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Moral Transformations in Macbeth

 

            The average human goes through many changes in their lifetime. Not everyone, however, goes through such extreme life altering changes as the king's best general Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, in William Shakespeare's play. This concept is first evident in the first act of the play when the witches say, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air" (pg. 1). This suggests that some of the characters" lives were about to be changed by flipping their moral situations and standards.
             The witches" prophecy of moral transformation affects the character of Macbeth the most. His metamorphosis begins almost immediately after he receives the prediction from the witches. When two servants of King Duncan arrive to tell Macbeth that he has been named Thane of Cawdor, he comments on how the first two of the three predictions have come true just as the witches said they would. The third forecast for Macbeth was that he would be king of Scotland, and this can only be realized if Macbeth kills the king and takes the throne from him (pg. 24-25). This thought from Macbeth shows how his transformation had already been established. Another example that shows Macbeth is changing from his noble and trustworthy nature is when he actually kills King Duncan (pg. 55). This shows that he was obviously deviating from his normal character by betraying his king and country when he takes the king's life. An additional example that shows Macbeth is changing for the worse is when he mentions of killing his life long friend, Banquo, because he fears that he is a threat to his position (pg. 79-87). This again illustrates how his temperament is changing to that of an overall evil person, which is a huge extreme considering how his nature was before he ever ran into the witches, which was kind and noble. A further example of his changing spirit is that he decided to kill Macduff and his entire family just because the three sorceresses simply "warned against him" (pg.


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