macbeth - can one sympathise with this character?

to look at the character of a macbeth as a villian and tyrant is easy. it is not easy to try and sympathise with this character. He is never the conventional criminal since he cannot deal with the psychological impact of his actions. If any other individual had been in Macbeth's place, they would have acted in the same manner. Ambition can cause delusion and ultimately self destruction. :idea: The seed of ambition is planted in Macbeth by the weird sisters; his wife plays the role of the evil manipulator. Was he a victim of manipulation or was he a true villian?

I, personally, can't conceive that Macbeth would do in Duncan without Lady M's egging on. He has a strong streak of honor and loyalty built-in. Well, the witches assertions help too, but he is very, very resistant to murdering Duncan, and feels dreadful afterwards. But once done, he's quick to cover it up, and keep going forward. He takes a lot of hits -- Banquo's ghost and dark near-depression thoughts and lonliness, friendlessness and isolation. But he's tough: "Blow wind, come wrack! At least we'll die with harness on our back!" He's not even a coward when he finds the witches to be frauds at the end -- he'll fight Macduff. But, killing Macduff's wife and kids is attrocious and bloodthirsty, and keeps him a rotter despite all his great poetry and imagery.

well, I do not sympathise with Macbeth in the play because of his full awareness when he was in the king's room intending to kill him...Moreover, he knew he was doing a wrong deed and he was driven by his volting ambitions...also, he has his own reason but he prefered to listen to his wife and forget about the consequences ...we should not forget that his wife will be mad in the end and will commit suicide because at that point she thought of the results of what she has done...
Macbeth in his soliloquy in Act 1. scene 7 "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well...." he appears to be full aware of how fatal is the killing action.

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Originally Posted by byquist

I, personally, can't conceive that Macbeth would do in Duncan without Lady M's egging on.

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I must agree with byquist. Macbeth probably would have completed all of the previous tasks without Lady Macbeth, yet perhaps not as swiftly nor aggressively.
To answer your question, amirah, no, I cannot sympathize with Macbeth, though the story of Lady Macbeth, of insanity, seems a little more worth pity. I feel unsure whether one could consider them "true" villains, as you mentioned, amirah, but they acted entirely out of greed; Lady Macbeth probably did not have the soundest mind with complete awareness, but Macbeth could have stopped it, I think, if he desired.

I cant sympatise with macbeth as all humans have free will so by doing this act he is showing that he is weak and is easily manipulated. For me to be able to sympathise with his character some other thing would of had to of been driving him on like an emotion like hate or anger.

The point of a tragedy is to have a tragic character, being Macbeth, who is a generally good person who has one fatal character flaw. Macbeth's flaw happens to be his ambition, and exessive amounts of it. Without his ambition Macbeth is as you said a likeable character. The fact that besides his fatal flaw he is a relatively good person makes the reader sympathize with him.

I think Macbeth was actually a relatively honourable character. While he was misguided and a little weakwilled, Macbeth's regrettable actions would never have occurred if it weren't for his cold-hearted wife or the troublesome witches. There was no way he was a true villain because he expressed doubt before killing Duncan. A truly evil person would not have to have their manliness questioned in order to kill the king.

We cannot sympathise with Macbeth & he is definately not a victim of manipulation because in the very instance he meets the 3 weird sisters he himself is eager to become the king. We can, therefore, say that the seeds of ambition were already present in him they just got a little boosted by the weird sisters & Lady Macbeth.

Firstly I think he had a choice, but the fact that he chose to follow the evil way - that's something that we can't deny right. Banquo was there too, however he did not allow the witches to manipulate him, yeah? Therefore, I wouldn't really sympathise with Macbeth.

Yes. He DO have a conscious somehow, he weighed the thoughts of mudering Duncan clearly yet he's such a stupid fool. He listened to his wife, about the challenge of manhood and allow thos vicious thoughts to flow in his mind. To me he's just a coward, an indecisive man who's not even able to differinate the right and wrong.

BUT. of course, the witches plays a great role too, if not for their 'trigger', will Macbeth ever sharpen his desire to obtain "the golden round" ?

I would rather sympathise with Macbeth in the second part of the tragedy-with the great emotional turmoil he went through after he murdered Duncan: unlike in the first section where he had lady macbeth by his side, in thye second part he was all alone, facing his destiny with wide-eyed despair.
anyone who doesn't sympathise with a Shakespearean tragic character at any point of the tragedy is definitely wasting his/her time watching the play.
having said that, i guess most people react to the characters as being "real".most of them can't be blamed!

Macbeth. What a rogue. "Shakey" was doing a hatchet job on Scottish chivalry and basically demonising Macbeth who in actual fact was a happy and well loved monarch.Although i do have to say that he did spin out some of his greatest poetry in the play.A thing of monumantal beauty.

I didn't notice that lady macbeth does commit suicide. Where do you relise this from?

Well you can look at it this way: The witches play at Macbeth's weakness - his ambition. The push him down a path of doom, and are responsible for Macbeth having an insatiable thirst for power. Lady Macbeth, being more ambitious than macbeth at the start of the play, and very manipulative pushes her husband into the murder. She knows that macbeth is full of kindness - "yet i do fear thy nature, it is too full of the milk of human kindness". Macbeth is highly respected and loyal but with a steely sense of purpose she manages to persuade macbeth to kill duncan. After that macbeth kills without any thought - like a tyrant. "blood will have blood"