Macbeth As A Butcher Essay - 1681 Words

â€Å"For the play Macbeth to work as a tragedy, Shakespeare had to maintain our sympathy with a character whose actions become increasingly ‘’those of a butcher†. Discuss.† The play Macbeth, composed by William Shakespeare in 1606, can be considered as a tragedy when feelings of sympathy for a character who becomes increasingly ambitious and when a character is affected by another’s increase in ambition is evoked upon the audience. Through the distress that the audience feels for Macbeth as he suffers his downfall from being pressured to give in to his ambition, the sorrow inflicted upon encountering many deaths due to Macbeth’s actions which are â€Å"those of a butcher† and the pity felt for Macbeth when the sacrifices he makes to achieve his†¦show more content†¦By making Macbeth’s first impression on the audience to be an honest and trustworthy soldier in the sense that he admits his own flaws and guarantees Duncan’s safety through his own sense of morality, Shakespeare creates room for sympathy when Macbeth loses these attributes through external pressure. Lady Macbeth’s attempt at persuading Macbe th to murder Duncan by mocking his manhood, â€Å"Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem† demonstrates how she sways Macbeth into making him believe what he wants to believe, that is, wanting to take the throne. With the aid of inclusive language, ‘thou esteem’st’ to’, and insinuated emasculation, ‘And live a coward in thine own esteem’, Lady Macbeth pressurises and strips Macbeth of his moral and loyal characteristics, imposing unrequested acts of ambition onto him. Accordingly, with Macbeth being pressured by his own foresight and obliged to comply with the expectations of his wife into committing to something that he was once against, audiences can understand to a certain degree the distress that Macbeth is going through. Therefore, with the audience perceiving Macbeth to be liberated from voluntarily performing selfish actions such as murder to raise his own po sition in the Elizabethan monarchy, this in turn emphasises both hisShow MoreRelated Macbeth Is A Butcher And Lady Macbeth Is A Fiend-like Queen Essay1487 Words   |  6 Pages In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, the following statement can be applied, â€Å"Macbeth is a butcher and Lady Macbeth is a fiend-like queen.† This is a true statement as many occurrences involving Macbeth and Lady Macbeth portray them in this way. A butcher can be defined as someone who kills or has people killed needlessly or brutally. The term butcher used in this way describes Macbeth to some extent. During the play, Macbeth is involved in the murder of many people, including King Duncan, Banquo,Read MoreWilliam Shakespeares Macbeth Essay757 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Shakespeares Macbeth Macbeth was a â€Å"butcher†, however he became that way as a result of Lady Macbeth. 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