Macbeth is the most memorable character in ‘Macbeth’
The story of Macbeth has multiple complex and well developed characters in the play, however
Macbeth is by far one of the most interesting amongst the others. Macbeth is the tragic hero of the
play who is ruined by his ambition which then becomes his fatal flaw. The witches Macbeth
encounter on his return from battle reveal his fate to him and thus marking the beginning of when
the character of Macbeth starts to change. Apart from his developing personality throughout the
story, his desire and eagerness is what sets him apart from the rest of the characters.
Macbeth starts off as the character who is a hero for his country. He is described as “brave
Macbeth” who we learn to be a violent man fighting in violent times. He defends and fights for
Scotland but the significant point being that he fighting for his country and not for his own personal
advancement as he does later in the play. After Macbeth and Banquo are told their ‘fate’ by the
witches, they treat their prophesy sceptically. That is until Macbeth is congratulated for his victories
in battle and also named Thane of Cawdor as the witches had predicted. He then realises that the
witches may have been correct. After telling Lady Macbeth of the witches predictions, she
manipulates Macbeth into committing regicide, which at the time would have been deemed one of
the most awful crimes. The murder is even more shameful as King Duncan saw Macbeth as his
“valiant cousin” implying that the two had a close and strong relationship built on trust. The betrayal
was what caused the biggest character developments out of all the characters. Macbeth went from a
noble and loyal soldier to a mentally ill and unstable criminal, guilty of murdering the King of
Scotland out of eagerness of his own rise.
Macbeth is known for his vaulting ambition with leads him to make numerous decisions, many of
them being impulsive. His impulsive nature after Duncan’s death leads him to kill the two standing
guards the day after as one example. But his ambition and determination for complete and secured
power leads Macbeth to murder his own best friend, Banquo alongside his sons expect for one. This
is what Macbeth becomes notorious for. He hires people to murder or he himself murders those
who interfere or threaten his place as king. He even goes to the extent of almost killing women and
children in order to keep his authority, as shown when Lady Macduff and her children were
targeted. Macbeth is thus a memorable character for being completely blinded by his hunger for
power and authority, which led him to murder numerous people and even commit regicide.
Likewise Lady Macbeth was also an ambitious character who had drastic character development,
what makes her any different from her husband? It is known that Lady Macbeth was just as power
hungry as Macbeth as she wanted him to be king so she would be granted the position as queen.
Lady Macbeth starts as character who shows no guilt for the murder of Duncan even stating how “a
little water cleans away the blood”. Although she manipulates Macbeth into murdering Duncan,
she unlike Macbeth, soon feels guilty even though she had not actually committed the crime
physically. This guilty begins to pry at her until she breaks and eventually ends her own life. She also
dies with the guilt that she is responsible for creating an outright killing machine that is Macbeth.
The feeling of guilt that Lady Macbeth experiences is not directly a feeling that is shared with
Macbeth. In the beginning stages where he feels guilty before and immediately after killing Duncan,
does not reappear for any of the other murders he commits.
In conclusion, Macbeth is the most memorable character in the story. His change from being a
respected, loyal soldier to a mentally unstable murderer is interesting to see progress throughout
the play. His strong ambition and determination for power that leads him to become a murder
makes his character in the story very entertaining to observe, thus proving that Macbeth is the most
memorable character in ‘Macbeth’.
