Please tell me some of Macbeth's characteristic In act 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....

[arnab]

hi
i am writing a essay on the whole play of Macbeth. i have to write on the characteristic of Macbeth and how his character changes through-out the whole play. i could this by my self but i haven't got enough time to read it through the play.....i really don't.....

So i need to know some of the characteristic of macbeth, from the start of the play to the finish and i need several quotes from the play to back-up each of his characteristic. for example, if you say macbeth seemed brave and loyal at the start of the play, can you please state some quotes that suggest it.

please if anyone can help me, please help me. i am in desperate need of help...

thanks you

[arnab]

hi......
do u knw who is the best person to go to, in this site, if i want some help on the a shakespeare play ( MACBETH).

thanks
arnab

[arnab]

anyone?

[optimisticnad]

I think anyone will know the answer to that!

Why don't you post you're queries and who knows, somebody might be able to help.

[arnab]

i did and no-one has posted back to it yet.

[Homers_child]

Did you even read Macbeth? No one here really wants to do your homework for you.

I don't have the play with me right now so I can't give you quotes. But if you read the play than finding out how Macbeth changed throughout the play is not that hard to see. In the beginning he was loyal to his king but he was also not what I call very ambitious, like how Lady Macbeth says something like "he is too filled with the milk of human kindness".

He becomes desirous of becoming King after the witches proved their credibility but he still doesn't make any plan to go there. Lady Macbeth is the one to push him onwards. Before he kills Duncan he actually has a conscience. He doesn't want to kill a goodly king, he'd much rather just let fate take control instead of pushing for it himself.

After he kills Duncan I would say he starts to have a severe personality change. He doesn't care so much about killing others. He starts to become a little paranoid as well, such as why he killed Banquo and attempted to kill MacDuff.

But please, say what you think and I'll try to help you out. I can't really help you that much if you haven't even read the play.

[Dipen Guha]

Right from Act-II, Scene-III Macbeth is represented as a pastmaster of deceit, conspiracy, and plotting of multiple murders. Lady Macbeth's function is that of stimulus that agitates Macbeth's supressed longinngs. Whatever initial support he needed from his wife, is no longer required in his subsequent series of offences. So Lady Macbeth is not responsible for all the mis-deeds of Macbeth.
---By Dipen Guha

[Dipen Guha]

"If you can look into the seeds of time / And say which grain will grow, and which will not"------Banquo makes this obsevation in Act-I, Scene-III. Shakespeare's philosophical observation is echoed by Banquo. If time is the measure of the movement of corporeal things, and if corporeal things move and develop according to the impulse latent in that treasury of forces, then these seeds of matter may literally be called the seeds of time, and demons have the power of predecting which grain will grow and which will not.

[Dipen Guha]

Character of Lady Macbeth :-In the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth is the pre-dominant figure and actively directs and controls the actions. Her ruthless mannner in which she handles the situations, fill us with awe. Though it is true that she is ambitious as her husband, and persues it selflessly, therby accepting equal responsibility in the crimes, she has some characterstics which single out her as an interesting personality.
Lady Macbeth's indomitable will makes her pursue a rigorous course of actions. She does not allow her imagination, feelings and conscience to interfere with her purpose. The quickness with which she translates the prophecy to reality,signifying her determination to have things her own way can be seen in :-"Glaims thou art, and Cowdor, and shall be what thou art promised". Weary of her husband's tendency to indulge in the stirrings of the soul, which may prevent him from getting the things he desires in the quickest way possible, she goes about exciting her plan without any scruples. She knows her husband to be easily directed. However, it would be a mis-reading of her character to support that she was deceitful and cunningly misled Macbeth into crime, because at no time does she indicate her eagerness to acquire personal glory. When she describes the treachrous plot as " our great quell", it is evident that she had come to believe that she was appointed the instrument to realize what was prophesied by the witches. She is definite about achieving her end.
The determination to carry out her plans successfully makes her behave witth great calmness, and therefore she is of much help to her husband during his moments of distraction. She realizes that the evil she had aroused in her husband was now readyto claim its victim. It is indeed typical of her to help her husband, but never to ask him for help. She depends only on herself and in the end she is crushed by the weight of her crimes. But she never gives any sign of her weakness, nor betrays her husband. However, the voice of justice, which can never be completely quelled, cries out in her sleep, and when this happens, she does not appear to be a being of contempt but pathetic.

[Dipen Guha]

"......but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on th' other"-----The extract appears in Act-I, Scene-VII. The image is ambiguous, "Vaulting ambition" may refer to a horse leaping a fence too eagerly and falling on the other side. It is picture of a rider trying to vault into the saddle but ending up on the floor on the other side. Macbeth's thoughts have led him to a state of deep doubt about his own ability.

[Gladys]

Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek...;
And pity...horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other.

'Pity' is likely better 'horsed' than Macbeth. In view of all that follows, 'falls on the other' may be read as 'falls on Macbeth' with much damage.

[Dipen Guha]

In fact, the influence of the witches on Macbeth is to echo his unconscious or half-conscious self. We do not certainly affirm as to what extent Macbeth holds guilt in mind, but when he hears the prophecy, Macbeth is no innocent. On the contrary, the prophecy has wrought upon his blood, and an affinity has been made with the witches. His secret ambition has come by a vista to the treasured goal.

[Dipen Guha]

In Act I, Scene I , the dramatic, enigmatic utterence of the three witchess ("Fair is foul, and foul is fair//Hover through the fog and filthy air) provides a key-note, not only about the atmosphere of the play, but also of the in and out of the mind of macbeth. The paradoxical statement involving "fair" and "foul" is ominous, because it entails an unexpected turn of events which through their shocking revelations heighten the tragic element of the play.
In Act I-Scene IV, the tragic element is heightened by betrayal of trust. As Duncan declares his son the Prince f Cumberland, Macbeth is disturbed because he considers this a step "on which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap". He " wants the eye to be blind to what the hand does. He is ashamed of his act and so is desirous of the eye, which is the physical counterpart of conscience to be shut, so that he could go on with his sinful acts.

[Beewulf]

[QUOTE One character trait you can discuss is how a seemingly ‘decent’ man like Macbeth committed such heinous acts of murder. Was it fate and was he controlled by outside forces? Or was he inherently evil? This is actually a huge part of the play’s plot. You could also touch upon how Macbeth as a character embodies the very nature of human will and action. Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]

What about analyzing Macbeth outside of a framework that posits him as either inherently evil or controlled by fate? Prior to the murder of Duncan, Macbeth's record doesn't seem any more evil than the other characters. Sometimes people commit destructive, murderous acts in hope of positive results.