Next is the murder of Banquo. At the beginning of the play, we learn that Macbeth and Banquo were good friends. They fought together against the rebels and the invading Norwegians and won. They were together when the witches first prophesised the future. Macbeth refers to Banquo as ‘…our chief guest’. However, by this time he has already decided that Banquo should be killed as he fears him. The fact that Banquo will be father to a line of kings is completely unacceptable to Macbeth. However, to murder Banquo is fruitless as no child of Banquo can be king whilst Banquo is alive. The fact that Macbeth can be talking to and praising Banquo one minute and ordering his murder the next shows how evil and duplicitous Macbeth has become.
However, the most shocking incident in the whole of Macbeth comes when Macduff’s wife and children are slaughtered for no good reason. ‘The castle of Macduff I will surprise, / Seize upon Fife, give to the edge o’the sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.’ This act of slaughter makes us think of Macbeth as a definite butcher. It is unbelievable to which depths Macbeth has fallen to, in murdering, without any compunction, innocent women and children.
Another sign of Macbeth’s violent nature is shown to us near the end of the play. He tells Seyton to ‘…hang those that talk of fear.’ Even this short quotation is enough to give us an insight into Macbeth’s nature. Surely there is enough evidence to show that Malcolm’s comment regarding Macbeth is fair?
However, there must be some truth in the praise heaped on Macbeth at the beginning of the play. To be addressed as ‘…worthiest cousin’ by the King of Scotland must be as a result of some outstanding deed which shows that Macbeth had the ability to be loyal.
It is also possible that rather than being a butcher, Macbeth was just far too ambitious. When the three witches prophesise the future to Macbeth and Banquo, Macbeth is keen to hear more of the ‘strange intelligence’. He tells them to ‘Stay, you imperfect speakers! Tell me more!’ When the witches prophesised that Macbeth would become the Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland, Macbeth is immediately fascinated as this is precisely what he wants to hear. This is because the witches have touched a nerve present already in Macbeth. He has dreamt about becoming King many times and finally he is told that he will be King. Just the thought of becoming King makes Macbeth’s ‘… seated heart knock at my ribs…’ Macbeth’s ambition gets the better of him and as a result he kills Duncan: ‘I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent but only / Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself / And falls on the other.’
It is also ambition that drives Macbeth to order the murder of Banquo and Fleance as he feels it pointless being on the throne if it is not his offspring that will succeed him: ‘They hailed him father to a line of kings. / Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown / And put a barren sceptre in my grip…’
We can see that Macbeth was not easily won over to evil; his conscience threw up many questions before he was to murder King Duncan. We can establish that he is not as strong as he likes to make out. His conscience leads to moments of weakness such as when he sees the ghost of Banquo at the banquet. These moments threaten to ‘unman’ him.
Another sign that shows us that Macbeth was not a butcher was when he met with the murderers that were to kill Banquo. He tells the murderers that they are ‘…in the catalogue ye go for men / As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, / Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves are clept / All by the name of dogs.’ This indicates that Macbeth does not enjoy being in the company of these men and therefore cannot be as evil as these men. If he were a butcher, he would not mind these men, as he would be like them.
The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, at the beginning at least, is very strong. As soon as the witches confront Macbeth, he writes home to Lady Macbeth to inform her of the strange encounter. To have done so could have been interpreted as treasonous and by doing so Macbeth ran a large risk. The intimacy of their relationship is epitomised when Macbeth returns home and is met by his wife: ‘Great Glamis, Worth Cawdor! / Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter!’ Macbeth’s response to this is, ‘My dearest love…’ This show of affection really shows how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are suited to each other. This tight bond between husband and wife allows us to believe that if anyone knew Macbeth well, it would be Lady Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth says, ‘Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o’the milk of human- kindness / To catch the nearest way.’, we must interpret it as being true. If the person closest to Macbeth feels that he is ‘too full o’the milk of human-kindness’, how can he be a butcher? Therefore I feel that Malcolm’s comment regarding Macbeth is unfair as Macbeth has the ability to be compassionate and moral but his problems stem from being overly ambitious.
Malcolm describes Lady Macbeth as a ‘fiend-like queen’. A fiend is an evil spirit and Lady Macbeth asks ‘…spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty.’ Evidently Malcolm was correct in describing Lady Macbeth as ‘fiend-like’ as she demonstrates that she feels that by tapping into the spirit world, she can achieve all that she hopes to achieve.
Lady Macbeth calls up the spirits of darkness to remove her natural femininity and to fill her full of ‘direst cruelty’. She does this so that no natural feelings of regret or conscience get in the way of what she intends to do. This seems to work and she manages to persuade Macbeth to help commit the murder of King Duncan. However, when the time comes for the assassination, she needs to drink alcohol in order to calm her down: ‘That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold’. She knows that what is about to happen is very wrong but only by drinking can she even comprehend the idea of going ahead with the plan. From this we learn that Lady Macbeth is not nearly as ruthless as she made out earlier. She cannot perform the murder and would have done ‘had he not resembled / My father as he slept’. This indicates that although Lady Macbeth invites spirits into her body, it is her humanity that restricts her more than anything.
Near the end of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth breaks down. She is continually trying to wash a spot of blood off her hand. At the time the play was written, it was common knowledge that witches carried the Devil’s mark somewhere on their body, and this could be a metaphor that indicates that Lady Macbeth was fiend-like. However, we can also relate this spot of blood to earlier on in the play, when after killing King Duncan, Macbeth is told by Lady Macbeth that ‘a little water clears us of this deed’. However, Lady Macbeth collapses with guilt after she sees what she has helped Macbeth do, and this poses another question. Do fiends have consciences? One would expect a fiend to enjoy performing evil deeds and yet Lady Macbeth collapses in guilt over it.
I feel that it would be unfair to label Lady Macbeth as ‘fiend-like’ as she knows that she and Macbeth have gained nothing from their actions. She shows this when she says, ‘Naught’s had, all’s spent’. I believe that she, just like Macbeth, is far too ambitious and this is the root of her problems.
In my view, Malcolm’s comment was partially true as both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth showed that they were capable of committing evil deeds. However, I do not feel that it is a fair comment, as I believe that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were just too ambitious rather than evil.
