The audiences perceptions towards Macbeth through act one Essay Example for Free

The audiences perceptions towards Macbeth through act one Essay I am writing an essay on the audiences perceptions towards Macbeth through act one. This means what the audiences feelings and thoughts to Macbeth are. Macbeths characteristics are up and down through out the whole of the act, from bad to good and evil to noble. This makes the audience unsteady on their thoughts about Macbeth. This essay will be my perception on what the audiences thoughts of Macbeth are as he changes through act one. Right from the beginning, the witches show that they want to involve Macbeth in their evil plans. For instance in scene 1 line 8 they say, There to meet with Macbeth.. Unfortunately this shows Macbeth has been chosen as their victim. This starts the suspense up. The audience now wants to know who Macbeth is? But this would also make them feel sorry for him because the witches have now involved him in their plot. We hear about Macbeth again, when a Sergeant is talking to the king. In scene 2 lines 16-18 Captain says, For brave Macbeth-well deserves that name- Disdaining Fortune with his brandished steel Which smoked with bloody execution, Like Valours minion carved out his passage. So now we get the point that he is a noble and a brave warrior. The king replies to the sergeant in scene 2 line 24 by saying, O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman.. This means the king Duncan, recognises Macbeths bravery and values his loyalty. The king very well respects Macbeth, he must be important! At this point we now think he is a good man and do not want the witches to get involved with him. In return the Sergeant talks to the king in scene 2 lines 22-23, when he says, Till he unseamed him from the navel to the chaps And fixed his head upon battlements.. Macbeth shows that when he is determined to defeat someone, he is violent and ruthless. The audience are now thinking he is very extreme and he would do anything to get what he wants. The king finally finished the conversation in scene 2 lines 64-65 by saying, Go pronounce his present death And with his former title Macbeth. King Duncan is so pleased with Macbeths loyalty that he promotes Macbeth to the trusted position of thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is loyal and has the kings trust. The evil witches are back and they now start to brain wash Macbeth with ideas that never even entered his mind. In scene 3 lines 48 they say, All hail Macbeth, that shall be king hereafter. The witches plant the idea in Macbeths mind that he will be the king one day. Until this point he has shown complete loyalty to king Duncan. He is at an undecided stage right now keeping the audience guessing. Macbeth wants to hear more from them and starts being very inquisitive. In scene 3 line 48 He shouted out to the witches, Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.. Macbeth wants to hear more from the witches; this shows he is ambitious and likes the sound of being king. This shows how gullible and easily drawn into anything Macbeth is. Banquo a good friend of Macbeth warns him in scene 3 lines 121-123, but tis strange, And often times, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths,. Banquo realises that the witches are evil and suspects that Macbeth might be taken in by them. He tries to warn Macbeth. Soon after that Macbeth starts to show signs of evilness, which is a bad thing. For instance in scene 4 lines 42-43 Macbeth says, If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me. With out my stir Macbeth speculates that if he destined to become king. Then maybe it will happen regardless. So he might do something to make him king quicker. The audience is getting more and more of a picture of Macbeth as he shows more and more signs of evilness. We start to think he wasnt as noble and as good as we heard about him from the beginning of the act. In scene 4 lines 48-50 he says, The Prince of Cumberland : that is a step On which I must fall down, or else oerleap, For in my way it lies. Macbeth realises that Malcolm (the kings son) is an obstacle to becoming king. He shows that he is prepared to be ruthless in dealing with Malcolm. Now we come to Lady Macbeth. We see she was mad because as soon as she heard the news of Macbeth becoming Thane Cawdor she starts to plot. As we heard in scene 5 lines 14-15, yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full othmilk of human kindness. Straight away she assumes Macbeth has to become king, which means the death of king Duncan would have to be soon. Lady Macbeth is afraid that her husband is too soft hearted to do what he has to do to become king. So she shows signs of Macbeth being a wimp and not going to jump at the opportunity. At this point we start to see through Macbeth and notice he has got a conscious, so maybe hes just all mouth. Hears what he said in scene 7 lines 15-16, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Macbeth shows guiltiness about the plan to kill Duncan. He feels he should be protecting Duncan instead of attacking him. We now see a different side to Macbeth, that he was never bad because of what he said in scene 7 lines 31-32, I am settled and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat Macbeths conscience-stricken about the murder plan. He feels in Duncans debt because of the way Duncan has treated him recently. Changing the audiences view of him yet again to being a good person. Then his personality just takes a drop, he goes back to being evil and bad, this happens in scene 7 lines 80-81 when Macbeth says, I am settled and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat Macbeth finally decides to go through with the ruthless plan. He is totally committed to the murder of Duncan. Now he has gone back to his evil raw self! Leaving the audience with no sympathy. He even shows dishonesty in scene 7 lines 82 where he says, False face must hide what the false heart doth know Macbeth is prepared to be dishonest and deceitful in order to carry his plans. The audiences final perception of Macbeth was he is totally evil and completely crazy! Conclusion Here is a table of the Audiences Perceptions of Macbeth, through out the whole of Act 1! As you can see in the graph, the audiences perceptions of Macbeth go up and down through the act. At the beginning of the act we thought Macbeth was a good noble man, but that soon changed. Then we thought good and bad of him because his Behaviour was up and down, from good to bad, noble to deceitful, he went through many different stages. To the end of act one, his true colours finally showed and we saw how evil and crazy for power he was and thats why he killed the king. Our final perceptions of Macbeth in act 1,was that his hunger for the reign was so powerful and obsessive. Which eventually turned him into an evil madman, that sums it up to show how, from having morals and scruples as well as sincerity, his greed for the throne changed him to become cunning, deceitful, and a heartless Macbeth. Leaving the audience with mixed feelings.