Here, although speaking sympathetically of Duncan he is already planning his next murder and is not actually sorry for his actions.
The planning of Banquo and Fleance’s murders are cruel and ironic. It almost seems he is taking delight in speaking about Duncan’s supposed murderers, Malcolm and Donalbain, knowing that he is the real killer:
Our bloody cousins are bestowed/ In England and Ireland, not confessing/ Their cruel parricide.
In the same meeting he invites Banquo and Fleance to a feast at his castle and obliquely asks what his plans are: “Ride you this afternoon”. He also inquires as to Fleance’s travel plans: “Goes Fleance with you”.
He is a tyrant for the fact he would kill his best friend an d his son to attempt to stop paranoia. Macbeth is painfully ironic when although he knows his intentions he says to Banquo: “I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot…”
It seems he is he is making a joke of his actions.
Macbeth cannot control the guilt that surrounds him. He is constantly flipping from being ruthless and capricious to appearing to feel tormented.
“We have scorched the snake, not killed it.”
He is plagued with guilt which we thought might have vanished. His sudden change in character suggests mental instability.
He is very confused and describes himself : “O full of scorpions is my mind.”
Scorpions are symbols of evil in the bible, as creatures who have no values and this can be used as a likeness to Macbeth in some of his actions.
It is not long before Macbeth becomes brutal again. In Act 3 Scene IV Macbeth is told of the murder of Banquo being completed. He makes the comment about Banquo’s blood: “’Tis better thee without than he within”
This comment is unneeded and shows him to be manipulative and inhumane when talking about his best friend.
He displays no remorse when describing Banquo and Fleance as vermin: “There the grown serpent lies; the worm that’s fled/ Hath nature that in time will venom breed…”
He has taken away all feeling and is controlled by evil.
Macbeth’s actions are destroying his subconscious, we know that he is tormented as he speaks of being afflicted by ‘terrible dreams’ that cause him to feel he would ‘[be] better with the dead’.
Macbeth tries to fight his conscience but has fits in which he feels the need to confess. Banquo may be dead but he still haunts Macbeth in a worse way than when he lived:
Avaunt, and quit my sight, let the earth hide thee!/ Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;/ Thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with!
This quotation shows how Macbeth is suffering for his actions.
If Macbeth is put though turmoil why does he start to take steps to arrange McDuff’s murder?
“I keep a servant fee’d” this quotation show he has been Paranoid of McDuff for some time. This means he has been calculating enough to plan this murder in advance.
His feeble excuse is that he has killed so many and is so covered in blood that he can no longer turn back to seek salvation. It is easier to continue.
I am in blood/ Stepped In so far, that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o’er.
Even evil itself do not see Macbeth as a tortured soul. When the three witches meet with Hecate she is angry with them for ‘helping’ a man who “Loves for his own ends, not for you. She is describing Macbeth as egoistical, with thoughts towards his own ambition only. Macbeth will “spurn fate, scorn death, and bear/ His hopes ‘bove wisdom grace, and fear; and you all know security / Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.”
She is saying that Macbeth will ignore fate, mock death, become arrogant, take his opinions before wisdom, grace and fear and rely on false security, which with hindsight we know will be his downfall.
In the last scene of Act 3 suspicions are arising about Macbeth, those who have sided with him, namely the late king Duncan, ‘the right-valiant Banquo have paid for their decision. Lennox outlines for us why Macbeth is indeed a tyrant and his feelings are clear:
“May soon return to this our suffering country/ Under a hand accursed”
Many are now more suspicious of Macbeth than of Malcolm and Donalbain for the murder of Duncan. Macbeth may be in danger although he will not believe it.
Macbeth’s downfall is himself, he becomes hubristical, thinking he can defy fate. He becomes brutal and but is tormented by his actions. Macbeth is caught up in a vicious circle he cannot control, he murders Duncan and to stop himself feeling guilty for that murder he starts to plan the next but that leaves him feeling guilty and so the cycle goes on.
Macbeth is tormented by his strong sub conscience that cause his hallucinations and ‘terrible dreams’.
On the one hand readers can almost feel sorry for the tormented Macbeth but then his callous, calculating side is revealed and it is hard to believe he is human.
(1096 words including quotations)
