The play Macbeth by Shakespeare is the story of a Scottish thane that hears a prophecy
foretelling that he will become king of Scotland. The prophecy drives Macbeth to kill
King Duncan. During his kingship, Macbeth orders many people of importance to be
killed, including the family of the thane Macduff. In the end, Macduff kills Macbeth in
revenge. Macbeth’s fate is determined by his immorality that controls his reign as
king. That evilness is shown through the three character traits of brutality,
confidence and ambition.
Brutality is one characteristic of Macbeth’s immorality that determines his fate to
die. Even before Macbeth murders Duncan this is obvious. At the first mention of
Macbeth, a captain is telling King Duncan about Macbeth’s action in battle. The captain
says, “He unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops, And fixed his head upon our
battlements.” (I, ii, 24-25). Line 24 shows the ruthlessness and bloodiness of Macbeth’s
action. Line 25 further displays Macbeth’s brutality because he is advertising to the
public the bloody deed he committed. By publicizing his brutal action, Macbeth is also
revealing that he is evil because he is not afraid to shown the world that he has killed.
This leads to his fate to die because Duncan gives him the title Thane of Cawdor. The
witches prophesized this would happen, so Macbeth takes the prophecy more seriously
when he gets Cawdor. It’s his murderous and evil actions during his kingship that cause
people to want him dead. After Macbeth murders Duncan the brutal side of Macbeth is
more openly revealed. When Duncan is found dead, as well as the servants thought to be
the murderers, Macbeth says, “Th’ expedition of my violent love outrun the pauser,
reason,” (II, iii, 129-130) as he admits to killing the servants. Here Macbeth is
acknowledging that he is violent and, therefore, brutal. Macbeth is also stating here that
he lets this violence guide him in his actions. Although this is not the true reason for why
Macbeth killed the servants, his statement still reflects his conscious decision to act with
violence, showing that he is evil. Again, this is an action leading to his kingship of
Scotland and his murderous deeds that lead to his fate. The most evil action of Macbeth
is when he orders everyone with relations to Macduff to be killed. He says, “The castle
of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword, his wife, his
babes, and all unfortunate souls who trace him in his line.” (IV, i, 171-174). By killing
Macduff’s children it shows Macbeth’s ultimate evil side because he is killing the
innocent, even children. Macduff is resolved to kill Macbeth for murdering his family, so
this brutal and evil action sets Macbeth’s fate. All of Macbeth’s actions that are full of
brutality reveal his evil and, in one way or another, lead to his fate to die.
Confidence is a key character trait of Macbeth’s in tracing the evil that leads to
his death. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth has conflicting thoughts about killing
Duncan. This conflict in his mind shows that there is, at this point, a shred of morality in
Macbeth. When he is getting ready to kill Duncan, he envisions a dagger leading him to
Duncan’s chambers and it gives him the courage to go through with the act. He says, “Is
this a dagger which is before me, the handle toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee.”
(II, i, 44-46). By reaching for the dagger, Macbeth is letting go of any good that is in him,
letting evil take him over completely. Duncan’s murder is the first of many that make
people want Tyrant Macbeth dead. Macbeth seeks the witches again and they send three
apparitions to Macbeth. Two of them tell him he can be killed when Birnam Woods
move and by a man not born of woman. Macbeth confidence is boosted by this saying,
“That will never be.” (IV, i, 108). He has confidence enough to order all of Macduff’s
family killed, which was his most evil deed. As Macduff’s confidence grows, so does the
evil inside of him, eventually pushing out any good that was there. As mentioned before,
Macbeth’s immorality leads to his fate to die because many people want him dead
because of all the horrible things he has done.
Another character trait leading to Macbeth’s fate to die is his ambition. Ambition
is the trait that leads him to kill Duncan in the first place. When the witches say to him,
“All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I, iii, 53), Macbeth’s ambition is
sparked. As it would with most people, Macbeth’s ambition warps their words and he
writes to Lady Macbeth “these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming
on of time ‘Hail, king that shalt be.’ ” (I, v, 8-10). Lady Macbeth addresses that ambition
is a sign of immorality by saying, “Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but
without the illness should attend it.” (I, v, 18-20). The illness Lady Macbeth is referring
to is greed and the evil it leads to. Macbeth’s ambition to become king causes him to kill
Duncan, and therefore committing an evil deed. Macbeth’s ambition to keep his kingship
leads him to kill anybody who might stand in his way, which is one evil action after
another. This desire to keep the throne and the evil he’d cause to do so is shown when
Macbeth seeks the Weird Sisters and they make the apparitions. Macbeth says,
“Macduff…I’ll make assurance double sure…Thou shalt not live.” (IV, i, 93-95) after
hearing an apparition say no man born of woman can kill him. This shows how
Macbeth’s ambition leads to evil because even though he believes Macduff is not a
threat, Macbeth wants him dead because he is so ambitious to keep the throne. Macduff
is a challenge to that whether or not he can kill Macbeth. Macbeth’s ambition causes him
to do evil things, like want to kill Macduff, if there is anything that could be standing
between him and the throne of Scotland. Again, Macbeth’s slaughter of Macduff’s
family sets his fate to die in stone because Macduff seeks revenge. Ambition on
Macbeth’s part leads him to do evil things that lead to his fate to die.
This play reflects how immorality leads inevitably to death, just as Macbeth’s
evilness led to his fate to die. Macbeth’s evilness was shown through three
characteristics of brutality, confidence, and ambition. Like every one, Macbeth had some
immorality inside of him. Whenever he let one of the aforementioned traits get the better
of him he was letting the evil grow and take over. This led to his death in the end. His
personality defined his evilness and lead to his demise.