Protagonists in Shakespeare's Macbeth Essay

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, there are a wide range of characters but there are only a few that are critical to the plot. The story is led by the prophecy that Macbeth will kill the king,
Duncan, and take his role consuming his kingly power. The war soldier wants the power to rule
but is too weak to do it on his own, so Lady Macbeth will make him follow through with the
plans to become king. Throughout the play Macbeth is faced with many challenges that he has to overcome but his fear of losing himself on this path of power shows his ambition is changing him from a loyal soldier to a murderous tyrant.
In beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth is a loyal solider who is fearlessly fighting for King Duncan in a battle for the kingdom. However, not long after the battle is won, he meets with three witches who tell him a prophecy that he will fulfill in order to obtain control of the king's ruler ship. They tell him he must kill the king to have this power, but Macbeth feels guilty about this prophecy because he must perform treason in order to gain all the power he truly wants. Macbeth explains to his wife, Lady Macbeth, what he was told by the witches and she doesn't hesitate to form a plan in order to help him toward achieving this prophecy. Macbeth was reluctant in participating in this treason especially since he had just been made the Thane of Cawdor by Duncan and he wished to enjoy this new earned power rather than take more form someone else because he believed "who dares to do more is not a man at all". (Macbeth, Act 1 scene 7 pg.2) He wanted to refuse multiple times, but Lady Macbeth always would persuade him to finish the job and to stop being "afraid to act the way [he] desire[s]."(Macbeth, Act 1 scene 7
pg.2)
Macbeth commits the murder and immediately feels terrible for the deed he has done and tells his wife that he can't go back in the room to frame the guards of the treason. It was up to Lady Macbeth to save her husband from being found guilty of the king's murder. After they had set up the crime scene the way they wanted, they alerted the others and successfully got away from any suspicion of being the killers since they found the guards covered in blood with their daggers. Now, that Macbeth has become King he and his wife start to realize the mistake they made when the guilt of their secret starts to creep into their subliminal thoughts and turns Macbeth into a paranoid murderer and Lady Macbeth becomes crazy from her involvement in Macbeth's killing of Duncan. This makes Macbeth a round character because he started as a humble warrior for his King into the King's killer which makes him untrusting, paranoid, and having constant feelings of deceit from anyone that is more powerful than him.