At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is presented as valiant and heroic noble, loyal to King Duncan and an ideal Jacobean nobleman. Yet by the end of the play Macbeth is an uncontrollable tyrant who murders any opposition to his rule. One could argue that Macbeth does not change all too much, as he is introduced through violence and bloodshed, and the brutalness displayed is sustained from start to finish, the only difference being his reasons for murder. Macbeth is introduced by a soldier recounting the excellent feats of loyalty and strength he demonstrated in the war. The soldier compares Macbeth to 'valour's minion', and describes how he 'carved out' an enemy's 'passage till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps'. By introducing Macbeth through praise from others, the audience learn that Macbeth has a very positive reputation, and the simile of 'valour's minion' demonstrates unyielding loyalty and courage as he is willing to confront danger for the sake of his King. Shakespeare presents Macbeth in this heroic manner, so that his later decline into tyranny is made more apparent, and has a larger impact on the overall development of his character. However, the soldier also details Macbeth's savage slaughter of the enemy, and how he 'fix'd his head upon the battlements'. Macbeth receives praise for these ruthless and gory acts. At this point in the play, Macbeth's brutality is romanticised because it's done with good intentions. Due to this, one could argue that Macbeth was a violent character from the very beginning of the play, however, his descent into tyranny wasn't due to his violent acts but rather the reason for them - here, his violence is for the sake of his king and his country, but later down the line, his violence and murders are committed for his own sense of security. The first major change in Macbeth is when his ambition begins to grow, for example right before his murder of Duncan. Originally, he decides that he doesn't want 'light to see my black and deep desires', showing that he hopes he will never actually have to kill Duncan. The juxtaposition between 'light' and 'black' is indicative of the battle between ambition and morality, although he is eager to bear the title of King, it's not something he's willing to act for. However, In act 2 scene 1, during a soliloquy, Macbeth hallucinates a 'dagger', with the 'handle toward his hand'. The dagger is a physical manifestation of his ambition and guilt, completely contrasting the heroic and noble character that was just introduced to us, because he now plans to commit regicide, the most serious crime as it would affect the natural order of the entire world. Furthermore, the change in Macbeth due to his ambition is more apparent in Act 3 Scene 1 when he says 'we have scotch'd the snake but not kill'd it'. By this point, Macbeth has already murdered Duncan and expressed immense amounts of grief over it, yet he feels his throne is not secure and decides the only way to fix it is to kill those who pose a threat to his crown. He decides that he must also murder Banquo in order to truly secure his throne, and even keeps this knowledge away from Lady Macbeth by telling her to 'be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck'. Macbeth's 'seated heart' would once 'knock at his ribs' when contemplating murder, yet now it's nothing more than a triviality for him, signifying his descent into total cruelty. Shakespeare uses the change in Macbeth from heroism to tyranny to show the dangerous effects of unchecked ambition and how they can cloud your judgement to the point of total moral decay. The final change in Macbeth is after the death of Lady Macbeth, where he adopts nihilistic views after finally coming to the conclusion that all of his actions were for nothing. He acknowledges that life is 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'. Shakespeare uses anagnorisis to signify the exact moment that Macbeth realises all of his tyrannical actions, his betrayals, his ambition, it led to nothing. However, we also see Macbeth's former self, because in the fight against Macduff, even after realising that he does not 'bear a charmed life', he exclaims 'I will not yield'. The act of tenacity and courage from Macbeth mirrors his actions in Act 1 Scene 2, when he was first introduced to the audience. The cyclical structure of Macbeth being introduced in battle and dying in battle shows that Macbeth never actually changed in terms of qualities such as valour and bravery.