English Literature GCSE Coursework - Shakespeare (Macbeth)

killing Duncan. He does not want to kill him because he is his king and also a close relation. Macbeth is the host and it is his duty to protect him while he is in his castle. This shows us that Macbeth is not an evil man at the start of the play even though he does have some evil thoughts he is unable to carry these out. If he were evil then his kinship and duty to the king would not deter him from murdering Duncan: "First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself." Lady Macbeth predicts that Macbeth will be affected by his conscience which will deter him from committing the deed. Because of this she tries to resolve it by using powerful, punishing words to get rid of his doubts and encourage him to kill Duncan and become king. This could be the big turning point, as this is the beginning of Macbeth being seen as a “butcher”, which has mostly been spurred on by his wife Lady Macbeth: "Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round." Even though Lady Macbeth is supportive of Macbeth and she persuades him to kill Duncan, she does not force him to do it Macbeth decides to kill Duncan himself with ambition as his influence. This is a sign of Macbeth showing his “butcher” side of himself. After murdering Duncan, Macbeth’s attitude changes once again guilt starts to play on his conscience. He is very agitated and frightened. He forgets to place the dagger where he was meant to and is too afraid to go back and rectify the problem. Macbeth wants to wash his hands of all that’s gone on but he fears it is impossible, there is no turning back. He regrets killing Duncan, wishing to wake up from this horrible dream. This is another sign of his real feelings, as if this “butcher” side is some kind of alter-ego: "Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!" Not too long after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth seems to become the dominant partner in their relationship, ordering the killing of Banquo and Fleance. Macbeth starts to take control making all the decisions for himself, and not even bothering to consult them with his wife. This shows that their relationship was very confusing, there seems to be two sides. When Macbeth is normal he is controlled by his wife but when he shows his evil, he starts to take control. The “butcher” side of him starts to creep out again but this time completely out of his own will, with no encouragement from anyone else accept his own ambitions. He tells his wife to: "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed." Up until this point Macbeth has been acting with ambition, but by the start of Act 3 he starts to fight for his survival. He can see for himself that he has gone way too far but he can not turn back, he is in it way too deep: "I am in blood Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er." Macbeth has become very paranoid and he doesn’t trust anyone, especially Macduff. He is worried what will happen to him after his actions. He is also worried about what the witches told him, that all that he has fought for to become king will all go to Banquo’s sons. This really annoys Macbeth and makes him more determined and more willing to survive. I don’t think that this kind of worrying portrayed by Macbeth so far is a sign of a “butcher”. If he were a true brutal murderer surely he would have no fear and he would not need to worry. Macbeth was frustrated at Macduff for leaving the country before Macbeth could kill him. Macbeth then committed his worst murder, which was almost definitely an act of butchery he killed Lady Macduff and her son, two innocents with no real involvement. Macbeth is now fighting for what he is, the king. By the end of the play, Macbeth is tired of living. This is caused by his struggle to stay king and to get rid of his threats, giving in to all the pressure: "I'gin to be aweary of the sun." As he prepares to defend the castle, he again looks to the witches for spiritual support, hoping that their prophesies are at all true because if they are not he will lose everything he had gained. Once Macbeth and Macduff come to face each other, Macbeth does not fear him as the witches told him anyone born by a woman will not harm him. Macbeth refuses to kill him whilst fighting each other as he is sorry for the killing of his family. He later finds out that Macduff was born by caesarean section and so accepts his fate but refuses to surrender. This shows his previous form in Act 1 of his fearlessness, when he was good and honest, and shows that he is not afraid of death. By sparing Macduff’s life and showing the courage to fight to his death, Macbeth shows that he was not all pure “butcher”, but a good man led on by his ambition. Lady Macbeth is described as a “fiend-like queen”. In the beginning she is a loyal wife and has huge ambitions for Macbeth. She believes that he deserves to be the king but knows that his conscience will get in the way. She knows that he won’t kill Duncan by himself, so she offers help and is willing to do anything to make Macbeth king and herself queen. The Collins Modern English Dictionary describes a fiend as “a cruel, brutal, or spiteful person”, but if she were cruel and brutal she would not care so much for Macbeth, and if she was spiteful she would not want the best for her husband. This attitude is especially seen at the start of the play but it changes throughout. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from her husband, she too realises that for this prophecy to become a reality as quickly as possible, they must first get rid of Duncan. This is a sign of that "fiend-like queen" turning up. She again thinks that Macbeth deserves to be a great person, but she also thinks that he is too nice a person and he wouldn’t do something so immoral: "Yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it." Before the killing of Duncan she has to look to the spirits to make her evil enough to carry out the deed with Macbeth: "Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty." This shows that before this incident she was not a fiend as she could not find it in herself to carry out the deeds so she has to get the evil from somewhere else, and in this case it is from evil spirits. Even after this she can not bring herself to kill Duncan so she uses the excuse that Duncan looks too much like her father when he sleeps, leaving only Macbeth to kill him: “Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t.” Lady Macbeth shows good knowledge of her husband as she knows that his indecisiveness will get in the way of their ambitions. She tries to rectify this by using strong words and threats to encourage him to kill Duncan, and it works: "Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round." After the murder Lady Macbeth is very calm, completely opposite of Macbeth who is extremely agitated. She is not afraid of anything and thinks that by cleaning their hands of the blood, they will clean their hands of the deed: "A little water clears us of this deed." I do not think that this is a sign of a "fiend-like queen" as she is under the influence of the wine she has drunk. The wine has given her courage and made her brave, brave enough to sort out the mistakes that Macbeth made. It seems as though the whole incident has had no effect on Lady Macbeth, she feels no fear, until she sees Duncan’s body. It then hits her on what they have done, the effects of the alcohol disappear and she regains her real feelings, especially fear. These reactions by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show us that they are actually good people who would not normally do something like that. Soon after the death of Duncan their relationship starts to change. For the planning of the murder, Lady Macbeth is in control, she influences Macbeth into his actions, showing that "fiend-like queen" side of her. After the death though, Lady Macbeth becomes more distant. She is not told about the plans to kill Banquo and Macbeth seems to go off by himself. Lady Macbeth has enticed Macbeth in to going off by himself and doing what he wanted without any more of her help. By the beginning of Act 5 Lady Macbeth has completely lost her confidence and calmness that she had in Act 1. She starts to sleepwalk and is being haunted by her thoughts of the killings that she was a part of. As she is sleepwalking she sees blood on her hands that can not be removed, in contrast to what she thought earlier: “Yet here's a spot … Out, damned spot! Out, I say! … What, will these hands ne'er be clean? … Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes Of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." This act of sleepwalking could be Lady Macbeth paying the price for what she has done. It soon becomes too much for her and she commits suicide. I think that she was just trying to help Macbeth get what he had deserved, but if she was a "fiend-like queen" then she would not be haunted by her fears; the murders would have no effect on her.  Act Two, Scene Three, when Lady Macbeth says: A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight In this line Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth not to be so stupid, Duncan’s death is not a miserable event to occur. Another quote showing her evil side from the same act is: A little water clears us of this deed: How easy it is then! This shows that Duncan’s death has had no effect on Lady Macbeth, and she scorns Macbeth for feeling remorse. She acts as though it is a common occurrence and is nothing to be concerned about. She is also saying that nobody will find out that they were behind his death, as the evidence can just be washed away with water. Lady Macbeth once again shows her fiendish ways when she pretends to faint after hearing about the murder of the King and the murderers. She knows that King Duncan and the servants have been murdered, yet she fools the people around her to believe that she is truly shocked about such treacherous happenings. The irony of this is that the night before she was not concerned at all, but is now acting as though it is tragic.In conclusion I believe that the quote from Malcolm, “A dead butcher and his fiend-like queen”, is not an entirely accurate representation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, contrary to my initial thoughts. This remark may have some truth to it, as Macbeth did kill Macduff’s family brutally, and Lady Macbeth did manipulate Macbeth into doing the things he did, but they both realised what they had done, and what they had done was bad. They regretted their actions and I don’t think that regret is something that a “butcher” and a “fiend” would feel. The “butcher” and “fiend” side of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth showed up only in certain places, suggesting that these sides are some kind of alter-ego they both have, maybe even a mental problem, but they both were normal noble people before it all started. The witches can be seen as more responsible for Macbeth’s actions as they gave him the thought of regicide, but it was Lady Macbeth that spurred him on to put that thought in to action, which later got out of control under the influence of their own ambitions. Caolán Byrne 12A1                Page