The critic Frank W. Wadsworth
once commented, "In Macbeth, Shakespeare wrote a tragedy of a man's conscience. During the course of the play, Macbeth
changes from a person of strong but imperfect moral sense to a man who will stop at nothing to get and keep what he wants.
By the play's end Macbeth has lost all emotion.
I agree with this comment in many ways. First,
Macbeth began as a strong man. He was highly favored by the king because of his heroic actions in battle. He also gained a
higher position because of his bravery. Just like Wadsworth said Macbeth began to change. At first he wanted to kill
one man to help three witches predictions about him come true. Little by little greed came into the picture and before he
knew it he was killing or attempting to kill anyone who he thought might get in his way. As the play continues we begin to
notice that Macbeth is acting strangely. He is beginning to lose his mind. We see this in two major scenes. One is where he
sees Banquo's ghost and the other is when he sees the floating dagger. His guilt and conscience is getting to him and he can
not take it anymore. So he literally beats himself at the end of the play.
