Sympathy is an extremely prominent and important theme within Macbeth, and I have the most sympathy for Macbeth, as he starts noble, becomes brainwashed, and ends dead. At the start of the novel, the Captain describes Macbeth as "valiant" and "loyal", as well as titling him "brave Macbeth, for well he deserves that name". Also, it brings an immediate first impression of the idea that Macbeth is a noble and loyal person, and preempts his downfall. The huge change in personalities and downfall that Shakespeare has created pushes sympathy into the heart of the audience later on in the play. When Lady Macbeth is talking to Macbeth about Duncan's death, she orders him to "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't". The use of caesura creates a pause and makes Lady Macbeth's statement seem not only emphasised, but also forceful. This links back to sympathy as the forcefulness of Lady Macbeth, his wife, creates the idea that Macbeth is being controlled to do bad things by his own wife, and later gets beheaded for carrying those actions out. Later, Shakespeare creates sympathy for Macbeth, in the part where he hallucinates a dagger before he kills Duncan. "Is this a dagger I see before me" is said by Macbeth to describe the dagger, and he also says "a dagger of the mind, a false creation", showing his knowledge of his hallucination, but also his severe internal conflict. The internal conflict is between his righteous, noble self, and the newer, evil, regicidal self created by his wife. This internal conflict emphasises the sympathy as the audience would feel that he is being manipulated and he can do nothing to stop it. Shakespeare also puts sympathy into the reader's hearts by showing Macbeth's guilt after the murder, when he says "Will all great Neptune's oceans wash the blood clean from my hand?" The use of the soliloquy shows that his guilt is so great that it cannot remain in his mind, and the rhetorical question shows his desperateness to be clean of his horrible deed. The use of the god Neptune and their ocean shows the extent of his guilt, and this all creates sympathy for Macbeth, as his guilt is driving him mad. Towards the end, during the siege, Macbeth hears the screams of his beloved wife, and gives a short but powerful soliloquy. "Life's but a walking shadow," is a statement he makes, showing he thinks that human life, after death, has no effect on the overall world, and shows his numbness and sadness. This depression stage creates sympathy for Macbeth, as well as the fact he just lost his beloved wife, and has no time to mourn properly. At the end, sympathy is still present after Macbeth's death, as Malcolm describes him as "this dead butcher and his friend-like queen," but this only shows the observer view, whereas within the relationship, Macbeth was being horribly manipulated by both the Witches and Lady Macbeth, making his description of a "butcher" partially inaccurate and unjust, creating sympathy, for even after his death, his cursed upon and spoken badly of, for being manipulated. In conclusion, I believe Macbeth deserves the most sympathy, as his rise and fall were only the result of just two things: Lady Macbeth and the Three Witches. They played tricks on his mind, one for power and the other for fun.