Describe a character in the text and how they change throughout

The tragedy of Macbeth is a play written in the seventieth century by William Shakespeare shows how the main character Macbeth changes throughout the play. Macbeth was first introduced to the audience as a hero due to his loyalty towards the King in the first scenes, he then gradually turns into a evil man and was the prime reasons for many deaths including three of the most significant deaths of the play of his best friend Banquo, his wife Lady Macbeth as well as the eventual downfall of himself. The play shows us how negative ambition negatively effects Macbeth including him completely losing his state of mind. Shakespeare cleverly does this by the use of metaphors, soliloquies and the disruption of iambic pentametre.

Shakespeare commonly and cleverly uses metaphors in the play Macbeth. A metaphor is where you compare two things together that aren’t usually put together. “O scorpions full is my mind” is one of the most famous metaphors in the play spoken by Macbeth. Macbeth is comparing his mind to scorpions because he doesn’t want to blame himself for the thoughts in his head. Scorpions are very venamous creatures so is comparing his terrible thoughts to something poisonous. Macbeth doesn’t want all the blame on him so wants to blame the negative thoughts on the fact that there is a venemous animal living inside of him. This is before Macbeth gets the strong desire to kill his best friend Banquo due to jealously. Macbeth is currently King but the 3 Witches tell Macbeth and Banquo their prophecies that the blood of Kings run in Banquo’s family not Macbeth – “you’ll be lesser than Macbeth, yet much greater.” This is one of the major incidence that happens that you can confirm that Macbeth’s state of mind is degenerating because no one with a stable state of mind will have a strong enough desire and be successful doing so to kill your best friend and his family so you have more power. Another metaphor used in Macbeth is “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then seen no more.” Macbeth has just found out about his wives untimely death and is stating how he is living his life in a shadow. He’s been in the same routine for so long that he is bored. Macbeth’s boredom give the audience a powerful understanding that Macbeth doesn’t have the strength or desire to stay alive anymore and his state of mind is on the rocks.

Soliloquies are one of William Shakespeare most effective and language features used in the play. A soliloquy is a performance done by an individual when they are alone. This give us a stronger and in depth understanding on the characters thoughts, feelings and wellbeing. Soliloquies are important because they often expose characters and their intentions in further scene and acts or even the plot of the play because they are meant to be the only one that is meant to be able to hear it. “Is this a dagger i see before me? the handle towards my hand?” Chronologically speaking, is first major soliloquy performed by Macbeth moments before he commits the act of treason on King Duncan. Macbeth is standing outside Duncan’s chamber thinking he can see a tangible dagger floating in front of him which is apparently leading him to Duncan’s chamber to execute him, when in fact it isn’t even there. This is the first major observation the audience makes that Macbeth’s state of mind has deteriorated as his imagination is taking over his mind and is unable to think straight.

Iambic Pentamer is a drama base language feature. It is a line with five verses that alternates between one stressed/long syllable followed by a short/unstressed syllable. When speaking in iambic pentametre the stresses syllable will be at the end of the sentence and if you don’t the unstressed will be at the end. If you speak in iambic pentametre is usually means that you are of high power or status and if you don’t if usually means you are a women or in Macbeth’s case lost his state of mind. In the first scene of the play Macbeth was of high status so did speak in iamb but as the play continues and Macbeth’s ability to speak in iamb leaves. In act 5 scene 5 Macbeth he says “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow to the last syllable of recorded time” is a quote spoken by Macbeth which is a prime example of this iambic pentametre. This quote ends on a weak foot – where the unstressed short syllable is at the end (meaning its incomplete for the character). Previously, Macbeth would always end on the stresses syllable. This shows the degeneration of the state of mind because his state of mind is so completely destroyed that he cant even construct and perform something as simple as a sentence for his status.

In conclusion Macbeth’s state of mind collapse is very obviously to the audience as shown by the use of metaphors to demonstrate the awful thoughts Macbeth has began to have, soliloquies to show the hallucinations occurring and the subtle disruption of iambic pentametre making Macbeth unable to perform a sentence. It is amazing how someone will such power as Macbeth can change so quickly from such a memorable to a corrupt man. This can relate to the wider world due to their being many people like Macbeth who think their power is immortal when in fact… it isn’t.