What is Macbeth's character?

Answer 1

Your teacher will probably say "ambition" but he or she is only parroting generations of teachers. Indeed the idea that people have "character flaws" which determine their characters is a very superficial treatment of how people operate. People are motivated by many factors, some of which come to the fore in reaction to certain stimuli, and some of which contradict each other. In Macbeth's case, he is bullied and cajoled into murdering Duncan by his wife. You might say that his flaw is that he is controlled by his wife, except that, from the moment he commits the murder, she no longer controls him. At that point he becomes paranoid and fearful and, once having crossed the line and having committed murder, there is nothing to prevent him from committing ever more horrific crimes as the play goes on.