Why Are We Drawn To Macbeth?

Macbeth is a man that takes action where in comparison, Hamlet does not. Macbeth is faced with many difficult choices and his reactions tell us that he takes action. The problem with Macbeth is that he wishes he could stop, but his fear and paranoia drive him to go further and further down the road the he knows will lead him to power. Just like in your essay you described Macbeth as 'too hot to stop, too cool to feel.' We are drawn to Macbeth because of the way he tackles his fear by becoming fearful himself.

There are several other reasons why we are drawn to Macbeth. Shakespeare evokes sympathy from the readers. By creating a character similar to people, the readers agree with the decisions made by Macbeth and the circumstances he is in as they are shown from his point of view. Macbeth also showed that he had the potential to be a good king. He induced pity in the readers by showing himself agonizing between the glory in the path ahead of him and his conscience. I agree when you wrote 'we pity him [Macbeth] because, like us, he stands next to innocence in a world in which veil is a prerequisite for being human,' and 'to have a clear conscience is to stand in the sun.' Even though Macbeth decides to murder several people in order to reach the glory, the readers cannot blame him because they understand the situation he is in - the chance to be king - and they know that Macbeth doesn't have a malicious nature. He knows what has been done cannot be undone and true to his nature he decides to die honorably in battle. At the end, Macbeth still has dignity and proves that he isn't a coward by demising in battle.

Even though seen as an evil man, Macbeth does have moral and religious value and this is proven in his soliloquy, Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 12-28, where he lists the three reasons why he should not kill Duncan: he is 'kinsman', 'his subject' and 'his host'. Showing