Macbeth

        Shakespeare believed in the Renaissance ideal of a man who was balanced with emotion and reason. In the play, Macbeth, Shakespeare believes that man is essentially good although the charcater Macbeth falls in evil. Macbeth is portrayed as an honest, courageous and loyal man at the beginning. He has his human flaws but lets one rule over his other traits; this being ambition, and throws off the balance of his internal nature. As Shakespeare believed in cosmic justice and the wrongs of the world being righted, Macbeth at the end of the play sees how evil has unbalanced his character and dies knowing this--he was not completely evil to be oblivious to it, and did not like the person he became.
        An honest description of Macbeth is given by his wife Lady Macbeth when she tells of his being "too full o' the milk of human kindness." He is a good man, but we witness his ambition overtake him. He seeks the crown more than anything else, and is convinced by his wife to kill King Duncan, who has to supress her natural goodness in her to accomplish this deed. After Macbeth kills Duncan, he feels regret and guilt. It is a perversion of his nature to murder. But he cannot undo what he has done. He loses his sense of right and wrong. He kills his friend Banquo. He murders the family of Macduff. We learn that Macbeth's wife cannot deal with the evil things that she has been involved with. She twisted her morals to get what she wanted, but then is tormented by all the blood, as is Macbeth. Macbeth sees what a monster he has become and is full of despair. All the while, good is preparing to overthrow the evil King Macbeth in the form of Macduff, Malcolm, and the English forces. Macbeth is unseated and killed. He could not kill Macduff when he could have and Macduff killed him. The good in man always wins out as the good in Macbeth was not fully consumed by evil at his end.
        Macbeth was a man taken by evil but not overrun by it. In the end he could not live with himself anymore. His evil deeds had unbalanced his nature and caused his downfall. The good set back the scale with Malcolm taking his rightful place as king. Good wins here since man is essentially good. And the man who is balanced with emotion and reason is good.
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