This leads me to the ‘second stage’ Shakespeare puts Macbeth through – his curiosity of whether killing Duncan would make the prediction that he will be King become true. When Macbeth and Banquo first speak about the witches’ predictions, they are sarcastic and joke about them, but when Macbeth discovers he is Thane of Cawdor and one of his predictions have came true, he is shocked and wonders of ways to ensure he becomes King but decides “if chance will have me King, why chance may crown me.” This suggests to the audience that Macbeth now believes he is to be King of Scotland, but ‘chance’ tells the audience the he will allow it to happen naturally. At this point, Macbeth is still seen as a war hero, but there is still a slight doubt in the audience’s minds, because the witches did say at the very beginning of the play that there is ‘hurlyburly’ and a ‘battle’ to come. This creates a suspicion in the audience’s minds of fighting. ‘Hurlyburly’ is an efficient word to use instead of ‘fighting,’ which is what it means, because it gives strangeness to the witches and fits in with their title ‘the weird sisters.’ Shakespeare has now created an obvious curiosity in Macbeth’s mind, so the audience are prepared for violence and a vicious turn in Macbeth’s personality. This shows that Shakespeare is planning to change Macbeth from good to evil.
In the ‘third stage’ of Macbeth’s transition from noble to hateful, the audience’s suspicions of Macbeth’s true character are confirmed, because Macbeth is now considering murder. Macbeth is still not completely evil though, because when he says “let not light see my black and deep desires,” I think ‘light’ resembles God, those he cares about or of whose opinion of him he cares for and by ‘black,’ I think Macbeth is trying to say he thinks of the murder, but that does not mean to say he thinks murder right. This shows the audience that although they think he is bad, he is not evil because he still has a conscience. I think Shakespeare uses the guilt Macbeth has as one of the stages in his transition from good to evil, and from this stage onwards, Macbeth’s mind is a constant battle between good (light) and bad (black.)
When Lady Macbeth discovers Macbeth’s ideas, she is excited by the thought of becoming Queen of Scotland, and now comes the fourth stage: the Macbeths’ decision to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth is seen by the audience as quite hostile and more scheming than Macbeth, because when she speaks of the murder, it seems that she is looking forward to it. She uses phrases like “O never shall Sun that morrow see,” which is quite a vicious thing to say. ‘Never’ is a word that tells the audience that Lady Macbeth really does want to be Queen and strongly believes that the murder should take place that night so that Duncan will never see the light of the next day. In this stage of Macbeth’s change from a war hero to an evil tyrant, Shakespeare is showing the ‘darker’ side in Macbeth and I think he does that by showing the audience that Macbeth’s weakness in Lady Macbeth will lead him to do anything, no matter how brutal it is.
In the Jacobean period, people were very religious and most believed in heaven and hell. Macbeth, in the ‘fifth stage’ of his character, begins to have doubts about his decision to kill Duncan because he takes into consideration the possibilities of going to hell and whether he will be able to live with himself. He says that “bloody instructions, which being taught return to plague the inventor.” ‘Plague,’ in this context, means to rebound on the murderer and Macbeth thinks that if he kills Duncan, he will get what he has given – live a life of guilt and bad luck – due to believing the witches and will go to hell for committing a sin against the Divine Order of Kings. Here, Shakespeare is showing Macbeth as quite a respectable person, because of Macbeth’s guilt for even thinking of killing a King. Macbeth says “Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek,” meaning Duncan has treated him so kind-heartedly and has shown him a lot of generosity, so why would he want to kill him? This is the last point within Macbeth’s transition from a highly regarded man to a dreadful man that Macbeth is seen by the audience as truly upright, because after this part in the play, Shakespeare shows Macbeth as awful and terrible, due to the murder of Duncan. I also believe that this is the last point in the play that Macbeth is shown with any sanity whatsoever.
Lady Macbeth is very persuasive in the play, and when she finds out that Macbeth doesn’t want to kill Duncan anymore, she very much disagrees. In order to persuade Macbeth to go ahead with the murder, Lady Macbeth insults him and threatens his masculinity. To do this, she says things like “From this time such I account thy love,” meaning she thinks what he said about killing Duncan was a worthless promise that gave her false hope. In this case, ‘account’ means question, and when Lady Macbeth says this, it comes across to the audience that she is in a position to be able to question Macbeth’s feelings for her, which would make Macbeth feel very pathetic and like he had lost all control of his marriage. Another insult to Macbeth’s masculinity comes when Lady Macbeth says that Macbeth is “letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’” which means his fear overpowers his desire. ‘Dare’ tells the audience that Lady Macbeth is saying Macbeth is not very daring and is therefore a coward. This is a very big blow to Macbeth’s ego, so it is bound to change his mind on the subject of killing Duncan. This is a crucial stage in Macbeth’s transition from a valiant soldier to a murderous tyrant, because Shakespeare knows that from this point in the play, Macbeth will do nothing but evil things. In the Jacobean period, men were seen as the stronger figures of the two genders in society so because Macbeth is so wounded by Lady Macbeth’s insults, he agrees to the murder, which is the ‘sixth stage’ in the transition. This stage interests the audience, because they know that Shakespeare wouldn’t have changed Macbeth’s mind again if he did not plan for the murder to happen, so the audience know that there is an interesting and presumably violent event coming soon in the play.
Shakespeare is now at the ‘seventh stage’ of Macbeth’s transition from respected to disgraced, and this stage is the murder of Duncan. In this stage, the audience see signs of insanity in Macbeth. “It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes” tells the audience Macbeth is hallucinating that a dagger is leading him to Duncan’s room. It is obvious to the audience that Macbeth’s thoughts of murder are playing tricks on his mind and he is in a murderous state of mind. This side of Macbeth grabs the audience’s attention, because Shakespeare is building up tension with this soliloquy and the audience are reassured that the murder is going to happen now. ‘Bloody business’ tells the audience that Macbeth is still not completely evil, as it says to we as the audience that Macbeth still thinks if the murder as a bad act against himself and God. Macbeth says the bell ringing will summon Duncan “to heaven or to hell” and this tells the audience that Macbeth still believes in God even though he is about to go against the Divine Order of Kings. Macbeth’s continuance in following God shows the audience that Shakespeare has not yet turned him completely into a murderous tyrant from a valiant soldier, but he still is no longer a valiant soldier and is therefore going through the stages of his transition.
From the point at which Macbeth murders Duncan, to the point at which Macbeth dies, I think he comes across as irrational and unfounded. In the eighth stage of Macbeth’s transition, he is very guilty, because he starts to see blood on his hands and thinks they will never be completely clean. Macbeth says “this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incardine,” and by ‘incardine,’ - which means to dye blood-red – Macbeth is saying that he thinks the blood he can see on his hands would turn the sea red. This shows the audience Macbeth’s decreasing sanity, because there is in fact no blood on his hands, therefore they would not turn anything red, especially the sea. I also believe this hallucination creates more guilt in Macbeth’s mind, for murdering Duncan, because he obviously regrets it now that he has to put up with constantly seeing blood on his hands. Another sign of madness in Macbeth comes when he says he “could not say ‘Amen!’” This means that Macbeth thinks God has rejected him and he can no longer be blessed by speaking the word ‘Amen.’ This is also a good way of interesting the audience, because they would have mostly been interested in and followed religion – many people in the Jacobean period were religious – so they would make them wonder how it feels to be unable to say ‘Amen.’ Shakespeare uses the insanity and guilt of Macbeth to show the audience that he will never be the valiant war hero he was at the start of the play and makes them feel some sympathy for him because he seems to be trapped into a life of guilt and regret from this point in the play onwards.
When Macbeth thinks about the witches’ predictions, he remembers that they said to Banquo “thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none.” ‘Get’ in this context means that Banqou will be the father to Kings and this tells the audience that it is unlikely that Macbeth will be a successful King and enhances the storyline. This prediction worries Macbeth, as he thinks it is pointless to have murdered and betrayed to become King, if, in the end it is Fleance – Banquo’s son – is next in line for the throne. By getting two murderers to kill them, Macbeth is very cowardly and this shows the audience he is far from the brave war hero he was at the start of the play. Shortly after the murder of Banquo, Macbeth seems to be going more insane throughout every scene. He becomes adamant that he can see Banquo’s ghost: “If I stand here, I saw him” and this tells the audience Macbeth has no doubt in his mind that he has seen Banquo, which reassures the audience of his insanity. I think this is a good way for Shakespeare to show the audience that going against God will result in only bad things. If this scene was staged so that Banquo’s ghost was visible to the audience, I think that they would feel sympathy for Macbeth because they would see the ghost too and would have some idea of how he feels when he is not believed by his guests. On the other hand, I think that the audience would feel inclined to ridicule Macbeth in cases when Banquo’s ghost can not be seen on the stage, because he would be alone in seeing the ghost and the audience would find it funny watching Macbeth transfixed by the air around him.
Macbeth seems to have become reliable on the witches to tell him the way his life is going to be and his high hopes and beliefs in their predictions seem to have taken over his mind from the moment he became Thane of Cawdor. When he goes back to the witches and sees the three apparitions, he truly believes he is safe, “Then live Macduff, what need I fear of thee?” ‘Fear’ is no longer a strong word for Macbeth to use, because I feel that at this point in the play he feels invincible and ‘fear’ is no longer important to him. This is a careless thing for Macbeth to say in reply to the second apparition, because he does not even think to check any ways “none of woman born” could have a hidden meaning. The hidden meaning is that ‘woman born’ basically means natural birth in Shakespearean language, so if you were not of ‘woman born,’ you must have been born by caesarean section which was the case with Macduff’s birth. It is now clear to the audience that Macbeth is close to his death, as the apparitions have hinted to it, so this is the final stage in his transition from a valiant soldier to a murderous tyrant.
I think that Shakespeare puts Macbeth through these stages from a war hero to and evil murderer, because they make the play a lot more eventful, hence interesting for the audience to watch. To continue my point, the stages make us feel that Macbeth is very unlucky in life and therefore sympathetic towards his character. If the audience’s first impression of Macbeth had been on the battle field where he fought Macdonwald, I think they would have seen him as a murderous tyrant from the very beginning of the play, but Shakespeare did not do that for a reason: to make the audience grow to like Macbeth and then feel more involved in his downfall. This also makes the audience have sympathy for Macbeth at the end of the play when he is alone and mad with guilt. Moreover, I believe it is due to the witches that Macbeth became a murderous tyrant, because he truly believed their predictions and decided to shape his life around them. The stages Shakespeare puts Macbeth through not only make the audience grow to like him, but also save some of his good reputation from the beginning of the play, because the audience know he is a good man deep down and that he was just greatly misled.
