Macbeth--A Victimized Villain Of His Time

Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, one of his four major tragedies, suggests that the human nature "ambition" is embodied in this good and evil general—Macbeth, and the tragedy is the conversion of a good man into a wholly evil one. Most of the critics show profound insights into Macbeth's double sides: goodness and evilness, emphasize his negative part: his cruelty and amorality, and express some sympathy for the tragic hero. Yet they do not offer a further explanation for the external causes of his downfall and neglect his needs as a human being, even to some extent, pay little attention to his rights and to the positive significance of his regicide. Thus my present studies of the character Macbeth principally focus on the matters of some internal causes: his ambition and nature, of the external causes: the chaotic environment, the feudal system, the witches' temptation, the feminine persuasion and Duncan' unwise deeds, of the interaction of the internal with the external, of his needs as an individual, and of the social significance of the play. In the discussions of the protagonist, based on the combination of Maslow's needs theory and some noble humanistic ideas by John Milton and Abraham Lincoln with Taoist and Mao Tse-Tung's philosophical thoughts, some hypotheses are put forward to elucidate that it is natural and legitimate for Macbeth to be the king of Scotland. Under the influences of the interaction of the internal causes with the external causes, however, his ambition is distorted and becomes unhealthy. In the process of his life, his violence is a double-edged sword that hurts not only other people but also himself. He is not only the killing but the killed. Finally the implications of this thesis are that human needs should be emphasized and human rights and choices should be respected, so as to try to avoid the vicious circle of violence in Macbeth.