room is part of fate and the Divine Order willing him to kill Duncan. At this point Macbeth’s mind is fighting with itself, but it is clear to see that Macbeth is biased towards the villain within him due to his ambition. From the evidence so far, Shakespeare has strongly shown Macbeth to be a villain because of the evil acts he has undertaken and by conferring with the supernatural and beings of evil. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth now a villain, who has completely transformed with no way back and his villainy is exhibited by the acts of murder Macbeth performs. First Macbeth commits regicide and then he hires murderers to kill Banquo. The act of regicide was brought upon from the mis-guided trust of Lady Macbeth as well as Macbeth’s own ambition to become king. This is where the Jacobean audience would start hating Macbeth because of committing a crime against God (Divine Order) also they would have wanted to execute him for being bewitched because of his ambition and his inability to say ‘Amen,’ this is shown: â€Å"But wherefore I could not say ‘Amen’ I had the need of blessing and ‘Amen’ got stuck in my throat. † This means that he has no longer got a good soul and in those times the inability to say ‘Amen’ was considered a sign of being bewitched. Shakespeare’s presentation of Macbeth further continues by Macbeth arranging Banquo’s murder. Macbeth becomes manipulative like Lady Macbeth, and starts contorting the minds of the murderers to think of Banquo as an enemy. This is shown in Act 3 Scene 1 Line 90-91: â€Å"Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave / And beggared yours forever. † Here Macbeth influences the murderers to kill Banquo by saying that Banquo is the source of all their pain and he will be the reason that their children will be beggars. This is exploitive because the words will anger the murderers so much they will want to kill Banquo. Even though Macbeth is strongly shown to be a villain, there is evidence that he had regrets of what he did to Duncan; this is shown through the emotion and his thoughts and after he killed Duncan: â€Å"Had I but died an hour before this chance † This means if Macbeth had died before Lady Macbeth had spoke of her ploy or her ‘enterprise’ Duncan would still be alive and Macbeth would have been blessed and gone to heaven. This is another close reference to the belief in Christianity in the Jacobean period. Throughout this period of the play, Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as being a murderous villain by using a number of language devices. In the quote: â€Å"Whose heavy hand hath bowed † Shakespeare uses the alliteration of the letter ‘h’; this makes this part of the dialogue sound sinister and malevolent, in order to emphasise what Macbeth would do to the murderers if they did not carry out the murder. Another language device used by Shakespeare is a rhyming couplet: â€Å"It is concluded, Banquo, thy souls flight / If it finds heaven, must find it out tonight. † Shakespeare uses the rhyming couplet of ‘flight’ and ‘tonight’ in this sentence to make the audience remember what has happened, therefore these two lines are use as a two line summary for the scene. The rhyming couplet also adds extra emphasis on what Macbeth is feeling at the time; Banquo was once his friend so he hopes that his soul can go to heaven. The whole of the quote acts as a summary to the scene but also as a conclusion to Banquo’s life as Macbeths sees it. Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a man driven by ungodly ideas in a way that would captivate the audience. This is shown through Macbeth’s ambition to become king, after being awoken by the supernatural. Before the Jacobeans, there were the Elizabethans and they were heavily involved in the supernatural. The Elizabethan view of ambition was that it was a sin rather than a virtue, which is the contemporary view of the word; Elizabethans thought of ambition as an impatience against God, who had already decided what your destiny was, again referencing back to the Divine Order. Macbeth’s ambition would have made the audience even more assertive of the fact Macbeth was a villain because his ambition was such a dominant attribute that it now defines his character. Macbeth’s ambition is first disclosed after Macbeth’s first convergence with the witches where he says (Act 1 Scene 3): â€Å" less than horrible imaginings † Macbeth pictures himself as Duncan’s assassin, which means his ambition is already taking a little control in the back of his mind. At this point Macbeth is disgusted at what he is thinking because he does not yet realise what he will become in the future. The audience in the Jacobean times would have been disgusted with Macbeth for having ambition because of their unchallenged faith in Christianity and ambition being an impatience against God. The audience would have hated him at this point and seen him as a true villain; they would have forgotten about the hero he once was because it is no longer there. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to illustrate this aspect of Macbeth’s transition because Macbeth is disgusted by himself at first when he meets the witches for thinking about becoming king, but he does not realise that what he is disgusted by is what he will inexorably become so accustomed to later on: killing the king and other people. Shakespeare uses this technique to show the contrast and transition of Macbeth’s character. Shakespeare’s presentation of a man who consults with evil spirits is shown whenever Macbeth talks to the witches, which he does twice during the play both. Macbeth’s shows assertiveness towards the witches, which shows how his character has changed from the first meeting with the witches. This is shown in the following quote, the first of which is from the first of the meetings and the second quote is from the second congregation: â€Å" With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you. † This shows Macbeth commanding the witches as though they were peasants to obtain the information. â€Å"How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! / What is’t you do? † This is the second meeting where Macbeth is supposedly greeting the witches. You can see from the quote that Macbeth feels that he can treat evil beings with such disrespect. The reasons Macbeth’s attitude changes toward the witches are: he believes what they say, he wants to be more powerful by knowing what happens before it actually does, he feels that now he is king no one can match so everyone must be lower in the hierarchy and also he is anxious and frightened because he wants to know he has misfortune that is to be told. Macbeth’s character has changed so much that he is now depicted by Shakespeare as a terribly villainous person. The fact that Macbeth consorting with the supernatural is solid evidence to show that Macbeth is a villain. Due to the evil acts committed by Macbeth, the audience would have once again would have wanted to execute Macbeth because he is dealing with the supernatural, which was profound upon by the Jacobeans particularly King James. King James had a personal supernatural experience where he was convinced that witches caused his boat with him and his wife to almost be shipwrecked. The response of the Jacobean audience is important to note because it shows that Shakespeare included topics of interest from the period that he composed the production. Shakespeare uses mainly language devices to show that Macbeth is in partnership with evil spirits. In Act 3 Scene 4 he uses a metaphor to show how much blood he has shed and how the witches can help: â€Å"I am in blood returning were as tedious as go’er† This literally says that Macbeth is so far in to a river of blood that he cannot return. The reference to a path where there is no return is reference to a number of times during the play as a symbol of guilt aimed at Macbeth by Shakespeare. This is referring to all the murders he has committed and how it is affecting him. However before this he says: â€Å"More they shall speak for mine own good† The word ‘they’ refers to the three witches and the quote says that Macbeth will be looking for a way to correct or make better what he has done. Macbeth has relied on the witches for his good fortune but he does not realise what it has done to his character and how it affects the views of others about him. The language techniques used by Shakespeare, back up the strong evidence that Macbeth is a villain. At this point Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a villain to the extent that there is no return for his heroic character due to the fact that his soul is now stained with the blood of many dead people. Shakespeare’s presentation of Macbeth being a man despised by others as well as himself is more evidence to show that Macbeth is a villain; this is strongly shown towards the end of the play where he prepares for battle and we can see what he thinks of himself as well as what his enemies think. Other characters such as Malcolm and Macduff despise Macbeth and refer to him as a tyrant and being generally evil. The views of Macbeth are shown first in Act 4 Scene 3: â€Å"This tyrant, whose sole name † This is a quote coming from Malcolm describing Macbeth as a tyrant, which shows how people’s opinion have changed of him. At the start of the play these two people were proud to fight with Macbeth, but now they are proud of themselves to be fighting against such an evil man. Another quote from this stage in the play to show the opinion of others is: â€Å"Devilish Macbeth † This shows that Malcolm and Macduff both agree that Macbeth has committed evil acts regarded with the devil and hell, which are therefore evil. They both loathe Macbeth to the point where they want him dead. At this point the original question of Macbeth being a villain is answered by two important characters hating him. The evidence is now very strong and throughout the play it has been accumulated to show that he is thought of as being as evil as the devil. At the end of the play before Macbeth dies, he has aversions to the murders that he has committed in the past. This shows that in his disheartened state he has the will power to reminisce over what he has done; therefore almost disclosing the heroic character we saw at the start of the play. Even though he does not show it Macbeth would be discouraged that he has nothing left in life which is why he says: â€Å"Now life on Earth means nothing† This shows he has become very dismissive of life and does not care what happens to himself. Shakespeare inputs another character change here where we see the ruthless, ‘devilish’ Macbeth reduced to a quivering coward who is regretful of what he has done. The way Macbeth has lost everything in life and he now has the will power to reminisce over the acts of evil he has committed shows a little bit of the hero, but then we see how Macbeth can still fight for his own cause, which is evil, instead of doing the heroic thing and just giving up. This is the extent of Macbeth’s villainy; even when he has lost everything and has nothing to live for Macbeth can still fight for the wrong cause. During the Jacobean times the audience would have seen Macbeth the same way Malcolm and Macduff do; as a ‘hell-hound’ sent by the devil. This is because of their belief in Christianity and the Divine Order; the audience would think of the crimes Macbeth has committed against God and immediately condemned him to death. However, now in modern times we can recognise the hero in Macbeth returning, which we saw at the start of the play. This is shown by how Macbeth is remorseful and how he keeps on fighting even though he has nothing left to live for. In conclusion I believe that Macbeth is a villain, who was slowly transformed from the hero he was at the start. I assume that if Macbeth did not allow his ambition to get the better of him he could still have an opportunity to become king. In the end the villainous acts he undertook managed to get the better of him and many Jacobeans would agree that the act of regicide and murder can only be repaid by the murderer dying. I think that Shakespeare portrayed Macbeth in a way such as this to show the audience the transition of a hero to a villain and so that it would appeal to the Jacobean audience. Ultimately, the purpose of the play was to educate the Jacobeans of the consequences of going against the Divine Order and evidently God, which is what Macbeth did; he committed many crimes against God which therefore makes him a villain.