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Macbeth, also known as "The Scottish Play" is one of Shakespeare’s most violent tragedies. In this play, Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, meets with three evil sisters. They share with prophecies with him. It is this knowledge of the future that is his ticket into hell. As Macbeth slowly descends into this evil abyss he loses his morality and innocence and is racked with guilt. Several important scenes in the play display Macbeth’s gradual decline from a place of power, as king, to a complete defeat and a surprising death. Our first glimpse of Macbeth’s character is in Act one Scene two. Here, the idea that Macbeth is a truly brave and noble warrior comes into view. A war is being fought in Scotland, between the king and his men, against a traitor, Macdonwald, Thane of Cawdor. A bleeding sergeant is relaying stories from the battlefront to the king. He proclaims: "And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,/Show’d like a rebel’s whore: but all’s too weak;/For brave Macbeth, - well he deserves that name, -/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel,/Which smok’d with bloody execution,/Like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage/Till he fac’d the slave;"(1.2.14-20). Macbeth is at the top of the spectrum now. The King then tells all who are near that Macbeth will now be known as Thane of Cawdor. "No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive/Our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death,/And with his former title great Macbeth."(1.2.65-67) Our next look at Macbeth’s character comes to us in Act one Scene Three. Here is the first time we actually come in contact with Macbeth. He is presented as an innocent warrior, who fights for his king. He seems noble and valiant, not the type to commit the crime of treason. In this scene he meets the three evil sisters, and is intrigued with what they say. "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!/All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king here after." (1.3.47-49). It is now that Macbeth starts down the road to his doom. Once Macbeth believes that he will become king, he feels he must do whatever it takes to make that happen, including killing the Prince of Cumberland. "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/On which I must fall down, or else o’er-leap,/For in my way it lies." (1.4.48-50) He then calls the sky to become dark to hide what he will do.
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