Sketch of Macbeth

Macbeth is the main character in the play. In the beginning he is shown to be a very proficient warrior, having the strength to behead a man with a claymore (a 6' piece of steel!). To wield such a weapon with such ease must have made him incredibly muscular, and quite intimidating.

It was this competence, as well as loyalty to the king's cause in the fight against the rebels which helped him to earn the positions of Thane of Cawdor and of Glamis. Thus he is shown as an honorable subject, his aid to the throne gaining him lands and titles. However, it is when being confronted by the witches that the seeds of greed are first put in his mind. These lead to more and more wicked thoughts, and with continued pushes from his wife, he finally murders Duncan.

It is at this point that we see the ruthless attitudes of "evil" come to full bloom in his mind, and every action he takes after this one is more brutal than the last. This brutality finally culminates with him being known for a tyrant, and being slain in battle by Macduff.

This transition that he goes through, from being a soldier, what he was obviously born to be, to retreating behind plots and schemes, is the main course of the plot, and it demonstrates the theme of inversion in the play. Bad things only began to happen when he went against his own nature, and fell to temptation.

But he was not a man without compassion. The Duncan soliloquy shows that he really did have morals, and did realize how terrible an action regicide was. He was perfectly capable of weighing the consequences of his actions. It was the manipulation of Lady Macbeth, by putting into question his manhood, that pushed him into this act and stripped him of whatever conscience he had.

Macbeth's downfall can also be attributed to his belief in the supernatural. When the witches presented him with the first prophecy he very quickly believed it to be true. Furthermore, he was led very easily by the "dagger" in act 2 scene 3, and believed very strongly in the ghost of Banquo seen at the banquet. Had he been more skeptical of all the supposedly magical effects that occurred in the story, the prophecies would have had little effect on him, and he would have never fallen prey to the manipulation of the witches.

Overall, Macbeth would have been a great man in any time period he was in. Unfortunately, a few fatal flaws and misplaced beliefs allowed him to be manipulated into something he was not.