How does shakespeare make duncan admirable in macbeth?
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How does Shakespeare make Macbeth a character with whom the audience can sympathize?
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DOUG STUVA eNotes educator| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Shakespeare is notoriously ambiguous in his tragedies, which contributes to their popularity among teachers and scholars, since they can be debated relentlessly. The last I heard, for instance, more commentary had been written about Hamlet than any other book in existence, except the Bible.
Macbeth is ambiguous, as well. For instance, many productions of the play show Banquo's ghost in Act 4.3 at the feast. The ghost's appearance seems likely to be real, or actual, in a play filled with the supernatural. Shakespeare uses a ghost in Hamlet, why not in Macbeth? Also, Gertrude in Hamlet doesn't see the Ghost of King Hamlet during the bedroom scene when the Ghost is seen by Hamlet, so there is nothing unusual about no one else seeing Banquo's ghost except Macbeth.
And if the ghost is real, then Macbeth is not insane. I think we misinterpret when we place too much emphasis on Macbeth's so-called insanity, and relieve him of responsibility by doing so. If Macbeth is not responsible, it is because of an overall design by fate or predestination, an issue important in Elizabethan England due to the Protestant Reformation, which brought the issue to the attention of Europeans.
That said, any sympathy for the character of Macbeth the audience feels must come from some other source than his insanity