The first two acts of the play Macbeth are probably the most crucial; they set the scene, introduce the characters and, with the bloody murder of Duncan, give us a taste of the horror to come. For the person Macbeth, the first two acts are equally as important and significant. We, as the audience, gain many insights into his thoughts and feelings through his powerful soliloquies; we see his fear, excitement and temptation when the witches inform him of their prophecy, we see this initial reaction buckle under the strains of his anxiety. We see him bullied and eventually dominated by his manipulating wife, and then we witness him succumb to his all-consuming greed and ambition that will eventually lead to his ruin and death. Within the first two acts we see many different dimensions to Macbeth’s character, and then we see these dimensions begin to alter and change.
We see the power of Lady Macbeth over her husband, she makes him feel guilty she knows how to target his weak points to cause him to continue with his plans. This is certainly a display of evil by Lady Macbeth but her motive appears more to be to instil in her husband the killer instinct and the absolute resolution he will need if he is to achieve the destiny the witches have foretold.
The impressions we get of Macbeth from the first two acts of the play are clear. As a soldier, he is bold, brave, noble and heroic, and much loved and esteemed consequently. As a man who has been promised the crown, he is ambitious, greedy, insincere and insatiable, and as a husband and murderer, he is weak, feeble, and easily manipulated and influenced. You cannot fail to get these impressions of Macbeth, but through the succeeding three acts, we see how this portrayal develops and eventually leads to his downfall.
Act 3 scene 1 sees a change in the relationship between Lady Macbeth and her husband. Macbeth without encouragement or help from his wife plans the murder of Banquo. Act 3 scene 2 Macbeth has become bold and almost patronising when he says to Lady Macbeth ‘Be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck, till thon applaud the deed. The Banqueting scene sees Macbeth given the news that Banquo is dead, as he had planned. Lady Macbeth has to pull all of her strength and resources together in this scene as the ghost of Banquo visits her husband. ‘Thou canst not say I did it: never shake thy gory locks at me’ exclaims Macbeth but Lady Macbeth excuses his behaviour with ‘sit worthy friends: My Lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth.’ She again takes control of the situation and this could be perceived as either she is trying to hide the guilt in a fiendish way or could it be that she is protecting her husband standing by his side loyally.
During the scene Macbeth goes to the witches for reassurance. He has committed a crime. He has murdered to become king. It is in his mind, and he feels guilty. Scotland is in turmoil and he is struggling to hold onto power. He needs more information to make himself feel better. He sees the witches as being able to show him this information because they have told him what was going to happen before. This is not the first time we see the witches, in-fact they open the first act and reoccur throughout the play. The first time Macbeth meets the witches they tell him that he will be king and that Banquo would not be king, but his children will be. Macbeth hopes they will tell him more.
The scene is important because it represents the place of evil in the plot. Macbeth has become king through evil means and now goes and sees the witches who are also evil. His vision of the apparitions is not the first time he sees something from the unnatural world. Also in the play, he sees a death vision of a dagger pointing to Duncan’s room, and he saw the ghost of Banquo after he had been murdered.
In the reading of the text, I have seen how Macbeth’s character has deteriorated. In the production, he is never seen to be in control but it does show him to become powerless of the situation. The main point of act 4 is Macbeth’s lack of control.
In this act, a doctor and a waiting gentlewoman are staying up to watch the actions of Lady Macbeth. It appears she has been sleepwalking and sleep talking for a number of nights. The doctor is there to see if he can find out what is wrong with her. Lady Macbeth is beginning to feel the strain – she is having difficulty sleeping, she starts to sleep walk and is heard saying ‘Heroes the smell of the blood, still: not all the perfumes of Arabia will sweeten this little hand. She is displaying deep remorse and guilt in her dreams and yet a fiend feels no remorse? There is no doubt that Lady Macbeths conscience is making her ill In act 5 scene 5 Lady Macbeth kills herself , she does this because she knows her secret is out, but given the nightmares she has been having earlier on in act 5 it is clear that she can no longer live with her guilt. Her nights bring her no peace, the days are even worse, and finally she can take no more.
In conclusion, it is clear that Malcolm feels very aggrieved at the death of his father but he is exiled to England following the death of Duncan and only returns to the action after the death of Lady Macbeth. He does not, as the audience do, witness the tortured soliloquies of Lady Macbeth which reveals her ordinary vulnerable humanity as she declines to an early death, apparently suicide ‘she as tis thought, by self and violent hands took of her life’ This is evidence that Lady Macbeth is very ambitious for her husband and this leads her to encourage Macbeth into doing evil deeds. She does not murder anyone. She developed the murder plan and perhaps she was ambitious to Become Queen however to be fiendish is to be without remorse and Lady Macbeths remorse and guilt are clearly seen over and over again, Lady Macbeth was not a fiend, her flaw was her ambition
