hi everyone welcome to this video on the character of macbeth from the play macbeth when you're studying macbeth for any exam but for the leaving cert in particular it's really important to have developed and considered responses to the play one of the best ways to show this is to have sophisticated and nuanced understandings of the characters now simply put this means being able to see the characters in a variety of ways in this video i'm going to go through a few ways of understanding the character of macbeth the first is that he's a character destroyed by his ambition the second is that his individualism and selfishness means he cannot survive in the world he's born into and the third is that he is suffering from a crisis of masculinity now the character of macbeth as we can see can be understood in a number of different ways on the first level we can see macbeth as a character who is destroyed by having too much ambition he is already a thane a lord he is the king's most trusted general and yet he is not happy he wants the crown for himself and all it takes is a prophecy from the weird sisters to set him off in pursuing that ambition he ends up destroying himself his family everything to look at macbeth in this way is to take shakespeare's message to be a warning of the dangers of being overly ambitious shakespeare makes it clear the impact that this surplus of ambition has on macbeth at the beginning he is portrayed as a brave noble warrior he is described as brave macbeth by the bloody sergeant and valiant cousin worthy gentleman by king duncan all in act 1 scene 2. but over the course of the play he changes completely so that by the end in act 5 scene 8 the epithet malcolm uses to describe him is dead butcher he undergoes a transformation from act 1 through to act 5 and we see this play out before our very eyes macbeth wants to be king he is aware of the ambition within him in act 1 scene 7 he says i have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition here he acknowledges that there's no reason for him to kill duncan except for his own ambition there is a remarkable passage before this quote where he goes through all of the reasons why he shouldn't kill the king shakespeare is painting a picture of a man who is at war with himself he has the ambition within him but logic and reason even his own mind is telling him not to do it predictably after macbeth carries out the murder he begins to suffer the consequences almost immediately he is frightened and rambling in his speech when he tries to speak with his wife a direct contrast with the experienced and skilled warrior on the battlefield described in act one scene two and the well-spoken eloquent macbeth we see just one scene earlier he believes that he has murdered sleep and even heard a voice call out that macbeth shall sleep no more when we consider sleep as a symbol of peace of mind it's clear that shakespeare is showing us that macbeth's deeds in the name of ambition have destroyed his conscience he will no longer have peace of mind he has destroyed part of himself now this is clearly a huge price to pay for an ambitious nature and many people have interpreted this as shakespeare's warning about the cost of being overly ambitious another consequence of macbeth's actions is his descent into blood and further murders it's a path that he cannot turn back on once he has begun and he makes this clear in act 3 scene 4 when he says blood will have blood what this means is that the spilling of blood will simply lead to more blood being spilled and this represents the guilt that he has on his conscience later in the same scene macbeth says i am in blood stepped in so far that should i wait no more returning were as tedious as go to gore now this is a really poignant image of macbeth wading through a river of blood and realizing that he may as well keep going as it's just as difficult to keep going than to return to what he was before again shakespeare is showing the consequences of unchecked ambition aside from seeing the play macbeth as a cautionary tale about the dangers of ambition there are also other ways of looking at the character of macbeth especially if we consider shakespeare's intentions when writing the play we know that the play was written in the same year that the gunpowder plot which was a plot to assassinate king james the first who was the king at the time was foiled shakespeare is one of the king's men and a servant to the court wrote a play that supports the traditions and the established hierarchies of the court and the crown it's important to remember that shakespeare was writing at a time of change when ideas about authority rules and man's place within the world were changing macbeth as a thing a lord and one of duncan's most trusted generals has a very privileged position generally the crown passed down to a king's eldest son in scotland as a consequence of bloody wars there was an exception made and the king was allowed to choose his own successor it didn't have to be his son now macbeth expects duncan to choose him and when he doesn't he plots to kill him shakespeare is writing the play in support of the monarchy and in support of the idea of kingship and so he makes an example of macbeth and shows what happens when you step outside of your pre-ordained role within society macbeth has gone against the established rules and traditions he is not being loyal to his king or his country or even god he is simply being loyal to his own ambition and this is something that monarchs and royal families all over europe were deeply afraid of and this is something that shakespeare cannot condone and this is something that shakespeare cannot condone looking at macbeth in this light we see that all the things that befall him are the consequences of his individualism and his selfishness in acts 3 scene 4 he says for mine own good all causes shall give way life shakespeare appears to be saying has meaning only within the roles decided for us by god and by extension the king macbeth cannot be happy once he steps outside his position to go against the establishment for selfish individualism is to open the door to chaos evil and ultimately death finally another way to look at the character of macbeth is as an exploration of masculinity we have at the beginning the presentation of macbeth in stereotypically masculine terms he is described as carving his way through the men on the battlefield and unseeming the rebel lord mcdonald macbeth is powerful warrior-like and manly the closeness exhibited with his wife in the letter she reads in act one scene five as well as the dominance she shows in their subsequent scenes together changes that picture somewhat how can macbeth be presented as a warrior on one hand and yet almost afraid of his wife on the other his reluctance to kill the king his indecision before the act and his fear afterwards are all signs of his weakness or as lady macbeth puts it his excess of human kindness so within macbeth there are two types of masculinity there is the stereotypical one that surrounds ideas of violence and cruelty when lady macbeth asked the spirits to unsex her and fill her with dyrus cruelty it's so that she can be manly enough to kill duncan when macbeth is trying to encourage the murderers to kill banquo they respond with the words we are men my liege when macbeth is trying to fend off his wife's bullying he says i dare do all that may become a man and when lady macbeth is trying to guard her husband into killing duncan she attacks his manhood are you a man and when you just do it then you were a man the other type of masculinity within macbeth is one that is rational kind and decent this is exhibited when macbeth lists all the reasons why he shouldn't kill the king chief among them is that he is a man not just the king we also see the side of macbeth in his closeness with his wife as well as when he shows us his regrets in act 5. macbeth then is torn between these competing types of masculinity he eventually goes against the kindness in his own heart and resorts to the stereotypical presentation of masculinity and this ends up being his downfall perhaps he's downfall as much as ambition is in summary then we have looked at three ways of interpreting the character of macbeth the first is that he is a character destroyed by his ambition the second is that his individualism and selfishness mean that he can't survive in the world he's born into and third is that he is suffering a crisis of masculinity there are of course other ways that you can read the character but i hope that you found some of these interesting and thought-provoking in your study of macbeth if you found this video useful please subscribe like and comment and do come back for more videos on the play that are coming very soon