Macbeth: A Good Man Who Chooses Wrong
First appears: Act 1, Scene 3
Macbeth begins the play as a genuine war hero. Duncan's own men describe him in terms of awe: he 'unseamed' an enemy 'from the nave to the chops.' He is brave, loyal, respected. The play's horror lies in watching someone of real quality choose to destroy himself.
The witches do not make him kill Duncan. They predict his future; the action is his. Lady Macbeth pushes, but Macbeth is not passive. He lists his objections in Act 1, Scene 7 with clarity, then talks himself out of them. The moment he crosses the line, something breaks that can never be repaired.
What follows is a portrait of guilt becoming madness. Banquo's ghost at the feast. The sleeplessness. The 'tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow' speech in Act 5, Scene 5, which is not despair exactly. It is something worse: a man who has burned through all his feeling and found nothing underneath. He dies fighting because there is nothing else left.
Key Scenes
Macbeth's Key Quotes
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.”
Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time.”
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
“I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?”
Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2
Themes
Other Characters in Macbeth
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