The violence in the play is excessive and therefore ineffective. Is this view of "Macbeth" accurate?
The violence in the play is excessive and therefore ineffective.
Mikey Yome
The Middle Ages were a violent period of history for the British Isles with Viking raiders plaguing Great Britain and Ireland. Immediately at the beginning of the play, Shakespeare creates a supernatural aura, by setting the scene with the stage direction "Thunder and lightning". This could suggest that the powerful elements of nature will have a great impact on the rest of the play, as well as implementing the supernatural forces, such as the witches, that not only aid in manipulating the humanity of the play and Macbeth, but also helps to construct what is a gothic, violent play. Act 1 only has three main scenes: the dark, vile Heath, Duncan’s Camp, and Macbeth’s Castle. All three scenes expose different types of violence. Duncan’s Camp serves as a reminder that man is vulnerable, with the attacks of the disloyal Thane of Cawdor, and the Norwegian King on Duncan’s army. Lastly we have Macbeth’s Castle, where the ‘air is sweet’. A complete contradiction, as appearances were deceptive. Duncan believed Macbeth would be loyal to him no matter what; but the feast was just a decoy to kill Duncan.
However, violence can be seen as effective, bringing in many factors, such as that of the supernatural elements. Shakespeare exposes us to a dark setting, an apt imagery for the evil occurrences that shall come. Macbeth's famous soliloquy at the beginning of this act introduces an important theme: visions and hallucinations caused by guilt. Macbeth’s trepidation about the murder is echoed by several portentous sounds and visions, the famous hallucinatory dagger being the most striking. The "dagger of the mind" that Macbeth sees is not "ghostly" or supernatural so much as a manifestation of the inner struggle that Macbeth feels as he contemplates the regicide; ‘the dagger come toward my hand?’ ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ is revealed, as regicide is a gothic act, going against the norm. It is the first in a series of guilt-inspired hallucinations that Macbeth and his wife experience. The ringing of the bell and the knocking at the gate, both of which have fascinated audiences, also marks the murder. It conveys the heavy sense of the inevitable, as if the gates must eventually open to admit doom. The 'wicked dreams abuse The curtain'd sleep', shows that Macbeth hasn't been sleeping properly, probably because he is scared about murdering Duncan. His troubled dreams and sleep are a metaphor for his troubled mind as well as the troubled state that the country is going to be in after Duncan has been murdered. There is a mention of Hecate who is the head witch, so the witches and the prophecies are still very much on Macbeths mind. 'Thy very stones prate of my whereabouts, and take the present horror from the time', no one else is aware that Macbeth is about to murder Duncan apart from Macbeth and the elements of the earth, and this, inevitably shows how Macbeth cannot, and will not escape from this foul deed. The conversation between Ross and the old man at the beginning of Act 2, scene 4, tells the audience about a number of unnatural occurrences in the weather and the behavior of animals whom ‘turned wild in nature’, which cast a menacing shadow over Macbeth’s ascension to the throne.
