Reading through William Shakespeare's tragic play, Macbeth, one will find it strangely amusing how much sympathy is given to a murderous, ruthless couple. William Shakespeare cleverly keeps the sympathy towards Macbeth by describing Macbeth's hesitancy to kill King Duncan, how delusional and crazy he becomes after the murder of the king and Banquo, and his reaction to Lady Macbeth's suicide. .
Sympathy is shown to Macbeth because of his unwilling actions to murder King Duncan. For example, Macbeth originally stopped his plan and said to Lady Macbeth, "We will proceed no further in this business:He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people,Which would be worn now/Not cast aside so soon." (I, vii, 31-34) This shows that Macbeth backed out on his plans, but it was Lady Macbeth who had to persuade him to bring his own words and dreams to life. This creates a level of sympathy because Macbeth was only doing the deed to prove his manliness to his strong, independent wife. Another example is when Macbeth imagines a dagger in front of him right before he kills the king. He sees blood spots on the dagger as it points towards Macbeth's hand. He hallucinates and says, "Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses, It is the bloody business which informs/ Thus to mine eyes/ Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse"(II, i, 44-50). This example shows sympathy towards Macbeth because it shows the beginning of his delusional and insane being. The audience is easily able to feel pity for Macbeth because not only did his wife encourage the murder, but it was also a very difficult task for him to fulfill. .
Another way Shakespeare straightforwardly creates a sense of sympathy to Macbeth was by constantly describing his lunatic mental state. For example, Macbeth frantically tries to wash all the bloodstains off his hands from King Duncan's murder, and he hears a voice screaming, " 'Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/ Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.
