Would you consider Macbeth as a hero or a
villain? Give reasons.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a story of
regicide and a warning against black magic. It’s easy to see Macbeth as the
primary antagonist, because he becomes the face of the cast of villains, and
the focus of the main characters’ anger. Macbeth, though, was not a maker of
his destiny. The true antagonists lie behind him in both Lady Macbeth and the
three witches.
The three witches are the most obvious
villains. To see this, we have to look at the time in which this was written.
Shakespeare wrote his plays in a time where black magic was considered taboo.
People were deathly afraid of it and the sentence was death for anyone who
practiced it. Shakespeare wanted to appease his audience, therefore he invented
the witches as the main driving force of villainy.
Macbeth was the hero of Scotland at the
beginning of the story. It’s why he was presented with the title of Thane of
Cawdor and Glamis in the first place. In the beginning, Macbeth never
entertains the prospect of becoming king or killing his monarch in King Duncan.
It’s the witches who leave these toxic thoughts to fester in his mind.
It would be easy to argue
Macbeth could have easily ignored the witches. Although he willingly collaborated
with them, it could be argued his loyalty to his family and his country would
have overwritten the words of the witches. 