Trace Macbeths degeneration in the play from
Valours minion to Hellhound.
Macbeth is a play that has fascinated audiences because the play reverses the fortune of many of the key figures in the play. When we first meet the character of Macbeth, he is a brave warrior on the battlefield who fearlessly defeats the enemies of King Duncan, however this loyal and brave character gradually becomes more and more evil. Over the course of the play, Macbeth will murder his King, murder his best friend, murder innocent women and children in his quest to retain power in his corrupted kingdom and finally bring himself to a tragic end. For these reasons, Macbeth is a play that traces the degeneration of the protagonist from Valours minion to Hellhound.
Early in the play, Macbeth appears to be a man of great character. He is shown as a vigorous war hero on the battlefield who pluckily vanquishes the enemies of King Duncan. After the battle, Macbeth's reputation is rapidly growing with the rampant spread of the word of his good deeds at war:
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which never shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps,
And fixed his head upon our battlements. (1,2,18-25)
The Sergeant speaks of Macbeth's bravery when he is describing Macbeth's triumph over Macdonald and his strong forces in Scotlands battle with the invading Norway hordes. Through the sergeants report, we find out that Macbeth is someone who portrays valour on the battlefield and we can sense the growing glory of him even we have not seen him.
Unfortunately, the good side of Macbeth begins to change with the murder of Duncan. Macbeth is no longer the same old loyal, brave soldier anymore and the sinful crime he has just committed causes him to be in a confused stage of mind. When Macbeth says,
Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast. (2,2,43-48)
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