KARIM

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is about Macbeth’s fall from grace. He was a great soldier and fought for his King well. He earned great respect from everyone for his life of courage and loyalty. Macbeth and King Duncan were great friends they were practically family. On the battlefield they were ‘brothers’. In other words they were great supportive allies. But Macbeth was an ambitious man and when his ambitions were thwarted, he allowed evil to enter his heart and mind.

The witches seeming to sense the potential for evil in Macbeth told him they had great prophecy for him. They told him in the future he would be crowned king of Scotland. This prophecy got Macbeth thinking and worse, planning. Greed and ambition swept aside all his good qualities. His loyalty to his king was forgotten as Macbeth began to think of how he could make this prophecy quickly come true. When King Duncan gave Malcolm the right to succeed him to the throne, Macbeth was greatly displeased with the decision. This became the spur to his plans for the murder of the king.

When King Duncan told Macbeth that he would show his gratitude by visiting his castle, Macbeth quickly left and rode back to his castle to plan his response. Macbeth was not that happy that the king had decided that his weak son Malcolm would be the next king. He was also thinking about the prophecy the witches had given him. When he got to the castle Macbeth told his wife (Lady Macbeth) that the king was coming to the castle to celebrate. Then he told her the witches’ prophecy. Lady Macbeth had her own little evil plans. She says to Macbeth “what if the king never leaves”. In other words she plans to assassinate, murder the king. Macbeth doesn’t like the sound of the idea even though he kept thinking about it. Macbeth is more moral than Lady Macbeth. He is tempted, but can’t bring himself to do the things he knows to be wrong.

At the celebration feast the king is feasting but Macbeth is outside thinking about the idea of killing King Duncan. His conscience makes him try to bail out but a furious Lady Macbeth tells him that he is not a ma. She says she would even grab her own son and smash his brains out rather than back away from a promise she had made to Macbeth. Macbeth listens to the voice of temptation. In a room by him self he sees the dagger leading him to kill the king. He decided to do evil when he orders the dagger to come into his hand.

Macbeth is finally crowned king but he is never the same man. He feels so guilty that he is haunted by the evil he had done. If he was a good man because he wouldn’t care about the murders, but because he knows the difference between good and evil, he is tortured by his guilt.