Macbeth: Brave or Coward “Cowards die many times before their death. Macbeth showed many notable characteristics throughout Shakespeare's play Macbeth. He was brave at times and cowardly at others. The most notable feature in my opinion was that Macbeth seemed very ambitious throughout the play. He also appears to be a moral coward as he depends more on others than himself to make decisions. All of these factors soon lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. At the beginning of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth is very clearly portrayed as a hero. He becomes very ambitious to be king and is very loyal to the king in the opening scenes. This is shown in the quote “If chance wants me to be king, well, chance can crown me, without my agitation.” His ambition to become king dissolved his goodness and morality. When Duncan arrives in Inverness, Macbeth controls his ambition for the moment and thinks very strongly about the plot to murder Duncan. A quote from Lady Macbeth said: “My hands are your color; but I am ashamed to carry such a white heart.” When Lady Macbeth called him a coward, before you knew it, the murder was happening. After the successful murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered a life of evil. Ambition was also clearly displayed when he considered killing his friend Banquo to protect royalty. The witches' predictions sent Macbeth to his own world where he could not be stopped on the path to becoming king. Macbeth shows his courage by overcoming his personal problems to plot the death of the king. In the scene where Duncan's murder takes place, he also shows that he is a coward when he fails to carry out the murder by taking back the daggers and placing them in the hands of the guards. It also showed a sense of insecurity, with Macbeth no longer seeming confident in the success of the murder. Macbeth, who no longer needed Lady Macbeth's encouragement, began to leave her to unfold his plans. The power of fate comes back to haunt Macbeth towards the end of the play. Macbeth never imagined that Macduff would return to take revenge for all the murders of the Macduff family. This is proven when Macbeth says, “You were born of woman, but swords make me smile, weapons mock with scorn, brandished by a man born of woman.” This shows a force beyond Macbeth's control. His strong ambition towards the witches and their predictions soon deceived him when he discovered that Macduff was not born of a woman and that the third apparition appeared to be true. He then realized that he was no longer safe. Its characteristics proved beneficial to the story and its ending by allowing the reader to better understand the situations Macbeth faces. Certain characteristics also influenced the opinions of others and sometimes his own. Macbeth moves from good to evil as the play progresses. Macbeth's character traits played a major role in Shakespeare's play and provided insight into events to come..