In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the title character is a killer. Through the course of the play, he kills five different people or groups of people, one in each act. These are, respectively, Macdonwald, Duncan, Banquo, Macduff's family, and Young Siward. These five killings are different. In the beginning, Macbeth kills for his king. He then suffers a fall from grace before finally becoming a noble figure again in the end. But more interesting than …showed first 75 words of 1283 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1283 total…a fall from grace in killing Duncan, but then he picks up the pieces and returns to being the noble man he once was. Shakespeare shows the various sides of Macbeth's character through the killings, for death, in literature, can convey important messages. This is the role of death in Macbeth, and it is this use of characterization, among so many other things, that made Shakespeare the great writer he was and still is today.