He is introduced to us as 'brave Macbeth'; the soldier explains that 'well he deserves that name' for nabbing the traitor Macdonwald. But when we hear he has 'unseamed him from the nave to the chops', we perceive his bloodthirsty behaviour – albeit for the glory of serving his king. When he receives the title of Thane of Cawdor (as prophesised by the witches), Duncan comments that he is a 'valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!' There are many indications that the Scottish nobility finds him a valued member of society; the naive Duncan even chooses to spend the night at Inverness with Macbeth and his wife, displaying the degree of trust Macbeth has garnered in Duncan's employ. Labelling his wife, his 'dearest partner of greatness', clearly Macbeth shows tender and noble qualities beyond just being a 'butcher'.
The witches themselves are rebuked by their leader Hecate for their 'saucy and overbold' actions of daring to 'trade and traffic with Macbeth in riddles and affairs of death'. When they bluntly, and sequentially, offer him the information that he will be Glamis, Cawdor and 'King hereafter', they are certainly meddling with the weakness of an ambitious man. For this they must also be condemned. But giving omens of what will pass does not constitute a reason for him to usurp the natural order by killing the king, not does it excuse his actions of tricking Duncan into such false security that he comments Inverness 'hath a pleasant seat'. Duncan's gullibility aside, Macbeth himself comments in a candid soliloquy that he is 'his kinsman and his subject', who 'should against the murderer shut the door, not bear the knife' himself – so the intelligent, highly-stationed favourite of the king comprehends his crime. This indicates that he indeed is acting as a 'butcher' when he stabs Duncan and his chamberlains; when he sends two lowly murderers to slaughter his supposedly best friend Banquo, and when he organises the brutal slaying of the innocent Lady MacDuff and her children at Fife.
