"This dead butcher and his fiend like queen" How far do you agree with Malcolm's assessment of the Macbeth's fiend Devil?

Meanwhile Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth's conscience and indecision will hold him back firstly from carrying out the deed and secondly from his ambitions. So she decides that she will carry out the deed herself, " He that's coming/ Must be provided for, and you shall put/ This night's great business into my dispatch"(I.vi.64-66). But then later when Macbeth is feeling that the deed should not be carried out she knows what to do. She starts taunting him and makes him think that he is a coward; "Was the hope drunk/ Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?/Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ Like the poor cat I'th'adage?"(I.vii.35-44) Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to carry out the killing. And so whilst Macbeth's motive is his ambition it is Lady Macbeth's intelligent taunting and pleading of Macbeth that persuades him to go ahead. In her own way Lady Macbeth is brave being quite prepared to take part herself.

Shakespeare started the play with the witches and the thunder and lightning. He started it this way to show that this play is going to be about evil and corruption it has a very profound effect on an audience watching the play. Particularly an audience of his time. In Shakespeare's time witches were believed in and feared. It has an effect on their impressions; why would these evil witches be meeting this noble hero Macbeth? This starts to lead into the idea that Macbeth is becoming evil. The idea that Macbeth or anyone else cannot prevent what the witches predict from happening is preposterous. I think that they know that once they set Macbeth's ambition off he would do anything to become king.

At the beginning of the next act Macbeth sees the image of the Dagger in his important soliloquy. He starts to wonder whether it is inviting him to kill Duncan and yet he knows that he can't touch it. He starts to think it is only something created from his "...heat-oppressed brain."(II.i.39). He is wondering whether it is telling him the way to go or that his eyes are fooling him. This killing would go against Macbeth's nature and the whole of natural law. We come back to this idea after the killing has taken place. After Macbeth has killed Duncan he is very agitated and worried and he has forgotten to place the daggers with the Grooms. It is his wife who is down to earth and practical trying to stop Macbeth thinking guilty thoughts, " you do unbend your noble strength to think I so brain sickly of things."(II.ii.48-49) When she returns she sees that both their hands are of a bloody colour and that is when she says, "A little water clears us of this deed."(II.ii.70). Lady Macbeth is only talking about washing the blood off their hands but Macbeth is worried about his blood- stained soul. In these few lines we can see a part of Lady Macbeth's na? thoughts. Throughout this scene Lady Macbeth has been the one who has kept her head and without her guidance and help Macbeth would probably have not gone ahead or would have been found out for the murder.

Macduff and Lennox come to wake the king to describe the storm that is raging outside. This is symbolic of the effects that Duncan's death is already having on the world. Lennox says that the earth "Was feverous and did shake."(II.iii.53). Macbeth replies somewhat ironically, " `Twas a rough night."(II.iii.54). This gives the impression that the chain of being has already been upset or destroyed and that the divine right of succession had already been broken. The Chain of Being was an idea of the importance of all the people, animals and angels on the earth, at the top of this chain was God and the angels, then came the kings that ruled the earth (the kings were said to be God's servants, trusted to rule the planet honourably) below the kings came the noble men, then the lower classes and finally the animals.

When Lady Macbeth sees the dead Duncan she faints, this maybe this is because she realises the severity of the deed that she and her husband have committed; it might be, however, the fact that she is a good actor and that she is just trying to act as any normal woman would.

Thus are the important scenes leading up to and following the murder of Duncan. The differing characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are shown. He is undoubtedly a brave and fearless man, vicious and ruthless in battle also with an overwhelming ambition. But at crucial points he couldn't make up his mind and feared the consequences of murdering the king. In contrast at all points up to and immediately following the murder Lady Macbeth was consistent and determined, she plans the murder and the cover-up. Also " fiend like" she summons the evil spirits to give her the strength to help Macbeth carry through the murder.

At the beginning of the next act Banquo suspects Macbeth to have, "...played'st most foully"(III.i.3), to become king. Banquo does not reveal that he feels that he is in danger from Macbeth and he remains loyal to him. However he does suggest that because the witch's predictions proved true for Macbeth maybe his descendants will become kings as well.

Macbeth has invited Banquo to the banquet and does in no way expect him to turn up because he has arranged for him to be killed. When he invites Banquo he is keen to know whether Fleance is going to ride with him, which is because he wants both of them out of the way. He wants Banquo out of the way because he knows about the witch's predictions and he wants Fleance out of the way because it was predicted that Banquo's descendants would become kings. This is when Macbeth starts to push his wife out of the way and take over the action. He does not tell her that he has arranged the death of Banquo and Fleance. He tells her that she should " Be innocent of the knowledge"(III.ii.45). The fact that he is willing to kill a dear friend of his who has fought with him in battle shows the violent side of Macbeth. The fact that Macbeth will not even perform the deed himself shows how he is a coward. Though he has good reason not to commit this crime himself since he is now king and he cannot let there be a chance of his name being disgraced.

At the beginning of the banquet scene the murderers give Macbeth the bad news that Fleance has escaped and the apparently good news about Banquo's death. Macbeth is not immediately troubled by Fleance's escape so he does not worry about this. Macbeth has already had hallucinations about the dagger and now he believes he sees Banquo's ghost and he continues to rant and rave about this in front of his audience while his wife tries to cover up for him. She then takes him aside and says to him, "Are you a man?"(III.iv.58). This again is designed to test him and make him come to his senses and it works for a short time until he hallucinates again. Things start to get dangerous for Macbeth and his wife at the end of the scene when the lords start asking questions about what Macbeth has seen. This is where Lady Macbeth has to tell the lords to leave because she and her husband could be found out. Then at the end of the scene Macbeth says this: "I am in blood/ Stepped so far that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go'er."(III.iv.136-138). This is one example of blood imagery that presents itself throughout the play as one of the main themes. Macbeth is saying that now he has committed so many murders that it would be harder to stop than to carry on, this quote really shows Macbeth's bloody and ruthless side. Another quote in that scene which really shows this side of Macbeth is when he says, "We are yet young in deed."(III.iv.144). This shows that he is going to carry on killing people rather than turning back. He is telling his wife 'you ain't seen nothing yet'.

From this point on the lords suspect Macbeth for the murders though they dare not say it loud and clear for fears of being killed themselves or being accused of treason. They do fear for their own lives because anyone who has threatened the rule of Macbeth has died. People are afraid of Macbeth and the dictatorship that he has

created. One lord says that with Malcolm placed on his rightful throne:

"...we may again

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights,

Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives,

Do faithful homage and receive free honours

All which we pine for now."(III.vi.33-37). This shows that under Macbeth's rule Scotland is suffering and people cannot eat leisurely at banquets for fear of being murdered. This shows the threatening way through which Macbeth is ruling.

In the next act Macbeth seeks the witches himself. This would have a huge effect on the audience's view and impression of Macbeth. This definitely shows the evil side of Macbeth, for if he actually seeks out the company and guidance of such evil beings as witches then he surely is evil. Something that seems to support this idea of Macbeth being evil is before Macbeth enters the scene one of the witches says, "Something wicked this way comes"(IV.i.45). The witches then show Macbeth the three apparitions; Macbeth is not worried by this because he does not interpret them as he should do. The first apparition is an armed head. The apparition tells Macbeth to be aware of Macduff although by the end of the play this is actually meant to symbolise the severed head of Macbeth. One piece of advice which Banquo gave to Macbeth he seems to have forgotten, don't trust the witches because they will use his ambition to destroy him.

In the next scene Macbeth orders Macduff's wife and children to be killed. This is definitely the most terrible, evil and outrageous act that Macbeth has done. He has ordered a defenceless wife and her children to be murdered. Lady Macduff is one of the few women in the play and although her role may be quite short lived her character is quite important in considering Lady Macbeth. She is quite a contrast to Lady Macbeth because she is a loving mother whereas Lady Macbeth has given that up in aiding her husband's climb to power. Lady Macduff on the other hand has never interfered in her husband's business. Lady Macduff is the entire opposite to Lady Macbeth. This juxtaposition has been put in to the play just to show how evil Lady Macbeth is in contrast to other women.

When Macduff hears of his family's murder he swears to put and end to Macbeth. Macduff, Ross, Malcolm, Siward and the English army then set off to put an end to the bloody tyrant's reign.

At the beginning of the next act Lady Macbeth is brought back into the play. She is now sleepwalking and we are brought back to the idea of sleep that has been a theme throughout the whole play. This is the idea that the chain of being has been disrupted and therefore God has denied her sleep. Lady Macbeth had remained a strong character throughout the play (stronger than Macbeth) and now we see how she truly feels about everything. I described her as a book at the beginning of the essay and now we really see what she feels like inside. Before she was just showing her cover but now she has acknowledged her share of guilt for murdering Duncan and the evil part she played in persuading her husband. Lady Macbeth was trying to hide the fact earlier in the play and now she can't hold it in anymore and it comes out when she is sleeping at night. She is becoming the worse for holding it in, earlier in the play she said to Macbeth " A little water clears us of this deed."(II.ii.70). Now when she gets up in the night she is continually washing her hands but the blood will not come out; "Out damned spot! Out, I say!"(V.i.30)

In the next scene Macbeth's enemies are gathering. This is where Angus makes the comment "Now does he feel his title/ Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe/ Upon a dwarfish thief."(V.ii.121-123). This is clothing imagery and it represents how they all feel about Macbeth. They feel that he has stolen the robes of the king and that they don't fit him because he is not nearly a big enough man.

Over the next few scenes Macbeth seems to sense that he is going to die soon but this does not seem to dishearten him. He says, "I'll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked." This brings back the thought of the noble soldier from the beginning of the play that would fight to death for his country. The fact that he is willing to carry on, in spite of his men deserting him, gives you the sense of a noble warrior. Another thing that he says is "I 'gin to be weary of the sun." (V.v.48). He is saying here that he is beginning to get tired of life but he goes on to state that whatever the world throws at him he will die fighting.

When Lady Macbeth commits suicide we realise that she cannot be fiend-like because she felt the guilt after killing Duncan and she felt the guilt after turning Macbeth into the evil person he became throughout the middle of the play. It is therefore my conclusion that it was wrong to sum up Lady Macbeth as Fiend-like because she did accept what she had done and she felt guilty about it which is why she took her own life.

In the next scene Macbeth is fighting with Macduff and he is not afraid because no man that was born of woman can kill him. When Macbeth learns that Macduff was not born of woman but of caesarean (he realises he has been tricked by the witches) all of his confidence is lost. He still fights though even though he knows he is a lost cause. This shows one of his qualities, one that shines through the evil and corrupt soul that has betrayed him throughout. He is then killed. In conclusion I believe I have shown that the description of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is not completely correct for either of them. Whilst Macbeth's ambition made him a murderer, he was not just a "butcher" in the sense that he was troubled by doubts and his conscience and it took his wife's taunts to bring him to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth, shows all "fiendish" qualities by appealing to evil spirits for help to plan the detail of the murder of Duncan. Nevertheless she is troubled by her dreams, which eventually cause her to commit suicide in Act 5 showing her being overcome by guilt for what she had done.