Consider the development of Macbeth's Character in Act 1.

Austen Eagling 11E

Consider the development of Macbeth’s Character in Act 1

Act 1 Scene 1. A very short scene opens the play. It is long enough to awaken curiosity but not long enough to see the whole picture. We do not meet Macbeth. Instead Shakespeare starts the play with the 3 witches Straight away the audience gets an impression of evil. The first sign of Macbeth being linked with the 3 witches is when the third witch says “there to meet with Macbeth”. This links Macbeth with the supernatural and evil. At the end of the scene all 3 witches chant “fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air”. This paradox appears throughout the play. This sets a mysterious atmosphere as the scene ends. This quotation shows that things are not exactly what they seem.

In scene 2 Macbeth is portrayed as being brave according to the Captain, with the Captain saying “he deserves that name”, “Brave Macbeth”. Macbeth is compared to an eagle and a lion. These are dangerous animals which gives the impression that Macbeth is also unafraid of anything that gets into his path. Of course he has a reason for this which we learn about later on in the play. The Captain also says " Except they mount to the battle in reeking wounds; or memorize another Golgotha". This phrase means that the Captain was not sure if Macbeth and Banquo wanted to swim in blood or make another Golgotha, which was when Jesus was sacrificed. Is this comparing Macbeth to Jesus? Maybe so.

By this point in the play the audience have become more intrigued by Macbeth’s character. Macbeth gets given the title of Thane Of Cawdor alongside being the Thane Of Glamis even though Macbeth doesn’t know this, but we ought to remember that the title first belonged to one who was “a most disloyal traitor”. This gives an impression that Duncan the King has total faith in Macbeth to give him a new title and a bigger title. We get an image that Macbeth is blood thirsty from the quote “his brandished steel which smok’d with blood execution”. This quote says that his sword was smoking heat with other peoples blood on which he had murdered in his quest for victory. He is described as being “Valour’s minion”. Macbeth is being portrayed in this quote as being bravery personified. On line 21 graphic words are used which help build up a blood thirsty image of Macbeth. “Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’chaps” this makes a evil image of Macbeth. It makes us think that nothing is a problem for Macbeth and he can conquer anything in his path in the most gory way. Towards the end of the scene King Duncan starts to admire Macbeth. This is shown in the quote “…noble Macbeth hath won”. This fades off onto the audience as they start to love him as a genuine hero as well.

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In Scene 3 the witches magic and malice are shown as once again the paradox that the witches chanted in scene 1 appears again. It links in with Macbeth’s first words which creates a very mysterious atmosphere to the audience as they know more than Macbeth does. When Macbeth says this there is a sense that the witch has already got some power over him, even though they have not met each other yet. This is dramatic irony because the witches and Macbeth have said the same words but with two totally different meanings. Neither know this though. In this Scene the witches tell Macbeth what he is and what he is going to become on lines 46-48. this is a shock to Macbeth as he has been told he is going to become King. Macbeth orders the witches to stay as they disappear but to no avail. He is already starting to seem like a King as he was ordering the witches to stay. On line 103 Macbeth finds out what the witches and audience already know. Ross tells him he has become the Thane Of Cawdor. This is a big shock to Macbeth as this is what the witches predicted and Macbeth starts to think that he may become King. “why do you dress me in borrowed robes” signifies that Macbeth is shocked to be using the Thane Of Cawdors robes. From lines 155-156 the phrase “let us speak our free hearts each to other”. Macbeth is saying to Banquo in other words lets keep this between us two and us two only. We see in this scene that Macbeth’s ambitions rise dramatically as he will do anything to become King. On lines 115-116 in Macbeth’s first soliloquy he says. "Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind." This shows that Macbeth has great trust in the prophecies and is contemplating weather or not to kill the king. Macbeth also shows that he doesn't really want to kill the king when he says, "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, with out my stir." Macbeth is showing resistance to killing the king as he thinks that if he doesn't do anything then maybe he will have a chance of being king. This shows that Macbeth does have a conscience and that he knows the difference between right and wrong. Shakespeare uses an aside here as Macbeth speaks his thoughts with only us the audience knowing what he is saying and thinking. We can see that Macbeth has a weak spot as he gets taken in by what the 3 witches say yet Banquo is more wary and sees the full picture. The witches have cast a spell on Macbeth and he has been enticed by them. This later on in the play creates his downfall. Macbeth is seen as a courageous soldier who is loyal to the King but is corrupted from the witches prophecies and by his and Lady Macbeth's ambition. This is because of the weakness of Macbeth's character.

Before Act 1, Scene 4 we did not know that much about Duncan and although we had seen Macbeth listening to the prophecies of the three witches we still had not seen him interact with the King. This scene provides the basic foundations of Macbeth's personality of which some parts will stay the same while others will change and evolve

Throughout the play we see the character of Macbeth change not from just the way he thinks and what we hear from the play, but from the actions he takes in the play. This is shown very much in Scene 4. At the start of scene 4 Duncan says “Theres no art To find the minds construction in the face.” This is dramatic irony because the Thane of Cawdor betrayed him yet his new best subject Macbeth who is also the new Thane of Cawdor is also thinking of betraying him. In lines 20-21 we see how much Macbeth helped Duncan. We see that he is a brave and noble man. This is shown when Duncan says “More is thy due than more than all can pay.” Thus line shows that Duncan owes Macbeth a lot because Macbeth saved his kingdom.

Macbeth’s character develops a lot from lines 35 and onwards. We see that he gets frustrated and cannot stand to be in the room or even the castle when he has been rejected and Malcolm becomes heir to the throne. Macbeth is not at all happy with Duncan's decision to make Malcolm, The Prince of Cumberland his heir to the throne. Macbeth is so angry with the decision in his soliloquy he says "Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires". Macbeth has reached a turning point he wants to kill Duncan because now there is now way the he can become king unless he kills Duncan. The quotation shows that he knows what he is going to do is wrong but he must hide it so nobody finds out. This seems very silly though as if he killed Duncan he would also have to kill the new heir to the throne, Malcolm. Obviously Macbeth has not though this through very well and is un-aware of difficulty’s he will have in killing them both without people getting suspicious.

In Scene 5 Macbeth is not thinking of murdering Duncan. On line 59 he says “tomorrow as he purposes” meaning Duncan is going to leave the castle alive tomorrow as meant. But as the scene goes on his opinion changes as his wife manipulates him. On line 70 he says “we will speak further”. This shows that he now has thoughts in his mind about killing Duncan. From what Lady Macbeth says we get the impression that even though Macbeth is a blood thirsty man when it comes to killing one of his own that he does not have the confidence or nerve to kill Duncan. This is shown when Lady Macbeth says in her soliloquy on line 16 “it is too full o’th’milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”. This means that Macbeth is too kind and too full of human goodness to kill Duncan. He is not without ambition but she fears that he will not "play false". She thinks that he is too loyal to interfere and do anything wrong, and so she wishes for him to come home soon so that she can encourage him, saying that it is his destiny to become king.

We are not told of Lady Macbeths' evil thoughts, but know that she has them because she calls on the spirits, "come you spirits", to give her the ability to carry out murderous plans, "of direst cruelty". The call to the spirits sounds almost like a spell or a chant, and associates her with the witches and evil things, and when she greets Macbeth she says, "Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, greater than both by the all-hail hereafter", which also sounds very alike to the greeting issued by the witches to Macbeth.

Shakespeare slowly lets the reader know more and more about Macbeth so that you have different thoughts about Macbeth as the play goes on you don't have one opinion of him the whole way through the play. The people around him affect him; he believes what he wants to believe. The influence of the witches on him through out the play shows that he wants to know what will happen so he can affect it to his glorification. Macbeth is showing that he doesn't like having to let time tell he will do anything he can to make the end the happiest for himself. After being told by the witches that he will be king he takes on life a different way. He still has the control of a noble but the rebel and evilness in him starts to shine through.

In scene 6, on lines 30-31 we find out how Duncan feels about Macbeth. He says “we love him highly and shall continue our graces towards him”. This gives an impression that Duncan has the up most respect for Macbeth. This is dramatic irony as Macbeth can’t have a lot of respect for Duncan as he has thought of murdering him so his life can keep moving forwards.

The lamb is brought to the door of the slaughter-house. King Duncan is most gracious and kind to his hostess, who means to kill him.

In act 1 scene 7 Macbeth starts the scene off with a long soliloquy. This shows that he has a lot on his mind that he wants to say. Alone, Macbeth agonizes over whether or not to kill Duncan, stating that he knows the king's murder is a terrible sin. He struggles not so much with the horrifying idea of murdering a man who trusts and loves him. He would like the king's murder to be over and done with. He hates the fact that he has "only Vaulting ambition" without the motivation or ruthlessness to ensure the attainment of his ambitions.

Macbeth is hesitant to kill king Duncan, because he feels that he would be eternally punished in hell for committing such a crime. Macbeth expresses these feelings in lines 7-10, “but here upon this bank and shoal of time; we’d jump the life to come.” The “life to come” is the afterlife, which would be and eternity of suffering for Macbeth, because of his assignation of Duncan. Therefore making this argument a moral concern, and one of Macbeth’s overpowering arguments in his soliloquy.

By this point in the play I think the audience see Macbeth as a weak man, mentally. He is easily manipulated by the 3 witches and his wife who seems like a fourth witch.