Can you provide a character sketch of Macbeth?

When Shakespeare's Macbeth begins, Macbeth is a noble and courageous military leader. He's defeated the King of Norway and the treacherous Macdonwald in a decisive battle, and for his efforts he is fated to earn King Duncan's approval and admiration. Based on the way the play opens, it's easy to view Macbeth as an honorable man, one who could be potentially destined for greatness.

The way that Macbeth's character unravels is what makes him a tragic figure. With the Weird Sisters' prophetic promises ringing in his ears, Macbeth increasingly allows his ambition to get the better of him. At first, though he is clearly tempted by the chance to kill Duncan and steal the crown, Macbeth seems reluctant to follow through with his schemes. However, once Macbeth actually does murder Duncan, he truly begins to change. He becomes increasingly paranoid and resorts to ruthlessness to satisfy his craving for security. Indeed he even goes so far as to murder one of his closest companions, Banquo, and all of Macduff's family. By the end of the play, Macbeth has become a true tyrant, and, when Macduff kills him, Macbeth seems to have recognized the uselessness of his hunger for power and to have embraced despair. For an example of Macbeth's despair, take a look at his famous soliloquy responding to Lady Macbeth's death in Act 5, Scene 5:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (21-30)

This soliloquy is a meditation on the apparent uselessness of life, at least according to Macbeth's perspective. Thus, we can see that Macbeth begins the play as a courageous, even heroic figure, but through the course of the narrative he transforms into a paranoid and despairing tyrant. This transformation is truly tragic, and it's impossible to avoid wondering what kind of man Macbeth might have been if he hadn't heard the Weird Sisters' prophecy.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

Notes

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