Differentiate between the direct and indirect characterization Shakespeare uses in order to construct his characters.
Shakespeare uses indirect characterization through the wounded captain. “… with his brandished steel, /which smoked with bloody execution,/ like Valour’s minion carved out his passage/ till he faced the slave,” (1.2.17-20) talks about how powerful Macbeth is in battle. This also communicates to the audience about how loyal Macbeth is towards the Duncan as he fights for him. “… brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name” (1.2.16) the author tries to establish how the society saw Macbeth.
On the other hand, the author uses direct characterization to build the characters. In Macbeth’s soliloquy (1.7.1-27), Macbeth expresses his thoughts on killing Duncan. Macbeth expresses his desires to kill the king, but his thoughts contradict itself as the author wanted to show that despite Macbeth is willing to kill to get what he wants, he also has some humanity left in him.
Thanks for posting your response.
In future, try to embed your quotes more seamlessly. See below for an example:
Shakespeare uses indirect characterisation through the wounded captain who recounts how powerful Macbeth is in battle by describing “… his brandished steel, /which smoked with bloody execution,/ like Valour’s minion carved out his passage/ till he faced the slave,” (1. 2. 17-20).