Macbeth: Macbeth and Captain Names Macbeth Essay

Submitted By kiiiyoko
Words: 707
Pages: 3

The different faces of Macbeth- How is the character of Macbeth presented to the audience in act 1 of the play?

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare. It is set in Scotland round about the eleventh- century and it is about a man named Macbeth who wants to become king of Scotland. Macbeth is married but has no children. You get to hear so much about what Macbeth is like before he even presents himself.
The play starts with the three witches planning to meet Macbeth through a chant this makes the witches seem very much a part of Macbeth especially with the line “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
Which is later used by Macbeth the audience can perceive this as an evil influence; the scene would be very dark and dismal and would imply tension. In act 1 scene 3 Macbeth and Banquo are walking to Forres when they are confronted by the witches. The witches hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor but they also hail him as
“King hereafter”
This could be perceived as him being powerful, and also being very worthy. Even though the audience sees him as being scared of what he has just heard. So just in this scene alone, there are different faces of Macbeth shown to the audience.
The next characters we meet are King Duncan and the ‘Bloody’ Captain. The captain names Macbeth brave “For Brave Macbeth” King Duncan also gives Macbeth very rewarding names such as
“O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman”
He is given these names because of the fighting he has done in battle. The audience could be changing their whole perception on Macbeth, from him being scared, and him being a part of the witches, to becoming a very brave man. Or they might have questions such as. Who is this man really? Is he all of these things?
Banquo is the next character we meet. He is a friend of Macbeth, and a fellow soldier. Banquo says that Macbeth is a noble partner. But when he fears the witches Banquo says
“Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound so fair?”
They both have different reactions to the witches Banquo more fascinated and Macbeth more cautious of them. There different reactions just show that even though Banquo looks up to him, he also sees that Macbeth does fear the things that are unknown to him. So is he really this brave soldier?
Lady Macbeth is more of the dominant one in their relationship. She starts off with saying he is too kind.
“Yet do I fear thy nature”
She is also the one that tells him he has to kill King Duncan. This shows how easily influenced Macbeth is.
When Macbeth tells Lady