Macbeth was also seen as a ruthless king, as he is referred to by Malcolm and Macduff, as a “tyrant” and “a devil.” In order to protect his title, Macbeth had to murder those who got in his way. Near to the end of the play Macbeth had even, “Forgotten the taste of fears.”
It’s as if Macbeth had half-overcome his fears, which had made him, able to be a ruthless and murderous man.
But on the other hand, the justification of Macbeth as a butcher could not be very reasonable, after all, at the beginning of the play he was noted to be a good ruler, which won him great honour from the King (Duncan). He states to Macbeth, “Valiant cousin! Worthy gentlemen.”
This remark was made by the former king, whom Macbeth assassinated. Macbeth was said to be a brave soldier.
Also Macbeth and Banquo were described by the captain as being “Eagles and Lions,” unafraid of the opposing army, who were referred to as, “Sparrows and Hares.”
The witches made a prophecy that Macbeth was to become Thane of Cawdor, and eventually to be King of Scotland. It was only after the first prediction that Macbeth was to become Thane of Cawdor, and it became true.
Macbeth uses some very deep dark thoughts, often conflicting with the opinion, others have of him. He describes this by saying:
“Golden opinions from all sorts of people.”
Ironically, while hiding his “deep and dark desires” Macbeth’s thoughts seemed to remain confused before, during and after the tragic murder of Duncan. However, when he is about to commit murder, he undergoes terrible twinges of conscience. He says:
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent.”
And it was only due to the encouragement and support from Lady Macbeth, did he find the strength and courage to commit the murder.
He was still worried about the prophecies made by the witches, and to an extent the murder of Lady Macduff is some strong evidence of Macbeth acting out his fear that the prophecies of the witches was to become true.
Although Malcolm describes Macbeth as a butcher, in reality, Macbeth was not entirely a butcher. Evidence suggests that Macbeth was lost in his mind and the witches prophecies, or maybe, curses too. The fact that he had to undergo a change from being a “worthy gentlemen” to a “dead like butcher” seemed to be caused by the witches and Macbeth’s personal ambition.
Lady Macbeth is often described as one of the most powerful female characters in the play, as a dominating and hard working wife, who pushes her husband. There is much evidence to suggest that Lady Macbeth is a “fiend like queen,” (a devil-like ,heartless, evil murderous women.) It shows the fact that she seems to be lacking in humanity, because she calls upon the,
“Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.”
When she was trying to persuade, or many believe, to command, Macbeth to commit the murder that she would have,
“Plucked my nipple from his (her baby’s) boneless gums and dashed the brain out.”
This suggest that she is lacking her feminine touch, having even the thoughts of killing her own child. She could also be portrayed as evil. After all she did accuse her husband of being a coward, encouraging him to,
“screw your courage to the sticking place”
And perhaps, to an extent, insulting Macbeth’s manhood, despite all the bravery that he had previously shown in the battlefield, which made him, be described as a brave warrior
Much evidence suggests that she is a good actress, in the sense that she was able to act as a perfectly nice hostess, enticing the King into her castle. When she faints immediately after the murder of Duncan is discovered, the audience is left wondering whether this too, is a completely perfect act, where no one is going to find out about it. Or is it just a very good hoax?
However, later her state of mind became very disturbed. By realising what she had done. Lady Macbeth was washed away by all the guilt of murdering Duncan. She seemed to become a shadow of her usual commanding self. Her death is the event that causes Macbeth to reflect for one last time.
Another point is about how her manner of speech has changed. As already quoted above: “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.”
Is this due to her turning mad and evil, or the fact that she was just a woman, who didn’t have the power to do what she intended to do, in the end. I chose to use this piece of evidence because I think it is based upon the fact that she herself couldn’t commit the crime.
If she really did want to become queen, and also if she was really an evil person, she would have plucked up the courage to do this dirty deed herself.
Another point is, that Lady Macbeth only really started having serious thoughts about becoming queen after she had received the letter from Macbeth (“Glaims thou art…”) informing her of his thoughts of killing the king. In my own opinion, Lady Macbeth really only tried to help Macbeth realise his own dreams of becoming King, as well as her own ambition of becoming queen alongside him. But, perhaps Lady Macbeth knew that Macbeth would keep on reflecting back on his thoughts and would never even do the deed.
However once again she calls upon the spirits saying,
“Spirits that tend on mortal thought.”
To help her persuade Macbeth to do the dirty crime, in some ways the witches are more responsible for his downfall, as it was them who made him think about the murder and being king, and not lady Macbeth.
For me there are two ways to interpret Lady Macbeth, the first one is, that she is a very dominant and commanding wife. The second is that she’s very ambitious to become queen, even more so than Macbeth is to become King.
Lady Macbeth may have been described as a “fiend like queen” by Malcolm, and may have been a fiend (evil woman) to an extent, that she manipulated her husband into doing the deeds that he has done. Which may have been against Macbeth’s own will. She also seemed to have accused her own husband of being a coward, showing that she is a coward as well. But also, showing that she could fit the description as a “fiend.” However, she is not what we would call a purely evil person, nor lacking humanity, because she, is after all, a woman, whose instinct still remains with her, despite what she had done. She was also washed over by guilt, and became mentally disturbed, even before Macbeth.
Overall, the remarks made by Malcolm may have their justifications, as to an extent, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are a pair, a “butcher and his fiend queen.” However, to an extent these justifications may not fit either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth, as they have had their own humanity within them, as if the “butcher” and “fiend” were just a part of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s shadow.
By
Nigel Baker
