Macbeth has bravely fought in a battle on the side of his ruler, King Duncan, risking his own life.
The Captain, who is telling King Duncan about the battle, is clearly impressed by Macbeth's bravery. By using brackets here (or dashes in some versions), Shakespeare is emphasising that Macbeth deserves to be called brave and that his bravery stands out.
Macbeth obviously lives by the heroic code (tells you how a noble person should act).
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'We will proceed no further in this business’.
This is what Macbeth tells his wife to mean he does not want to kill King Duncan anymore
Despite his final decision to murder King Duncan ( ‘False face must hide what the false heart doth know.’ 1,7), Macbeth really struggles with the decision to go ahead with the plot. - Macbeth does not want to go against his friend, his king or God (removing the rightful king from the throne was a sin against God).
It is Lady Macbeth who uses manipulation to encourage Macbeth to go ahead with the murder – she calls him a coward, accuses him of lying to his wife, implies that he is less than a man, etc.
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‘He unseam'd him from the nave to th' chops, / And
Macbeth's violent side is present from the start.
He is thought to be a hero because of his violent nature – but, he uses this violence to kill people for the king.
When fighting the Norwegian enemies, Macbeth attacked a man he had never met before and slit him open from his belly to his jaw, and then cut off his head and placed it on the battlements.
This action is horrific, but is viewed as heroic because it happened to an enemy.
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