My feelings towards Macbeth
My feelings towards Macbeth
The first time we
hear Macbeth’s name mentioned in the play is in Act 1 Scene 1, when the three
witches are discussing their plans. “There to meet with Macbeth” the third
witch declares, and they explain it no further. This creates a sense of mystery
around Macbeth especially since he is an eponymous character.
In the second
scene, we meet the King of Scotland. King Duncan and the other royals tell us
how brave Macbeth was when meeting the traitors and the Norwegians in battle,
and was able to defeat them. Through this scene we are able to see how his
friends and family think of Macbeth and readers start to warm up towards him.
At the end of the
witches’ speech, in scene 1, they all chant, “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
When Macbeth first enters the stage, he announces, “So foul and fair a day I
have not seen.” The close wording of the lines causes readers to wonder of
Macbeth has free will, or if he is just a pawn that the witches can move as
they will on the chessboard of life. This thought is driven in even more when
the first of the witches’ three prophecies comes true and Macbeth is named
Thane of Cawdor. Already after this, Macbeth begins wondering how he will ever
become king, as the witches have told him. He contemplates whether he will have
to act against the current king himself or whether faith will crown him.
Finally, in the
fourth scene, readers get to see Macbeth interact with the King Duncan. At
first he appears to be acting cordially towards everyone, until the king surprises
Macbeth by announcing that he intends for his son to sit on the throne after
him. Macbeth’s next soliloquy truly shows his ambition, for he decides that he
must kill Duncan.
While his servants
prepare dinner around him, Macbeth begins to have doubts about killing the
king. He can not even say the word murder as is shown in the text; “If it were
done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly.” He comes up with
multiple reasons not to go through with the assassination, and as a reader, I
was forced to admire Macbeth for his moral compass. This is soon ruined, when
Lady Macbeth is able to change his mind again. You no longer admire Macbeth,
you are more empathetic towards him due to the way his wife acts.
In the beginning of
Act 2, the empathy I feel towards Macbeth only grows. He hallucinates visions
of bloody daggers floating in the air in front of him, and he hears voices
shouting in his ear as he butchering Duncan. It is clear at this point that he
is under great stress, which is causing mental problems. I am constantly
wishing that he had never met the witches. The last line of Act 2 Scene 2
brings tears to my eyes; “Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst.”
Throughout the play
Macbeth (or the Tragedy of Macbeth) by William Shakespeare, the reader’s view
of the character Macbeth is constantly changing. Shakespeare has written an
interesting character in this play, who is neither wholly good nor wholly evil,
just like people are in real life.
-Laura
Posts
0 kommenttia