Macbeth the Evil Protagonist

To be evil is to go against the ethical rules of a society both in action and thought.  In a culture that values respecting others, evil could manifest itself in a person who kills other people for his/her own benefit.  Furthermore, if being noble in a society means being selfless, an evil person could be someone who only thinks of him/herself regardless of other peoples’ values or well-beings.  In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character Macbeth shifts from being a respected nobleman in Scotland to a ruthless, evil murderer of the king and his best friend.  

In the beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth is not the least bit evil, but he soon takes the first step into evil because of a prophecy that three witches tell Macbeth in Act One of the play.  The witches say, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (Macbeth, 1.3).  The witches imply that Macbeth will one day be Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland by addressing him as such.  Macbeth very much believes in fate, as shown by his remark later in the play, “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir” (Macbeth, 1.3).  Through the use of the word “chance,” Macbeth shows that he values the witches’ beliefs and thinks that their words were prophetic.  The witches’ prophecy therefore enticed Macbeth’s greed for power by making him wholeheartedly believe that he is destined to be the ruler of Scotland.

Although the witches sparked Macbeth’s lust for power, Lady Macbeth played an important role in Macbeth actually killing the king and thus taking his first step into evil.  Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to kill the king so that he can fulfill the prophecy: “And live a coward in thine own esteem, / letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’ / Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” (Macbeth 1.7).  To persuade Macbeth to murder Duncan, she insults his manhood by calling him a “coward” and using a simile to compare him to a cat who refuses to get its paws wet even though it wants a fish.  Later, Macbeth agrees to kill the king so that he and his wife can become powerful: “I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat” (Macbeth, 1.7).  In this line, Macbeth conveys that he will commit the “terrible feat” of killing Duncan because he is “settled,” in other words, he has made up his mind.  Macbeth becomes evil, because he decides to kill another human being to get what he wants.  Although he is described in the beginning of the play as heroic, brave, and respectable, his actions after hearing the words of the witches and being persuaded by his wife to kill the king show that he is also easily manipulated.  This flaw, combined with his desire for power that the witches helped plant in him, result in him taking his first step into evil.

As a consequence of Macbeth becoming evil, he suffers from guilt and insanity.  After killing Duncan, Macbeth demonstrates his massive guilt: “What hands are here? Ha!  They pluck out mine eyes!” (Macbeth 2.3).  Macbeth is horrified by the crime he has committed, as shown by his shocked exclamation marks as though he cannot believe what he has done. He uses personification to show his guilt, saying that his bloody hands seem to rip his eyes out of his head every time they remind him of what he has done.  Later, after Macbeth sent two Murderers to kill Banquo, Macbeth’s guilt and insanity manifest themselves into Banquo’s ghost.  When he sees his best friend’s ghost, he begins to talk to it and says, “Approach thou like a rugged Russian bear, / The armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; / Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves / Shall never tremble” (Macbeth 3.4).  In this quote, Macbeth says that he would not be afraid if the ghost looked like a bear, a rhinoceros, or a tiger.  But since the ghost looks like the dead Banquo, Macbeth is terrified.  This display of insane fear of an imagined ghost shows how Macbeth’s character has been totally changed by his shift to evil.  While Macbeth used to be described as brave and courageous, he is now fearful and crazy.  Ultimately, becoming evil has caused Macbeth to become a different character from the man that was introduced in the beginning of the play.  While he used to represent the ideals of Scottish society, Macbeth's character has shifted to go against all that his culture values and he is now an insane, fearful, greedy man that will sacrifice anyone to maintain his power.