Download At the beginning of the play `Macbeth` by William

Explain why you found a character to be interesting ( or something along those lines)
At the beginning of the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare, the central character of Macbeth is
portrayed as a much-lauded captain of war, praised by both King Duncan and his fellow Scotsmen.
However, at the end of the play, Macbeth is a hated tyrant, and a “dead butcher”. What then, is interesting
about the character of Macbeth is the way that his decline to inhumanity evil is portrayed, so as to arouse
feelings of both pity and fear in the audience, beginning first with the witches’ prophecies and then
proceeding to his gradual downfall and slide into evil.
It is the murder of Duncan that eventually leads to Macbeth’s downfall and reign of tyranny, yet the forces
that propelled Macbeth to murder Duncan seem to be beyond his control. The first of these are the witches,
who in themselves are a force beyond the control or reckoning of mortal men such as Macbeth. They hail
Macbeth with the greeting “Thou shalt be king hereafter”, and it is from this point that his ambition is
kindled. Furthermore, it is then the domineering Lady Macbeth who with her arguments “When you durst
do it, then you were so much more the man” who convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan. In this way,
Shakespeare manages to elicit sympathy for Macbeth as the audience sees Macbeth as being partly a victim
of the witches’ and Lady Macbeth’s desires, and secondly, the audience is able to relate and identify with
Macbeth as the situation of making a wrong decision is one that is almost universally experienced. Thus,
this is one way in which the character of Macbeth is interesting.
In Act 3, though, Macbeth begins his own solitary slide into evil where he decides that, “for [his] own
good…all causes shall give way.” The interest created in the audience due to being able to empathise with
Macbeth in Acts 1 and 2 change in Acts 3 and 4, where the audience is instead both fascinated and appalled
by Macbeth’s acts of increasing violence. They begin with the murder of Banquo, which may at least be
explained by Macbeth’s fears in Banquo and the “barren sceptre they placed in my gripe” which “stick
deep” and end with the inexplicable massacre of the innocent Lady Macduff and her children.
In Act 5, however, Shakespeare once again shows the depth in the character of Macbeth through his
melancholy speeches. Here, sympathy is once again introduced as Macbeth seems to see reality – “My way
of life is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf And that which should accompany old age As honour, love,
obedience, troops of friends I must not look to have, but in their stead Curses not loud but deep, mouth
honour, breath, which the poor heart would fain deny but dare not”. However, with his troops and even his
doctor deserting right and left, and the English army at his gates, it is already too late for Macbeth. The pity
that the audience feels for Macbeth due to his situation is then further emphasized by Macbeth’s
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech in which he reflects upon the futility of life which is like
a “poor player that frets and struts his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more”.
Finally, the different interpretations of Macbeth’s last resolutions also contribute to the reasons why
Macbeth is interesting. Despite the appearances that the witches’ prophecies that he believed would
safeguard him are false and that all is lost, Macbeth still determines that “Come wind, come wrack, at least
we’ll die with harness on our back…Lay on Macduff, and be damned him who first cries ‘Hold, enough!’”
Whether this is the snarling of an animal backed into a corner, or whether it is a sign of Macbeth’s nobility
and dignity that he possessed at the beginning of the play is left for the audience to interpret. This then
gives the character of Macbeth more complexity and is yet another aspect which stimulates the audience’s
interest.
In the play ‘Macbeth’, the central character of Macbeth is both villain and victim, tyrant and hero.
Macbeth’s journey from the plateau of a celebrated soldier to the hollow existence of an abandoned and
cornered king not only provides the main action of the play, but it is also portrayed in such a way to arouse
the audience’s fascination, and at differing times, sympathy or horror. Therefore, while it can be argued as
to whether Macbeth is a villain or a victim, it is unanimous that he is a character who manages to capture
the audience’s interest from the beginning and hold it to the end.