Macbeth: Villain and Victim.: .3. Macbeth IS a VICTIM!

4.12.08

.3. Macbeth IS a VICTIM!

So, why else is Macbeth a victim in this situation? Well, Macbeth is very ambitious. His ambition leads him to kill the current king, and his cousin, although there are other factors driving him to complete this task, his ambition plays a large role. Since Macbeth can not control his ambition, to some extent, it's not his fault he did crazy things to get to the top.
Another factor contributing to Macbeth's innocent victim side is that Macbeth is crazy. Plain and simple. He even admits to himself that he imagines a floating dagger! In today's world, that kind of person would be able to deal with that problem by taking medication.. or get locked up in an insane asylum. But poor Macbeth didn't have that option, and so he listened to his insane mind, and did unthinkable, horrible things.
More arguments to come!

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Quotations.

.....
Macbeth:
"Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not."
-Macbeth is thinking about the prophecies and wondering if they're good or bad.
.....
Macbeth:
"The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."

-Macbeth is jealous of the newly named Prince of Cumbrland, the next in line to the throne. He is contemplating wether he should become king or not.
.....
Lady Macbeth:
"The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. 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! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'

-Lady Macbeth has decided that she wil become Queen of Scotland, no matter what. She asks the spirits to unsex her, give her the strong qualities of a man so she can have the ability to kill Duncan despite her cowardly husband.
.....
Lady Macbeth:
"
O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom."

-Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that she is in charge of this matter and that all he has to do is look innocent and not give away what they're about to do.
.....
Macbeth in response to above quote:
"We will speak further."

-Macbeth is still not convinced he should kill Duncan, and isn't ready to confirm the final plans
.....
Macbeth:
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other."

-This is Macbeth's first soliloquy. In this quote, Macbeth is cotemplating all the reasons he should not kill his cousin. Duncan is a beloved king, and all of scotland would mourn his death, Killing Duncan in Macbeth's home looks very suspicious, Macbeth is Duncan's subject, Duncan is Macbeth's cousin afterall, and killing someone will certainley send Macbeth to hell.
.....
Macbeth:
"We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon."

-Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth. He has considered all aspects of killing Duncan and has decided that he will not kill his cousin to become king! Duncan has been good to Macbeth and he doesn't want to betray him.
.....
Lady Macbeth:
"Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?"

-Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to do the deed, making him feel like a quilty coward.
.....

Lady Macbeth:
"We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep--
Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?"

-Lady Macbeth is

4.12.08

.3. Macbeth IS a VICTIM!

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