Good vs evil in Shakespeare's Macbeth

The play 'Macbeth' is a very tragic one. It is about the downfall of a hero who is led by temptation to mass murder and cruelty. Shakespeare uses various styles and techniques to display very evidently how Macbeth's character develops as the story progresses, and thus we see how Macbeth turns from good to evil, from a "valiant cousin" and "worthy gentleman" to a "bloody butcher." The play tells the story of how a noble warrior, Macbeth, descends into evil after meeting with three witches - supernatural beings who prophesy Macbeth's destiny. He is told he will become King of Scotland, and this idea of gaining power leads him to murder the king, take his throne and then continue his 'murder spree' on seemingly whoever he feels like. Eventually Macbeth is slain and order is restored in Scotland.

From the very start we have progressively come to abhor Macbeth, however, we cannot help but feel a certain admiration for him.

Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.

Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head. B...

English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...

But much more we have a sense of irony and waste: irony because some sterling qualities have been put to such evil use, waste because Macbeth was a potentially great man who was lost. . Macbeth is a play concerned wholly with the battle between good and evil - throughout the play we continually see signs of a supernatural struggle between the two, with evil 'winning' over good when Macbeth murders the king, but then good finally defeating evil when Macbeth is slain. In fact, in the very opening scene we see signs of supernatural happenings and evil - the witches: "Fair is foul and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air"

Here we see that, to the witches, what is evil is good ("foul is fair") and what is...