Macbeth is a Victim in Shakespeares Macbeth :: essays research papers

Victims are the unfortunate people who suffer from disadvantageous circumstances in their lives. They can also be perceived as those who are sacrificed, supposedly for the greater good of others, in an effort to restore the natural order of the world. This is what has become of the character Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth has become a victim of the women he encounters, such as his wife Lady Macbeth, and the witches who seek him out to use for their fiendish purposes. The Thanes Lennox, Ross and Angus forsake and desert him in his time of need, leaving him victim to the English army and the Scotsmen who have betrayed him. Macbeth's most trusted friend Banquo shows signs that he will deceive the new King of Scotland, leaving him with who to trust? Not even chance will soothe Macbeth's victimization as it too leads him through Hell and back before he meets his ultimate demise. Most of all, Macbeth is a victim to himself as his brutality and single-mindedness incite hi m to the utter destruction of the MacDuff family. Macbeth's deception leaves him in a state of vulnerability and alienation caused by almost everyone he comes into contact with. Women throughout history have plagued men in an attempt to gain pleasure and power for their own nefarious schemes. The idea of women being deceivers is first brought about in the first book of the Catholic Bible in the story of Adam and Eve: She took the fruit there of and she did eat it, and she gave it to her husband.?(Genesis 3.6) Even from the beginning of time, according to the Bible, men have been beguiled by woman kind?s clever traps which lead men to make careless decisions. If it were not for the women Macbeth comes into +contact with, he would have never been able to formulate a plot to kill Duncan which is the exact incident that sets his life into chaos in the first place. The witches, upon plotting to attack a sailor say that he ?shall sleep neither night nor day / Hang upon his penthouse lid / He shall live a man forbid.? (I.iii.18-20) Although they are not talking about Macbeth directly, the witches? prophecy causes Macbeth to kill Duncan at which point he hears a voice say Macbeth shall sleep no more. This line foreshadows the witches? malicious intents for Macbeth and how they plan on torturing his subconscious mind in the future.