Macbeth is not evil. On the contrary, he is ambitious. It is this very ambition, combined with the deception of the witches' prophecies and his wife's greed for power, that makes him a wicked "dead butcher" (Shakespeare 5.8.71), as Malcolm puts it, at the end of the book. He is driven to kill Duncan, his good friend, and Macduff's family for reasons he is led to believe are justified. Overall, Macbeth is just as much a victim as the people he killed. The ambition of any character is pretty easy to spot and Macbeth is no exception. His desires and aspirations become clearer as the story progresses, but from the beginning his need to achieve more and more is there. He views his fate as an “act of swelling” (Shakespeare 1.3.131), something that can only continue to expand. Even though it is this way of thinking that ultimately leads to his demise, it is admirable. Everyone has a great appetite for fame and success. It turns out that Macbeth has more than the average man. We can't blame him. Certainly, one could argue that his ambition led him...