TP+Claire


 * Question**: Is Macbeth a victim of his environment? Is it justified to say Macbeth is a 'butcher?'
 * Theme**: Greed and blind ambition can lead to corruption
 * Thesis**: Although Macbeth starts out as a benevolent thane, Shakespeare writes out how greed and blind ambition can transform Macbeth into a 'butcher' and lead to corruption.

//**Point 1**//: Macbeth does not show regret or sympathy for the ones that he murdered. He is willing to kill the wife and children of Macduff, which shows that Macbeth has no mercy for women or children. Macbeth also commits murder after murder after murdering Duncan. This substantiates my point that he is a 'butcher' since he does not show reluctance to kill. __Textual evidence:__ Macbeth (4.1, lines 156-158) The castle of Macduff I will surprise,Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' swordHis wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls

//**Point 2**//: It wasn't his environment that changed him, rather it was his internal emotion that lead him to decide to murder Duncan. In act 1 scene 7, we can see that Lady Macbeth does have a great affect on Macbeth's decision to kill Duncan. However, it is his ambition that sparks the idea of killing Duncan in the first place. This is the scene where we can observe the dark side of Macbeth developing. __Textual evidence:__ Macbeth (1.4, lines 52-55) Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.The eye wink at the hand, yet let that beWhich the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

//**Point 3**//: Towards the end of the play, we can see the transformation of Macbeth; from a benevolent thane to a corrupted tyrant. His violent actions and numbness towards death exhibits that he has become a debauched leader. __Textual evidence__: Macbeth (5.5, lines 9-15) I have almost forgot the taste of fears.The time has been my senses would have cooledTo hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hairWould at a dismal treatise rouse and stirAs life were in ’t. I have supped full with horrors.Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughtsCannot once start me.