Throughout the play, Macbeth changes between two distinct personalities. He demonstrates a courageous warrior who fights for his country, but his hidden dark side is a greedy ambitious murderer.
These traits of him have been demonstrated in many ways. Macbeth is secretive about his second trait as he does know want his friends to find out about what he has been doing behind their backs. In Act 1 scene 2, the audience finds out Macbeths warrior side and that he won the battle of Norway and became the Thane of Cawdor. This early in the play Macbeth is showing his personality of a soldier that protects his country and is presented as the Thane of Cawdor and receives a lot of respect from others.
Banquo is good friends with Macbeth and they fight a long side each other. He works as a thane protecting the king from rebels and Norwegian invaders. Later on, Macbeth and Banquo stumble upon three witches who give them three prophecies. The first prophecy from the first which in Act 1 scene 3 line 51 was, “Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.” The second of being, “All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter.” And the last one was, “Thou shalt get kings, thou though be none.” Once Macbeth hears the prophecy about him becoming king he has a thought wandering in his mind that he will kill the king and become king himself. This means that his ambition to be king is so great that he will do anything that stands in his way including killing his own relative.
Macbeth discussed his murder plan for Duncan with his wife and when everyone was asleep, Macbeth stabbed the king in his sleep, which again shows Macbeth’s desire for the crown. Once he killed King Duncan, others started to get suspicious resulting in Malcolm and Donalbain to leave the castle. Then, Macbeth started to worry about the third prophecy on Banquo’ son being king so he sent out murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance so Banquo’s bloodline is over. This demonstrates how Macbeth’s greediness for power affected his choices and actions. Both of Macbeth’s character traits make him who he is. He swiftly switches in between them so his evil trait stays hidden from the public.
His warrior and brave sides are exposed to everyone and he receives respect in return. When King Duncan was murdered, all of the people awoke and Macbeth had to act very surprised so nobody would get suspicious of him committing the crime. However, he could not control his feeling at the dinner table when he imagined Banquo’s ghost sitting in his seat. When it came to war between Scotland and England, Macbeth killed everyone he saw that was against him, revealing his malicious personality. Lastly, Macbeth’s distinct natures were seen throughout the entire play and it was obvious to the audience when he would switch between a courageous warrior fights for his country and an ambitious warrior who’s only goal was to achieve his position as king and maintain it once he had it.
Killing King Duncan was the first appearance of Macbeth’s vicious identity and it continued to take over his body until he was slayed.
