Is Macbeth a Villain or a Hero?

 Is Macbeth a villain or a hero? --Justify

In the realm of Shakespearean Heroes besides Hamlet, Othello and King Lear, the one Hero who stands non-parallel is none other than Macbeth in the play of Macbeth. As a hero,he is outstanding in courage, heroic power, valour and poetic quality. The hero shut the mercy of mankind by murdering innocent ones. Thus becoming the title villain after his name . Wilson Knight called Macbeth 'the apocalypse of evil ' in The Wheel Of Fire. Rightly Ray Walker said that ," If Hamlet is the study of a moral man in an immoral society, Macbeth is the study of an immoral man of a moral society".

     The witches in the very first scene utterance:"Fair is foul,foul is fair'' this is what strikes the key note of the play Macbeth.  A noteworthy and quoteworthy face is that in Macbeth, first appearance he almost utter the same,"So foul and fair a day I haven't seen ", thus making a like with witches . The witches appear to Macbeth and Banquo  and say Macbeth as 'The Thane of Glamis','Thane of Cowdor ' and ' The King of Scotland'. Letter Macbeth starts thinking about how it is possible to become Thane of Cawdor and The King of Scotland . It is clear that the witches have successfully planned the seed of ambition in his mind which later grows into the tree of crime added with Macbeth's own 'vaulting ambition' with Lady Macbeth's instigation . For slaughtering the enemies ,the Captain calls Macbeth 'valour's minion's and Rosse calls 'Bellona's bridegroom but soon fair Macbeth starts shifting towards crime . The shining character of Macbeth like the sun sets down into a dark cloud of crime.

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English Notes for B.A and M.A students

           Lady Macbeth ,being aware of her husband's kind nature,starts inspiring and charged him: "Was the hope drunk/Where in your dressed yourself/Hath it slept since".Duncan's decision to spend a day in Macbeth castle,gives Macbeth the opportunity to clear the way to the throne of Scotland as Lady Macbeth, considering it is the golden opportunity. However the prick of conscience does not let Macbeth quote. His aside "Stars hide your fires' makes it clear Macbeth is fully prepared to do it for the first time by the instigation of witches and his wife . After murdering Duncan, Macbeth gave the eternal sleep of Banque , Lady Macduff and her son one by one. Gradually he falls down and down from the zenith of name,fame and gain to the  bottom of cruelties and crime.

          Once Macbeth murders,he becomes a slow but steadily hard criminal whereas the irony lies in the fact that Lady Macbeth earlier was powerful,later almost mad and finally dies. Macbeth's reaction to his wife was very surprising: "She should have died hereafter". However Macbeth succeeded in finding a place in the minds of readers with his melodramatic and poetic speech, growing with valour, courage, and philosophy. After the death of his wife,flows from the mouth of Macbeth a very philosophical speeches in the form of soliloquy:

"To-morrow,and to-morrow,and tomorrow,

Creeps in this pretty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time".

The most noteworthy part of Macbeth's poetic speech flows when he speaks of life, after realising the value of so-called valuable but hollow life :

".....out,out, brief candle!/

Life's but a walking Shadow....it is a tale/

Told by an idiot,full of sound and fury signifying nothing".

              Macbeth's grandness and sublimity also lies in martial art and brevity. He can fight with anyone, everyone with equal strength and confidence but his vaulting ambition and prediction of witches,turned into the malediction and ultimately goes to eternal sleep without courage, confidence and poetic speech, sharing to the universe. So,it will be injustice to consider Macbeth as a mere Villain ,for he is more than .He is both a Villain and a Hero and here lies his uniqueness.