Macbeth

Trace Macbeths change over the course of the play. How does Shakespeare convey it?



The transition from brave and loyal thane to brutal tyrant king can be easily traced, when focusing on the character of Macbeth throughout the play. All aspects of the character change to some extent as his sins and treachery increase in extremity; this includes his relationship with his wife and friends, his clothing, his style of speaking, his attitudes towards fate, paranoia and fear. Shakespeare conveys this change in character to the reader by making all of these different and changing character aspects obvious at some stage during the play.

At the start of the play lady Macbeth is the more dominant character in the relationship. In his letter to his wife about the witches\' prophecies, Macbeth writes, \"This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee\". He knows that his \"partner\" will like the idea of being Queen and seems to offer the news as a kind of present, this shows that Macbeth really feels as though he has to please her. However, it is Lady Macbeth that takes charge of the situation and ensures that Duncan is murdered, rather than allowing Macbeth to have his way and let Duncan live. After Macbeth has committed the murder he is distraught and talking about the intensity of the blood on his hands, once again Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation, by saying “a little water clears us of this deed” she attempts to clear Macbeths conscience. The change in the obvious control Lady Macbeth holds over Macbeths actions, in the first two acts, becomes evident in the banquet scene ( scene 4, act 3 ), by this stage Macbeth is   arranging the murder of Banquo without the assistance or reassurance of Lady Macbeth, however, when Macbeth is supposedly seeing the ghost of Banquo later on in the scene, it is Lady Macbeth who,...