Macbeth's Character Journey
Macbeth starts as a brave warrior described as "valiant cousin! worthy gentleman" and praised for his bloody success in battle. However, his encounter with supernatural prophecies triggers a dramatic transformation that reveals his fatal flaw.
The supernatural soliciting from the witches plants seeds of ambition that Macbeth initially struggles with. He knows right from wrong, saying "I dare do all that may become a man: Who dares do more is none" and recognising that as Duncan's host, he "should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself."
Yet vaulting ambition becomes his downfall. He admits "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself." Once he commits murder, there's no turning back - "I am in blood stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er."
Key Point: Macbeth's transformation from noble warrior to "devilish Macbeth" shows how ambition can corrupt even the most honourable person when they abandon their moral compass.
