Macbeth: Heuristic Response

“Cowards die many times before their death.” Macbeth displayed many noticeable characteristics throughout Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. He was courageous at times and cowardly at others. The most noticeable characteristic in my opinion was that Macbeth seemed very ambitious throughout the play. He also seems to be a moral coward as he depends on others more than himself to make decisions. All of these factors soon lead to his tragic death at the end of the play.

At the beginning of Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth is described as a hero very clearly. He becomes very ambitious to be king and was very loyal to the king in the opening scenes. This is shown in the quote “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir”. His ambition to be king dissolved his good nature and morality. When Duncan arrives at Inverness, Macbeth controlled his ambition for the time being and thought very firmly on the plotting of Duncan’s murder. A quote by Lady Macbeth stated “My hands are of your color; but I shame to wear a heart so white”. When Lady Macbeth called him a coward, before you knew it, the murder was taking place. After the successful murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered a life of evil. Ambition was also clearly stated when he thought of killing his friend Banquo to protect the kingship. The witches’ predictions sent Macbeth into his own world where he could not be deterred from becoming king.

Macbeth displays his cowardice by avoiding Lady Macbeth’s initial plan to murder King Duncan. By overcoming his personal matters to plot the death of the king, Macbeth only displays that women are manipulative, and often have their way with men. It was Lady Macbeth who initiated and urged Macbeth to go along with the prophecy. In the scene where the murder of Duncan is taking place, he also shows he is a coward when he will not complete the successful murder by taking the daggers back and placing them with the guards. This also showed a sense of insecurity, as Macbeth seemed no longer confidant in the success of the murder.

Macbeth, who no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her to deploy his plans. The power of destiny comes back to haunt Macbeth towards the end of the play. Macbeth would have never guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for all of the killings of Macduff’s family. This is proven when he Macbeth says “Thou wast born of woman, but swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandished by man that’s of a woman born”. This shows a force beyond Macbeth’s control. His strong ambition of the witches and they’re predictions soon deceived him when he found out that Macduff was not born of woman and that the third apparition seemed to be true. He then understood that he was no longer safe.

His characteristics proved to be beneficial to the story and its ending by enabling the reader to get a better understanding of the situations Macbeth faces. Some of the characteristics also influenced the opinions of others and sometimes his own. Macbeth turned from good to evil over the progression of the play. Macbeth’s character traits played a major role in Shakespeare’s play and gave insight on the happenings to come.

Just as in Macbeth cowardice manipulation are part of everyday life. Humans, by nature watch out for oneself, it all comes down to a game of survival, kill or be killed. Cowardice is innate, and when you least expect it, your best friend might just abandon you to save his or her own skin. Women also have a special way with men, perhaps it is the male’s flaw. In the overall picture, today's men are supposed to be confident and assertive towards women and yet many men still suffer from what is known as gynephobia. Gynephobia, the fear of women, is most common in men who rarely interact with women in the everyday life. However, I do not believe that this generally applies to all cases, and I am confident that the blame rests with the female and not the male. Ever since the beginning of time women have had their way with men. Men look out for and nourish the women in their lives, and women often take advantage of this situation.

Such was the case in my life, of two close friends, one betrayed by displaying his cowardice and the other betrayed by revealing her manipulation. A few years ago, my best friend of 6 years and I began to go through rocky times. I was unaware of the situation but he was planning things for long time to come. To this day I do not know what caused him to betray but I do know that his cowardice is something he’ll have to live with as it consumes his heart and leaves him wallowing in self-disgust.

The first occurrence came rather gradually. Daniel would put off times to hang-out, such as going to the movies, or coming over my house, even playing football. Then it began to perpetuate into something else, I began to get the feeling that