on a family that is in no real danger by Macbeths power. It is emotive it begins to
make you think how the people must have lived in fear and what a terrible time to be
alive if you were associated with Macbeth. He was a dictator he was a ruler who was
unconstrained by law. Macbeth shows his arrogance again through a combination of
his soliloquy where he tells the audience that because Duncan is a perfect king and he
does nothing to hurt anyone that he is just waiting to be killed and Macbeth wants to
be first. Secondly Macbeth has convinced himself that he is immortal. This is because
the witches played a trick with his mind and told him a riddle which Macbeth
foolishly didn’t understand or contemplate.
“The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth”.
Here the witches tell Macbeth that no man born or woman can kill him or even harm
him. He was fooled again, when the witches call to Macbeth
“Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.”
He thinks that he can not be harmed. Macbeth thought that what the witches
said was irrelevant, he did not listen so he thinks he is immortal.
All of the things above show that Macbeth is achieving a higher status over Lady
Macbeth and beginning to subconsciously control her and her thoughts.
The character of Macbeth strikes people so much because he was not a bad person at
the beginning of the play but changes so dramatically. When Macbeth was a heroic
character he fought many battles but the ending of one was the most important and the
change of direction in his life. Macbeth was returning home after winning a battle
when he stopped and made a fatal mistake he listened to the lowest status of being;
The three witches. He let there prophecy torment him, Macbeth didn’t have to listen
to the witches but as soon as they saw him they started to chant
“All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee thane
of Cawdor! All hail, that shalt be
king hereafter!”
Shortly after hearing this Macbeth was made thane of cawdor. This made him want to
be king more that ever. Macbeth then killed Duncan the rightful king of Scotland.
Macbeth took the crown making the witches prophecy come true. The witches create
an image if chaoses as they chant an incantation like they are reciting a spell.
“when shall we meet again in
thunder lightning or in rain?”
The witches are stereotyped by Shakespeare; he does this by associating the common
thought of ugly witches covered in warts and the terrific whether conditions they
describe. The witches make out that they have to meet outside which leads you to
think that they can only feel safe outside and unsafe inside. This subverts the
knowledge of safety. The witches try to make everything about the future seem bad
and to compound this there are three witches. The number three is usually associated
with good luck but there the number three symptomatic of their desire to make
everything “fair” into “foul” and “foul” into “fair” so now the number three represents
evil.
Macbeth’s high status excludes him from consorting with the lower members of
society. It is not natural order. The fact that Macbeth speaks or even acknowledged
the witches is a bad omen. The witches think that one day things will be the way they
think they should be.
“fair is foul
and foul is fair”
The witches believe that the future is written in the stars and they think that this is
going to happen. This also shows the witches ‘hubris’ by wanting to take Macbeth
evil and transforming him into the worst. Macbeth has several fatal flaws the first of
which is his “volting ambition”. He is also very greedy and can be easily suggestible.
He abdicates responsibility and has a addiction to power. However Macbeths main
fatal flaw is his guilty conscience. At the beginning of the play he thinks that the
blood of his king has stained his hands forever which means that he thins that he will
never get rid of the guilt.
“will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
clean from my hands?”
Macbeth didn’t want to kill Duncan yet he is easily suggestible he only acted
on his wife’s orders he did not take into account what he wanted to do. Straight after
he commits the crime he punishes himself.
“sleep no more! Macbeth does
murder sleep,”
Macbeth has murdered the king he was so loyal to and is feeling some regret. He tells
himself that he will never sleep again. This may be the fear of some one wanting to
kill him in his sleep or he really is punishing himself.
From the moment Macbeth killed king Duncan he started his decent he
demoted himself to a servant of the devil.
“when?
now
As I decended?”
Shakespeare sets out the script so you visualise Macbeth walking down the steps from
earth to hell.
In summary in the play Macbeth is showing sighs of being evil he has not dropped all
his morals. He is obsessed with power, and he will do anything to achieve
more. When Lady Macbeth reflects on what they have sacrificed to get into their
present position but they are both as content as they imagined. Macbeth still feels
threatened as he becomes more paranoid. He proves this by brutally killing his best
friend and partner in battle. To make this worse he tries to kill his son who has
done nothing to give Macbeth a motive. The witches have done this for Fleance, In
their prophecy they told Macbeth that Banquo that they would be father to a line of
kings. Macbeth does express his fears about banquo and fleance in a soliloquy.
Instead of sorting his problems out by ignoring the witches he orders two murderers to
kill them and then sends a third to ensure his plans will work. When the murders
return to Macbeth with the news of Fleance`s escape he is appalled and claims that he
Will be ill unless they both are dead
“grapples you to the heart but sickly in his life,
which in his death were perfect”
here Macbeth explains to the murderers that although his health is poor while he is
alive it would be perfect if they both were dead. This is an example of Macbeth
abdicating his responsibility.
