Sympathy for Macbeth in William Shakespeares Macbeth Essay

Sympathy for Macbeth in William Shakespeares Macbeth The sympathy that we have for Macbeth changes greatly as the play progresses. This is due mainly to the role that the other characters, mainly Lady Macbeth, play in influencing his thoughts and decisions. In some cases he seems powerless to stop a chain of events, like the witches prophecies, and at other times just to weak to resist the evil temptations. In this essay I will determine how and why our sympathy for Macbeth changes during the course of the play. Our first impressions of Macbeth are from the descriptions that we get of him from other characters at the beginning of the play. For example the captain calls him Brave Macbeth, and†¦show more content†¦However before the close of the scene he comes to an agreement with himself that he will not go out of his way in order to become King of Scotland, If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me/Without my stir. During this scene we learn about Macbeths possible motives. Would he have ever thought that he could become King, let alone murdering the King, or is it the witches who start off the whole process of Duncans murder? Initially it is Macbeth that comes up with the idea. I think that the witches appeal to what Macbeth wants to believe, they do not tell him what to think and never tell him how any of their prophecies will come true. They are not the origin of the idea of the murder, they may be appealing to that idea, but they never create it. The witches appear again in the play when Macbeth seeks them out in Act IV and they give him three new prophecies. These prophecies appeal to Macbeths train of thought. He feels that he is safe if he acts on his desires, as a wood cannot move and a man has to be born of a woman. Again these prophecies do not offer any instructions about what Macbeth should to do. I believe that however much the witches seem to be connected with Macbeths change of heart, they cannot be blamed for controlling him. 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