Richard Roderick

Cindy Rogers
English 12
11-5-15
A#11 Macbeth Responses
1. Any and all sympathy that I had for Macbeth was lost long ago. I have despised Macbeth
ever since he killed King Duncan, and have not seen him as a kind or honest person, since
that moment in the story. From the moment he began giving in to his wifes manipulation I
have viewed him as a weak, evil, and shameful character. No person that was truly honest
or worthy of being a King, would murder a king that was loved by all in order to fulfill his own
selfish wishes. Another thing that no worthy King would do, is to kill the closest and most
loyal person to him, along with dozens of other innocent people in order to calm his worried
and skeptical mind. I believe that had Macbeth continued to be the kings favorite, and had
he silenced his wifes sinister words, he would be able to ride to a position that rivaled a
King, by becoming the Than of many lands, and the lord of many castles. The Macbeth that I
had some sympathy for was the one introduced at the beginning of the play, the honest,
kind, loyal, and giving Macbeth that didn't kill out of fear and greed, but defended honor and
loyalty; unlike the one present for the rest of the play.
2. I was very satisfied with the way that the play ended. While reading the final pages of the
play, I began to grow happy, and relived when Macduff regroups with his friends and is
carrying the head of Macbeth. Throughout the play, I had hoped that Macbeth would meet
an end worthy of his misdeeds, due to the fact that I no longer saw him as a person worthy
of respect or sympathy and instead viewed him with disdain, hoping for him to be made an
example of for the countless number of people that he killed out of fear of his own creation
for his misdeeds and greed. I was glad to see Macbeth meet a just end when Macduff
emerged from the castle with Macbeths head; the tale of Macbeths deeds throughout the
story created a great amount of anger towards the person Macbeth had become. There was,
however, a degree of disappointment in the play in that near the end of the play when Lady
Macbeth committed suicide. The disappointment was because, it was clear that she was the
instigator of the change to Macbeth and deserved no less than to suffer the same fate as
Macbeth. It would have been preferable that in the end Macduff would emerge carrying both
of their heads, but as it is they still both succumb to events created by their own behavior.
3.

During the final days of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, both were becoming fearful. Lady
Macbeth was a nervous wreck that would hardly sleep, while Macbeth was nervous but
refused to be afraid until the prophecy of the witches came true. I found Lady Macbeth to be
more sympathetic. Lady Macbeth seemed to be more sympathetic because, she was
constantly haunted by horrible dreams, was shocked at her husbands doing after killing
Banquo, and was so horrified by the events at the end of the play, that she took her own life
to prevent her from suffering any longer. I began to forget who Lady Macbeth was near the
end of the play, due to her being much more laid back and trying to be nicer after she had
become the Queen. I also felt a little sorry that she was deprived of sleep and that she was
constantly reminded of her horrible deeds, ultimately driving her to depression and
eventually to end the suffering, by suicide.