Kailey Kelley Raft Writing Assignment #1 4/12/13 Reality of Macbeth Shakespeares famous play, Macbeth, was a great story

of betrayal and war. In this play, Macbeth undergoes many difficult and daunting decisions to gain ultimate power over Scotland. Throughout this play there are several awful and cruel tasks that Macbeth performs. These tasks do not necessarily take on the personal traits of the real Macbeth. There are similarities between the two stories, but not everything is completely true. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth slays Duncan, King of Scotland, while he was asleep. This takes place in Macbeths castle after the two shared dinner together. As for the real Macbeth, he murdered Duncan as he was running away from a battle. There is a significant difference between the two stories. In the play Macbeth was set up to portray an evil, unrelentless man. The real Macbeth did murder the king, but did not take it any further. The real Macbeth surrendered to the Vikings when King Malcolm II did. Malcolm, in the play, did not become king until after the murder of Macbeth, who was the king of Scotland at that time. The real Macbeth was a lesser king when being compared to Malcolm II. Malcolm in the Macbeths real life was the actual king of Scotland. In the play, Macbeth, Macbeth became

the king of Scotland by committing murder against Duncan, Malcolms father and king of Scotland. Macbeth took throne because Duncans sons, Malcolm and Donaldbain, fled Scotland in fear that they would be murdered next, therefore, giving Macbeth the title of king of Scotland. Also, in the play, Macbeth thought that he could never be over thrown. He was immensely over self-confident. The witches in the play told Macbeth that he could not be murdered by any man born by a woman, and that he would have the title of king of Scotland until the burnam wood marched to his castle. In the real Macbeths life, Malcolm had murdered his uncle, Finlay, who was Macbeths father. In his real life the actual reason why Macbeth was king was because he had some blood relation to a royal brother or adult nephew. The play does not state that in any way that Macbeth and Malcolm were related. The reason why Macbeth became king of Scotland in the play was because Duncan had named him Thane of Cawdor. Duncan thought that he was trustworthy. The truth into these two life stories is that both Macbeths have some evil in their character. They both had intentions to kill the king to obtain a higher ranking in the royal castle. Macbeth in the play murdered the king to become king of Scotland. The real Macbeth murdered the king to get promoted to a higher level. In Shakespeares play Macbeth, Macbeth was portrayed as an evil and cruel leader. The real Macbeth had some evil in him, but was not un-relentless as the play character. The tasks the

Macbeth had to perform in play were horrid and cold-hearted, which are not the personality traits as the real Macbeth. They similarities between the two stories are obvious, but it is over exaggerated immensely and, in some parts, very untrue.