Macbeth Character Sketch

Macbeth is a man who is very easy to manipulate. You can see this well when the witches foretell his future ruling. The witches know that if they tell him he will become obsessed with the thought of becoming king. They are manipulating him into believing he has to do something drastic to make their prophecy become reality. Macbeth says to the witches, "Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more."(I.iii. 73). This is where you see that he is starting to become obsessed with the prophecies and wants to know more about his life. From that, you could also say that he is a little selfish because he's not caring about what they want or feel. With this quote from Macbeth, "Speak, I charge you."(I.iii.80). You can assume that he is powerful and demanding. He is used to getting what he wants and not settling for anything less. He is astonished when they ignore him and disappear. When he says, "Your children shall be kings."(I.iii.88) to Banquo, you could interpret that he is a very good friend of Banquo's and that he is happy his children shall be kings, or he is confused and realizes that if he becomes king, it won't stay in his blood line. It could also be a mix of the two, he's happy that he can become king, he's upset that it won't stay in his bloodline but he has a bit of happiness knowing that it will go to Banquo's children. He could also wonder about how Banquo's children are going to be kings. 


When he tells his wife about the witches insight, she makes him kill Duncan because that is the only way he could be king. Lady Macbeth firmly states, "The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements." (I.v.39-42). She won't stop pressuring Macbeth to kill Duncan until he agrees. Although, Macbeth is having second thoughts. After Lady Macbeth talks about how Duncan will not be alive to see the next day he replies, "We will speak further." (I.v.72). He doesn't want to talk about killing the king, he is worried about the consequences of the deed. Lady Macbeth threatens Macbeth's masculinity by saying, " When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I.vii.49-51). This makes Macbeth want to kill the king because if he didn't Lady Macbeth would think he wasn't as good as a man. Macbeth is known for being a great fighter and if he doesn't do this he would be considered afraid by Lady Macbeth. He wants to prove that she isn't stronger than him and to do that he has to put his emotions and conscious aside and kill Duncan. This is proved when he states, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." (I.vii.82). Macbeth puts up a strong and fearless front, but when faced with a conflict of morals, he is cowardly and more realistic to the matters. During this part, you get to see the scared emotions of Macbeth. I think deep-down Macbeth is a good friend and a truly caring man, he is just easily manipulated into doing things that are out of his character.