Sriram Sundararaman ENG2DO F Mr.

Gale Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Character Analysis Culminating Activity

The play named The Mysterious Treasure portrays three young men (Jem, Jack and Macbeth) stranded on an isolated jungle. The genre of this play is tragedy. Jem, the protagonist of the play, is a young and honest character. Jem and Jack, the two antagonists of the play, are cruel and arrogant. To begin with, Macbeth is the character that I have chosen for my character analysis. I chose him because he is one of the most intense and powerful villains in the play Macbeth. His aggressive and arrogant nature suited our plotline because we needed a strong antagonist in our play. In this play, he is the King of Scotland and is slightly older than Jack and Jem. When he introduces himself as the King of Scotland, readers might have an initial impression of a respectable and virtuous leader. But, after an ugly confrontation with Jem, he loses his dignity. He shows his arrogance by disrespecting Jem. He did not want to listen to Jem because he was younger than him. This shows that Macbeth is not a virtuous leader as a good leader should listen to everyone irrespective of age. Even though he is elder to Jem, it does not mean he will be right every time. This shows his arrogance and overconfidence. Even in the play Macbeth, he did not listen to any one as people regarded him as a tyrant. After Jem finds the lamp, Jem thinks that it is a symbol of hope and rescue. But, Macbeth did not want to want to get rescued because he had personal ambitions. To achieve his personal ambitions, Macbeth did not ask Jem or Jack for thoughts and suggestions. He first spoke to himself because that is his how he acts. In this soliloquy, his private ambitions are made clear to the audience. He thinks that he should hold the lamp because he has a pure heart. This shows Macbeths ambitious desire for the lamp. He was so confident that he is only person with the purest heart in the group of three. The only problem that Macbeth faces now is Jack, the other antagonist. His response to this problem is violence and murder. Even in the play Macbeth, his responses to most problems were aggression and violence. This proves that Macbeth does not have the right attitude to face a tough situation. He could have solved this problem by placating Jack. But, Macbeth, using his sword, slaughters Jack. He plans this murder perfectly as he kills Jack when Jem is away. The theme of what goes around comes around is proved immediately as Jack also kills him. Jems speech before he leaves foreshadows their death as there is extreme thunder and lightning before their fight. This warns readers that something bad is going to happen. Macbeths ill-fated decisions based upon ambitions ultimately led to his own demise. In this play, Macbeth is not manipulated by a character like Lady Macbeth, but instead manipulated by his ambitions and emotions. This proves the theme of manipulation. Human nature is put to test when Jem finds the lamp. This play tells readers that some people like Jack and Macbeth are inherently evil while others like Jem are inherently good. Even though people are dignified, there is a beast that lies in every humans heart. It is normally chained by rules and regulations of a civilization. Once the civilization breaks down, the darker side of humanity is revealed. The darker side of Macbeth is revealed when there is no one to look after him. This play examines the nature of evil and the corruption of the humans. After finding the magic lamp, Macbeths evil

nature drives him to madness. The evil of Macbeth was so great that ultimately it destroys him. In conclusion, Macbeth is brave and powerful, but also ambitious and greedy. His ambitions and greediness ultimately lead to his death.