Now that we have finished the play I want you to reflect on it. Pick two characters and discuss their personalities progression throughout the story. How did they begin, what events changed them and how did they end. What moral lessons can be learned from the end of the play?
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In the beginning o the play, Macduff is not a big character, and he doesn't do anything to stop Macbeth. But when his family dies, he wants to take vengance and start killing everyone.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning Macbeth is wimpy and pansy. But once the witches told him about his future that he won't die by a man born of a woman, he became to cocky and over-confident.
I actually did my blogs haha.
Chris Macke
In the beginning, Macbeth is a noble hero that everyone looks up to and loves. But after hearing the prophecy, he becomes totally involved in trying to fulfill it that he takes advantage of many people, ruins many lives, kills people he once loved, and seems to be an extremely selfish and evil person. The prophecy ending up leading to his death.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the story, Lady Macbeth seems to be strange, and wants to take advantage of her husband by manipulating him into trying to make himself fulfill his prophecy by taking it into his own hands and killing his own cousin Duncan. After going through watching the transformation of her husband, and feeling extreme guilt, she becomes so insane that not even a doctor can fix her. She sleep walks and is extremely psycho. I have learned from this play that selfishness and blind ambition lead lead to destruction.
Caroline Campbell
In Shakespeare's Macbeth,the character Macbeth undergoes a great change in personality. At the beginning of the story, Macbeth is king, loyal, and innocent. He wants to be king; however, he does not want to kill Duncan to become king. He says, "Besides, this Duncan/ Hath borne his faculties so meek...We will proceed no further in this business:/ He hath honored me of late...." (Act1, scene7, lines16-17,31-32) His wife Lady Macbeth ends up talking him into killing Duncan. Then, as the story progresses, Macbeth becomes paraniod of people finding out he killed Duncan, so he starts killing others including his friend Banquo. Macbeth says, "Banquo, thy soul's flight,/ If it find heaven, must find it out tonight." (Act3, sc1, lines141-142) Towards the end of the story, Macbeth has Macduff's wife and children killed just because he is angry with Macduff. At the very end Macduff ends up killing Macbeth. "Hail, king! for so thou are: behold, where stands/ Th' usurper's cused head.(Act5, sc8, lines54-55) I believe Macbeth's greed, ambition, and paranoia lead him to his destructive end.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth also underwent a personality change. In the beginning she was the one who convinced Macbeth to murder Duncan. She says, "Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ Of direst cruelty! (Act1, sc5, lines38-41) Later on when Macbeth is plotting to kill Banquo, Lady Macbeth tells him to forget about killing Duncan and move on. "...what's done is done." (Act3, sc2, line12)In Act five, we see Lady Macbeth in a different way. She sleep walks and acts as if she were trying to wash her hands. She says things she said earlier in the play about Duncan, Banquo, and Lady Macduff's death. She says, "What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" (Act5, sc1, line38) She feels guilty in the end, and because of her guilt she commits suicide.
Many moral lessons can be learned from the play Macbeth. Ambition is good, but taken to extremes it can destroy who you are, and everything that is important to you. Also, greed is never good. We should be satisfied with the things we have, instead of always wanting more. Macbeth's ambiton to become king starts out well, but it turns into greed, which leads to the justification of killing people in his mind.
Leah Robbins
Macbeth went for being nice and civilized at the first of the play. He proceeds to want "power" that the witches tell him about. He then has to much power, and thinks that he is undefeatable. He doesn't give up but finally understands that he does not have a chance because what the witches said is coming true.
ReplyDeleteMacduff is not that big of a character at the first of the play. But once he hears about his family's death, he bacomes very upset with Macbeth. He that trys to kill him.
in the beginning of the macbeth seems like a hero and a regular moral man. as the story goes on he becomes more and more self absorbed. after hearing what the witches say he decides to persue in killing in innocent lives so that he may become a higher power. by the end of the play macbeth has become extremly selfish and will do anything to keep his reign as king. lady macbeth also changes throughout the play. at teh beginning of the play she seems to be the one that is in " charge" in her marrige. she seems to be the brave one and is the one who pushes duncans murder on macbeth. later into the story she is the one that is having nightmares and feeling bad for what has happened and macbeth has taken charge and is no longer even telling her his plans for banquos murder. i think that we can learn from this that we should not do everything thing just for our gain because other people get hurt along the way. basically, dont be selfish or greedy.
ReplyDelete*Jaci D. Pittman*
Begining Macbeth is a pretty good person. he doesn't want to kill Duncan but he wants what the witches say to come true. next we see him kill Banquo because he doesn't want Banquo's children to become the next in line to the throne like the witches predicted. After the first murder Macbeth seems sad and guilty about what he did. but after he kills Banquo he doesn't seen as guitly because he wants so badly to be king. by the end of the story he has murdered several people and doesn't seem to feel as guilty. his heart has become so cold that when he gets news of his wife's death he doesn't even seem sad.
ReplyDeleteLady Macbeth is a very strong woman and when they decide to kill Duncan she is the one who has to finish the job. she keeps everything running and talks Macbeth into killing Duncan in the first place. toward the end of the play there is a scene with a doctor and her servant. they watch her while she is sleeping and she starts sleep walking and talking while they are watching her. she talks about the murder and how her hands will never be clean and we see how guilty she feels about everything she and Macbeth have done. in the end she dies because she is so tiered from not sleeping.
I guess a moral lesson i took from this is that when you have bad things happen and you lie to cover up another lie and so on that your guilt will take hold of you and haunt you unless you come clean.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth greatly alter their personalities throughout the progression of Macbeth. In the beginning, Macbeth is a loyal kinsman to Duncan and has been fighting for him courageously in battle. However, whenever Macbeth hears the prophecy of the witches that he should one day become king, his own ambition begins to take over his character. He allows his wife to plot and carries through with the plan to murder Duncan. Macbeth does not seem very strong in the beginning of the play in which he permits Lady Macbeth to push him around and spur him on towards the savage assassination. After this event, Macbeth must continue doing more evil deeds in order to cover up his prior one. As more people are killed, Macbeth becomes less sensitive to its effect. He plans the murder of Banquo without the aid of Lady Macbeth. In the end of Macbeth, the reader can see Macbeth's true change of heart by his reaction to his wife's death. He hears the news but does not seem overly emotional or upset. Macbeth has become numb to violence and death by this point in the play.
ReplyDeleteLady Macbeth appears to be cruel and cold-hearted as she and Macbeth plot to kill Duncan. She treats her husband with disrespect and scolds him the way one might scold a dog. She feels no remorse in killing Duncan. She simply does what she must do to get the job done. She does not act very feminine; she has no trouble planning a very detailed outline of how Duncan will be killed. She even touches the bloody items and places them on the guards in order to place guilt on them rather than her and Macbeth. In Act IV, the reader sees Lady Macbeth's change of heart. She is sleep-walking and repeats things aloud that she has said prior. The Doctor and Gentlewoman hear of the accounts she has been involved in. As Lady Macbeth sleep-walks, she makes a strange motion with her hands, which appears to be the washing of her hands. Clearly, this character feels remorse for the treason and murders she has commited. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth exchange perspectives in a sense. They take on qualities from the attitude that the other possessed at the start of the play.
Many moral lessons can be taken from this play. One that stands out for me is that to maintain your morals before seeking success should always be the priority. Often times, people will become obsessed with achieving goals that they lose their integrity. They trade integrity in order to get ahead in life. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did this and it resulted in tragedy for them. Character should be the most important thing that people strive for, not awards or power.
Victoria Tindol
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both extraordinary characters. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is in battle and during one of the fights he ends up beating the Thane of Cawdor because he betrayed his mother land. Macbeth, after hearing the prophecies of the Witches, he starts to make the prophecies come true. Macbeth after killing Duncan is full of guilt but after becoming king it is as if he is just filled with evil and he ends up going on a blood rage and even becomes the traitor himself. At the end of the play Macbeth is killed by Macduff, and the prophecy of the witches was fulfilled. Lady Macbeth at first is seen as a brave and strange woman who is already filled with evil thoughts. She is one of the main reasons for Macbeth’s evil doings. By the end of the play she ends up having restless nights and is filled with guilt. Lady Macbeth ends up dieing at the end of the play, because her spirit gave up on her. The moral lesion that I have learned from these characters is that what you reap is what you sow, and that if Macbeth had lived his life without trying to fulfill the witch’s prophecy he could have ended up being king without all the guilt.
ReplyDeleteBryan Lewis
Macbeth undergoes perhaps the most dramatic character change throughout the play. In the beginning, Macbeth has to be rehearsed into the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth's state of morality vividly contrasts Macbeth throughout the entire play. She convinces Macbeth to commit the murder and chides him for his spinelessness in his actions after the murder has been committed. He shows incredible grief and guilt for his actions while she seems completely heartless and cold. Macbeth is no longer able to sleep as a result of the guilt. Later the transformation is extremely appparent as Macbeth plans the murder of Banquo by himself without telling Lady Macbeth. He hints toward the murder but does not tell her. He becomes independent in the murder, standing alone while in the first murder Lady Macbeth was his crutch. Later as Macbeth is completely independent, Lady Macbeth shows external signs of her internal guilt and restlessness in her sleep.
ReplyDelete(Sorry I accidently posted half way through.)
ReplyDeleteShe begins the motions of "washing her hands" and speaking about the murders asking if her hands will ever truly be clean. She eventually commits suicide as an end to her guilt. Towards the end of the play, Macbeth comments on his inhumaneness saying he does not feel anything anymore.
One huge lesson one can derive from this tragedy is that one should always stay true to one's morals. Once Macbeth committed murder (against his better judgement), he became very numb as a way to deal with the grief and guilt. Then, his lack of a conscious allowed Macbeth to continue killing in order to achieve stability in the throne. Had he never gone against his better judgement, Macbeth could have had a long, fulfilled life.
Katie Cheek
Macbeth, the protagonist of the play, begins as the typical hero. He is victorious in his battles and fulfills his duties as Thane of Glamis with the best of intentions. A run in with a group of witches changes that when they give him prophecy filled with equivocation. He believes that things will just fall into place without consequence. When the first of the prophecies come true, Macbeth becomes eager to make the next come true as well. This is where his character begins taking a turn for the worst. His wife devises a plan to kill King Duncan. After the act, things begin to spiral out of control and several other murders follow. These cold-blooded doings turn Macbeth into the desinsitized, power-hungry man he becomes by the end of the play, leading to his demise.
ReplyDeleteBekah Tomlin
In the beginning, Macbeth is the noble one who people look up to and admire. Although throughout the play, the witches influence him and curosity get's the best of him. In the end Macbeth is killed because he became evil and heartless and karma eventually caught up with him.
ReplyDeleteKing Duncan was loved by Macbeth in the beginning but after Macbeth finds that he could be King if Duncan were gone,his love soon disappeared. King Duncan gave Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor after macbeth did a noble act for him on war, he was repaid by being stabbed in his sleep because of Macbeth's greed.
Macbeth's greed is what ruined him, I think the moral lessonof this story is to not be willing to do anything to get what we want. It's true in life you have to fight for what you want but sometimes there are things that have to high of a price.
Hey this is Katie Clouse, for some reason my account will not let me log in so I am going to use Taylor's, if that is okay. Macbeth started out as a noble knight, he was respected and brave. Towards the end he became greedy and made some bad decisions based on his meeting with the witches. The witches told him his prophecy and how he would become king, Macbeth decided he could not wait and he wanted that life right away. Macbeth reverts back to him old self when he fights the young Stiward. Macbeth regains his confidencein that battle.
ReplyDeleteMalcom reacts to the murder's in scottland by running away, then Macduff goes to visit him and convinces him to go back and regain what is rightfully his, becoming king.
We can learn from this play that if a person gives in to his greed, nothing good can come from it.
One of the characters that changed the most throughout the play was Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, she was a very strong willed character. She even motivated Macbeth into the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth was the one that planned the entire first murder and helped ensure its success. Throughout the play, the reader notices a definite change in Lady Macbeth’s character. As Macbeth begins to withdraw himself from the relationship, Lady Macbeth begins to feel guilty. At the end of the play, Lady Macbeth becomes troubled by the murder she participated in and the murders she knows her husband is committing. She becomes so troubled that she cannot sleep and her troubles eventually aid in her death.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Macbeth’s character changed the most throughout the play. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is very timid and slow to act. He is deeply perturbed by the murder of Duncan and feels as though he will never be able to sleep because of the crime he committed. Macbeth eventually gets over these feelings, however, and he continues to murder other people. After the murder of Banquo, Macbeth murders the family of Macduff. This is the first truly cruel and pointless murder Macbeth orders. Macbeth had no reason to kill Lady Macduff and her son but his paranoia took over and prompted him to kill. Throughout this play, Macbeth gets more confident and less rational. His over confidence and irrationality ultimately lead to his own murder.
Halli Spraggins
macbeth and lady macbeth completely switch places as the story progresses. in the begining, lady macbeth is the leader and fearless one, as far as pushing the prophesies forward. she is the one who orchestrates the first murder, and doesnt feel bad about it. at this time, macbeth is a war hero, and very popular. he feels bad about killing the king who has been good to him in order to advance his own position. and he is very worried and has to think about this decision alot. by the end, its macbeth who murders without feeling, and lady macbeth who has regrets over the murders. macbeth become an emotionless murderer. lady macbeth became an over-emotioned lunatic. in both cases, it was the act of killing innocent people that changed them, they jus took it in different ways. one can learn from this story that greed and blind ambition can easily and quickly change oneself for the worst.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning, I really liked Macbeth. He seemed to someone who had it all together and was in a position to be someone great as he was before he became king. However, as the play went on, Macbeth became entrenched on getting the power that was prophesized for him. He gets so greedy and power-hungry that he feels that he must kill everyone that might even pose a small threat to his throne, which in turn dulls his emotion to pain. So by the end of the play, Macbeth is emotionless, even to the death of his wife and he is still only concerned with keeping his kingship.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed learning about Lady Macbeth in this play. She seemed to radiate with power and perservierence. However, as the play goes on, she starts to feel the weight of her guilt as so many innocent people die. Lady Macbeth begins to become depressed and expresses her guilt through sleepwalking as shown in her "out damned spot" monologue. She eventually loses it all and commits suicide. I researched into this, and it is most likely possible that she threw herself off of the castle wall.
Stefan Bushey
In the beginnig of the play Macbeth is seen as a hero and a humble warrior that loves Scotland. He is praised not only by his peer but also by his cousin, King Duncan. Unfortunately, when Macbeth and Banquo ran into the witches, his character began to change for the worst. When the witches prophecied to Macbeth that he would become Thane of Glaims and soon king of Scotland, he did not believe them. Then when Ross told him that he was now Thane of Glaims, curiosity and greed entered his mind. After the prophecy is fulfilled, conflict enters him mind wheather he should kill Duncan or to allow nature to take its course. He decided to kill Duncan with the persistence of his wife. After killing Duncan, Macbeth goes through a gulit break down and uses a strong hyperbole to expresses his guilt, "Will great Neptune;s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather..." (Act II Scene 2 line 59-60). Macbeth feels so guilty that if he tried to wash Duncan's blood from his hands, his blood would fill the enter ocean. Even though Macbeth became king of Scotland, his character began to change dramatically. He bacame more selfish and greedy and his realtionship wiht Lady Macbeth changed as well. When he planned to kill Banguo, instead of informing her, he said, "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chunck" (Act III scene two line 45). When Macbeth killed Duncan, Lady Macbeth was in charge of all the plans and she knew everything, but Macbeth did not inform her on any his plans to kill Banquo. He no longer connected to his wife because he was blinded by his greed. Then when he sees Banguo's ghost at the party, his gulit is shown differently and more strongly. By the end of the play, Macbeth has put his trust in the witches and believed he was invisible. Greed and selfishness desroyed Macbeth. Macbeth ended up dead and had no one to blame but himself. The moral to learn from Macbeth is to not allow people or power to control oneself. The reader can also learn not to be too amibition to be there main drive because it can lead to murder.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Lady Macbeth went through the most emtional changes. In the beginning of Act II, Lady Macbeth appears sweet and quiet, but by the middle of the act her persoanlity completely changed. SHe is very forceful and likes to be in control towards her husband. She forced her husband into killing Duacan and when he made a misttake, she stepped in and took contol, "GIve me the dagger. The sleeping and the dead/ Are but pictures"(Act II line 52-53). Lady Macbeth was so determinded to have a perfect murder that she did not mind seeing death bodies. She even told Macbeth to not even think about the murder, but the good outcome. In Act III, her relationship with Macbeth changed. She knew nothing about Banquo's planned death and began to feel guilty. By Act V, Lady Macbeth has gone completely insane. She is reinacting Dancan's murder while sleep walking. Her gulit for the murders was more than she could bare. Unfortunately, her gulit brought her to death. The reader can learn that the "grass alwways looks better on the other side." Lady Macbeth did not know how she would feel after killing Duncan, and probably would have not killed him if she knew the outcome
Lenora Taylor