Through the chronicles of history there have always been heroes. Men and women that stand up and take charge and are moral leaders of countries. Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Churchill are only a few examples of people that are remember eternally for what they have done. There are also other leaders that people would like to forget because they are moral cowards killing their subject and causing evil. Stalin, Fidel Castro, and the Character of Macbeth are all examples of this. Macbeth is a moral coward. During the play Macbeth often shows that he is morale coward. For instance, when he is planning Duncan’s murder. Likewise he also shows cowardice by killing Banquo. Lastly he shows how spineless he is when he orders Macduffs family to be murdered.
A coward is an individual that is easily scared or has difficulty performing functions because of possible reprocutions. Macbeth shows notable cowardice when planning the murder of Duncan. Macbeth leans from one side to the other because he is fearful of the reprocutions. Macbeth says, “ If we} should fail”. This shows that he is fearful and too cowardly to act. Lady Macbeth also states, “Are thou afeard to be the same in thine own act”. Again showing how cowardly Macbeth is because he will not act. Likewise Macbeth is a coward because he murders Duncan in the middle of the night and does not give a formal challenge. Instead he pretends to be his friend then kills Duncan while he is sleeping. This is what a coward would do.
Likewise Macbeth also shows cowardice by killing Banquo. This shows cowardice on Macbeth’s part because his only true reason for killing him is that he is afraid of Banquo’s royalty of nature. Banquo poses no real threat to Macbeth’s throne and is visibly loyal to him. Still Macbeth fears Banquo because he is a good guy and is very respected. Macbeth is spineless because he even believes that his friend is after him and is a danger to his throne. Macbeth says “our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared”. Macbeth is pusillanimous to the point that he even believes that his friend posses the greatest opposition for him as king. As well as this Macbeth is also a coward because he himself does not kill Banquo. Instead he gets some commoners to do it for him. Macbeth uses the excuse that “I must not for certain friends that are both his and mine, whose loves I may not drop”. Only a coward would kill his friend because he feels he is better than him.
Lastly, Macbeth shows how cowardly he is when he orders Macduff’s family dead. This is cowardly act because Macduff is not home at the time and his quarrel is with Macduff and not his family. Macbeth knows that Macduff is not home because Lennox told him” Macduff is fled to England”. Yet Macbeth is so blinded by the fear of losing his throne that he orders the murder of an innocent family. This is Macbeth’s most morally cowardly act preformed by Macbeth. No man of able mind could have done this only a tormented mind of a coward could have thought up such a scheme where so many lives are spent to ease the fear of a frightened cowardly king.
Thus Macbeth is a moral coward. His cowardice is proven through examination of the scenes of the play, for instance when he is planning Duncan’s murder. Likewise he also shows cowardice by killing Banquo. Lastly he shows how spineless he is when he orders Macduffs family dead. All these scenes embody the image of Macbeth as a moral coward because of his actions. Macbeth is not a Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Genghis Khan or even a Churchill he is more a Stalin or Fidel Castro whose perspective countries only want to forget them.
