Noticeable Characteristics Throughout Shakespeare's Play Macbeth example essay topic

"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 we were no longer best friends, it seemed as if we were acquaintances. I confronted him about the situation asking him what was happening, if there was something I should know, and why he kept distancing himself from me.

However he denied all my accusations and looked upon my inquisition of the matter extremely light-heartedly. As time went on things progressed, Daniel and I would associate in school but not as much outside the establishment. He began to hang around other guys, some of which I knew but wasn't especially fond of. Then finally a month before Junior High School senior prom (9th grade) it smacked me dead in the face.

All our friends were all planning on renting a limo for the prom, but when the time I was the only one who the limo couldn't fit. Daniel attempted the same thing at prom by trying to have me seated at a different table without my knowledge, but one of my other friends spoke up, and he quickly hushed down. After the prom, a few days before graduation, ultimate act of cowardice occurred. It was time for our final exams, and Daniel and I sat next to each other in Biology.

The teacher of that class was really power hungry, and she came across as a drill sergeant. Five minutes into the test I noticed Daniel slipped a cheat sheet. I didn't say anything and he did not notice that I had observed him in this activity. After the test was over we went our separate ways. The next day, I was sent down to the Dean's office. It so happened that Daniel had dropped the cheat sheet on the floor beside our desk and our teacher had come across it.

She immediately assumed it was I because of the stigma she had. It could have been the way I dressed or spoke, but that teacher never liked me to begin with and as far as she was concerned it was me who had dropped that cheat sheet. To my luck, she had called Daniel down to her office before speaking to the Dean, and Daniel had confirmed her suspicion that I had cheated during the test. Of course the Dean had a hard time believing that the cheat sheet wasn't mine, but after a while I managed to convince the Dean to allow both of us to take a retest. Daniel had betrayed me, and displayed his cowardice by refusing to admit to his wrongdoing and accusing me instead, just as Macbeth had betrayed Duncan and Banquo, and was to much a coward to return and place the bloody daggers by Duncan's dead guards. The second story involves a female friend who managed to beguile and manipulate myself using her charms and good looks.

Ashley was a girl who I had my eye on for a while. She was exceptionally smart, witty, and impressively attractive. It took me a while but I managed to get up the nerve to befriend Ashley. After a few months we grew closer and I began to feel comfortable with her. I felt that I could trust her and shared many personal things with her. After about a year I asked her out and she said yes.

We went out for a total time of 8 months. During this time Ashley managed to use her manipulative ways to get my young and impressionable self to buy her lavish gifts and treat her to fine cousine every now and then. But to make matters worse she was dating two other guys while she was with me. She played on my feelings, deceived me, and played me for a fool.

This was the first girl who I had such intense feelings for and she completely managed to toy with my emotions as if it were nothing. Ashley managed to manipulate me and get me to buy her things, take her places and be the ideal boyfriend, all while she was being the manipulative wench that she is. Just as Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth in murdering the innocent King Duncan, Ashley beguiled and finessed me with equal similarity. I also believe that women tend to have a certain way with men, and men allow them to have this way with them. A perfect example of this is the male want to buy, own and drive a hot or extremely flashy automobile. It is true that we want the flashy car for our own self-satisfaction, but women play such a major role in this that it is not even amusing.

If looked at from a rather simple point of view, guys buy flashy cars to impress women, who in exchange will manipulate the guy to have their way with him and his car. It a rather weird cycle, the man is aware of this, yet they permit it to go on, and in the end fall straight into the trap with open arms. This is something that will baffle me until superficiality is no longer an aspect of our daily lives.