Within the Gothic genre a stereotypical villain is often presented as a merciless and oppressive murderer; The term 'butcher' can connote to a character that portrays these conventional traits. Within 'Macbeth' however, it can be seen that the character of Macbeth himself breaks the boundaries between the typical Gothic antagonist and a tragic hero. It could be argued the Macbeth is not merely a 'butcher' as his earlier instances within the play present a loyal war-like protagonist that, in committing taboos of regicide and murder, does not fail to feel remorse and to display guilt for his actions.
Many may argue that Macbeth is 'merely a butcher' even from his descriptions at the start of the play. Macbeth's first mention in the play is through the…show more content… Macbeth is seen to declare: 'stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires.' The pure and angelic connotations of 'light' contrast the evil of the 'dark'. This is an indication of Macbeth's darkened persona. The senseless 'butcher' that Macbeth is later portrayed as due to this evil can thereby be seen as inevitable from the depiction of his character from the…show more content… Macbeth's murderous actions are due to his lust for power arising from the words of the Witches as they declare that Macbeth 'shalt be king hereafter.' This can be seen to be the cause of Macbeth's disloyalty to Duncan and the arising of his 'black and deep desires' to murder Duncan. Later, the Witches again manipulate Macbeth into murdering the family of Macduff by declaring that he should 'beware Macduff!' It can thereby be seen that Macbeth is not just a mere 'butcher' but a man influenced by the superior and arguably bewitching words of the three Weird