We May Be Awed By The Evil In Macbeth But We Remain Largely Sympathetic Towards Those Who Perpetrate It

In Macbeth their are many sources of evil, one of them are the three witches. The witches prophesise Macbeth will first become Thane of Cawdor and then eventually king. This intrigues Macbeth as he soon receives the news that he has become Thane of Cawdor. Was this the start of Macbeth’s evil creeping to the surface? Stereotypically witches are thought to be evil, yet in Macbeth they are not cursing or actually wishing bad luck towards Macbeth but greet him with pleasant news. However, is it possible that the witches are in fact a figment of Macbeth’s imagination, a subconscious message revealing his inner ambitions and telling him what he would like to hear? It could be possible but Banquo does refer to them, therefore making them real characters.

Despite all the evil actions committed by Macbeth towards innocent people, you do still feel sympathy towards him. This is achieved by the relation to his temptation into which he was pressured by his ambition. If Macbeth had not met the witches would he have done the deeds he did? From his Soliloquies you can see the emotions battle. If Lady Macbeth had not been informed of the witches and therefore not influenced Macbeth, would Macbeth’s thoughts have manifested into an evil action? Lady Macbeth’s madness then suicide could also be sympathised with as she suffered enough with her emotional torment. All his thoughts keep you guessing on which action he would take and in the end he acted upon the wrong impulse and it “snow-balled.” Macbeth was an honourable and noble, good man he went down the wrong path.

Let not light see my black and deep desires;

As the play continues the evil eventually “takes over” and he grows more confident and appears almost inhuman when it comes to murders. A major factor in Macbeth’s feelings and thoughts is when he is considering on murdering the king when he sees the illusion of a dagger before him. The dagger has the handle pointed towards him, the imaginary

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