In the opening of Macbeth, we see no flaws linked to Macbeth. He is presented as a strong and powerful character. He is described by King Duncan “As sparrow’s eagles, or the hare the lion” This simile shows us that whatever the army they’re facing they will beat it. Due to this he is respected by his fellow soldiers and people higher than him in ranks. Shakespeare is telling the audience that Macbeth is unbeatable and extremely strong. Shakespeare also hints that Macbeth could have a dark future due to his unbeatable and powerful nature.

However in the opening chapter of The Christmas Carol, Scrooge is a complete opposite to Macbeth. Scrooge is shown as someone is cold hearted and self-centred. In the opening we can tell that Scrooge only cares about himself, I can demonstrate this when the charity worker comes to Scrooges work place and he refuses the give them donations and tells them that the homeless should die and they should decrease the surplus population. Dickens presents Scrooge as an over exaggerated evil person. I believe that Charles Dickens presents Scrooge this way because his own father had debt problems and he felt that the debt collector was similar to Scrooge. So, in the openings of both story and play Scrooge and Macbeth are completely opposite men and that could be influenced by what they do for a living.

Moving on from the beginning of the play and the novella, Macbeth and Scrooge are developing flaws in their characters. In Macbeth, Macbeth has told Lady Macbeth all about what the three sisters have told him about his future. As Lady Macbeth is a power thirsty women, she manipulates Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. As we know from the openings of the play, Macbeth is strong and he has second thoughts over it. I can demonstrate this when Macbeth is in his soliloquy. “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well It were done quickly if the assassination could trammel up the consequence” Even though Macbeth is having second thoughts, his Wife stills persuades him to do otherwise. After these events the audience now know that Macbeth is gullible and vulnerable and a completely different to the man from the beginning of the play.

In the Christmas Carol, Scrooge meets an unexpected guestp upon the instant.” This quote tells us that Scrooge has a slight chance of also known as Jacob Marley’s ghost. As Scrooge is reunited with his old partner, he quickly assumes that this ghost wasn’t real and this was a dream. As the chapter progresses he believes in the ghost and he tells him that if he doesn’t change he will fall into the fate of his old business partner. We can tell that Scrooge had a difficult night when it says “Scrooge went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell aslee changing his ways and that this night was frightening experience. From only a couple pages into the book, the audience have found out that Scrooge is an evil old man but with a bit of motivation from something unexpected he can change his ways. This is similar to Macbeth because both characters are being influenced by someone or something else, but both characters are still going in opposite paths to each other.

Nearing the denouement of Macbeth, Macbeth has much more flaws than his glorious start to this play. In this part of the play, Macbeth Orders two assassins to kill his best friend Banquo. He does this because he believes that Banquo is going to betray him by telling someone of his secret. “Sweet remembrance! Now, good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both! Sweet remembrance! Now, good digestion wait on appetite, and health on both!” When Macbeth says this to both of the murderers he is now manipulating them that murdering Banquo was the right thing to do and that they saved Scotland. Now the audience know that Macbeth is unholy and that his dark future from the start has come true.

On stave III of The Christmas Carol, Scrooge encounters his second spirit, the ghost of Christmas present. Whilst flying around with the spirit, they travel the Scrooge’s clerk, Bob Cratchit. Scrooge see’s Bobs son called Tiny Tim and he says “tell me if Tiny Tim will live.” When Scrooge says these words, we all know as the audience that Scrooge is started to change because at the start of the novella he didn’t care about no one apart from himself.

At the denouement of the play, Macbeth is consumed by his flaws. Just before his final battle, Macbeth finds out about his wife’s death. Macbeth reacts nihilistic to the news. This is demonstrated when he says “she should of died hereafter” This quote creates an image that Macbeth is finally giving up and starting not to care about himself and his family’s life. I think that Shakespeare wanted Macbeth to be presented as someone who is hopeless because in the play he is always the one who is in control and at this point of the play he knows he has no chance of staying king or even being alive, and he is now feeling the consequences of his savage actions earlier in the play.

However at the denouement of The Christmas Carol, Scrooge has a completely different flaws to Macbeth. Both characters have gone in paths that have affected them in different ways. In Macbeth they draw attention to his flaws but in Christmas Carol they emphasise his virtues. This is established when he is pleading with the ghost of Christmas past yet to come: “Spirit! He cried, tight clutching at its robe. Hear me! I am not the man I was… Why show me this, if I am past all hope.” The rhetorical question that he uses suggests that Scrooge is terrified of what is to come in his life so he wants him to change it. I believe that Dickens presented Scrooge this way to show people that the worse of people can change and turn into someone good. However, both Scrooge and Macbeth have both completely changed their characters from the beginning of the story, in Scrooge’s case he has changed positively but for Macbeth he changed in such a manner that he got killed for his actions.