Examine some of the ways in which Shakespeare makes the portrayal of Macbeth's downfall dramatically effective.

Examine some of the ways in which Shakespeare makes the portrayal of Macbeth’s downfall dramatically effective.

By Adil Naeem

Shakespeare makes the downfall of Macbeth dramatically effective by looking at his actions and surrounding characters, by looking at the atmosphere and in particular the emphasis on darkness, looking at the language of Macbeth and other characters, and finally putting emphasis on the witches .He creates this noble and great warrior to an obsessed, out of control and insecure human being, though this however doesn’t happen straight away and his downfall increases stage by stage as the play progresses. Shakespeare makes Macbeth more ambitious in the play, he makes him more greedy and turns him into a person who is never satisfied with what he is given, this is shown particularly when he is given the position of Thane of Cawdor, but still wants to be King. The murders which Macbeth performs make his downfall progressively worse: after he murders somebody, he has to murder another to cover up the first one. Murder itself is one the most horrendous deeds a man can ever do, so after the first murder Macbeth can never go back and will always go down.

To look at the downfall of Macbeth I must first look at where he has fallen from. He has been portrayed, particularly in Act 1 Sc 2, as a noble gallant warrior who shows great respect to the King, “brave Macbeth, “worthy gentlemen” , “noble Macbeth , “valiant cousin” – these are all the descriptions given to Macbeth by his peers, in this scene. As you can see, he is highly respected by others and there isn’t a single word put against him in this scene. His kindness and gentle nature has also been emphasized by Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Sc 5 v 15, - “too full of the milk of human kindness”, even by his wife he as seen as someone who is caring loving and wouldn’t even consider the thought of murdering an innocent person. Shakespeare turns Macbeth as the play progresses into a person of murder and evil. His so called loving and considerate nature as hinted at by Lady Macbeth changes into a person who murders his friend for no real reason. Shakespeare makes the downfall of Macbeth so extreme that it inevitably comes to a point where his downfall will bring the death of him. He makes Macbeth turn from a man of order, into a person of disorder, which is a popular theme used by Shakespeare in his plays.

Shakespeare begins the downfall of Macbeth in Act1 Sc 3.This scene is dramatically effective due to the language used and the impact from the witches. This is where he meets the witches and where they tell him that he will be King and Thane of Cawdor. Shakespeare uses language here to put emphasis on Macbeth’s downfall, line 133-141 – “why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair” , this line shows that a part of Macbeth wants to turn to darkness, a part of Macbeth wants to turn to evil. He is questioning why he is thinking of evil, why is he giving/(yield) in to evil. Shakespeare makes the downfall subtle but it gives a hint to the reader that his downfall has only begun. The witches play a big part in making this scene dramatically effective, they come on for a short time in the very first scene and then there is a pause in Act 1 Sc2 and then they reappear in Act1 Sc3. There seems to be a lot of tension created in Sc3 by the witches reappearing again. With there being a pause and the witches coming back in the play they produce a better effect of entertainment and shock to the audience because whilst they were not in the play in Sc2, the audience will be questioning to where the witches were, and they shock the audience by reappearing again in the third scene. In the very first scene the witches create a very dark atmosphere with the language used, “fair is foul, and foul is fair”. This darkness created by the witches with them in Sc3 and this darkness goes to Macbeth. Rhyming seems to give an indication of evil and darkness in the play, the witches, “fair is foul, and foul is fair” used it. And as Macbeth’s downfall gets worse, more rhyming is used. Macbeth uses the same words which the witches do in Sc3, “fair is foul” , this connection gives an indication to the audience that he is beginning to fall. Also rhyming Macbeth is used towards the end of the same scene, “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day”.

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The next scene that I will be looking at is Act 1 Sc 7. Shakespeare in this scene makes Macbeth’s downfall dramatically effective by putting emphasis on darkness/atmosphere, the encouragement by Lady Macbeth who can also be seen as the fourth witch, and finally the language used. In the beginning Macbeth is reluctant and refuses to have any part in killing Duncan, line 21 “We will proceed no further into this business.” Macbeth says that if he carries out this deed he will be going to the direction of evil, line 47 “I dare do all that may become a man” – if he carries out this deed, he will not be a man, he will be an evil monster. Macbeth seems to be convinced that he will not kill Duncan however it is the harsh words by Lady Macbeth which makes him think otherwise, line 54-55 “ plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out “. This quotation shows how unfeminine Lady Macbeth really is, she makes a reference to killing an innocent child. It seems at this part of the scene that the roles of a man and a woman are beginning to change, it seems that Lady Macbeth seems to take the role of a dominant leading figure of the relationship, and Macbeth of an insecure confused “womanly” figure who needs direction from his wife. If we cross reference this fact with what Macbeth was like in Act 1 Sc 2, we can now see that he is beginning to turn from a manly noble solider to a pitiful figure. Both characters are alone on stage and there seems to be a lot of tension created because of this With the words of Lady Macbeth, and the added fact that they are secluded in an area of darkness and silence, away from the joy of the banquet, he is now convinced into killing Duncan, line 79-80 “I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” Shakespeare has turned him from a person who was totally convinced into not killing Duncan, into a person who will use every muscle to kill him, Act 1 Sc 7 line 80, “and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” He has been brain washed and has had his mind changed by Lady Macbeth. Again a rhyming couplet has been used at the end to give an indication that Macbeth has fallen even further, line 82-83 “and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

The third scene that I will be looking at is the dagger scene, Act 2, Sc 1. Shakespeare makes this scene dramatically effective by using atmosphere/darkness, and language. In the build up before the actual murder of Duncan, Shakespeare makes the reader think that Macbeth will actually now go ahead with the murder. Between line 30-64, Macbeth is on his own and he is without direction, up till this time Lady Macbeth has been telling Macbeth what to do and has been leading the way, though now he is on his own there is time to reflect on whether he should commit this deed. It is dark and this is where the atmosphere aspect which Shakespeare uses comes into action, he visualises a dagger. The creation of the dagger in Macbeth’s mind, line 38, “a dagger of the mind, a false creation”, - emphasizes my point that Macbeth is picturing a dagger in his mind. “Come let me clutch thee”, line 34, is a reference to the desperate and devastating effect of Macbeth which has been emphasized. Macbeth is so disillusioned by fear, anxiety and greed that he visually pictures a dagger, Shakespeare uses the dagger to emphasize to the audience Macbeth’s desperate state. The dagger itself has connotations to murder, evil, blood and darkness. The dagger is preparing Macbeth for the murder, the dagger itself is an evil weapon and will bring blood to its tip. Macbeth seems connect with this awful weapon, line 34, “the handle towards my hand”, Shakespeare makes Macbeth connected with a weapon of evil and darkness to emphasize his downfall to the audience, the dagger has a sense of evil with it, and with Macbeth wanting this dagger there seems to be a link with an evil which will inevitably end with murder.

The fourth scene which I will be looking at is Act 2 Sc 2. Shakespeare makes Macbeth’s downfall dramatically effective by putting emphasis on the actions committed and the language used. I feel throughout the whole of the play that this is the scene where Macbeth’s downfall is at its worst, and it is because he has murdered the king. At this current time period in which this play written, people took this view that the worst deed to commit is to kill the King. Shakespeare cleverly makes Macbeth kill the King to show how far he has fallen. Shakespeare has made Macbeth commit the one of the worst deeds possible, he is showing to the audience that how evil Macbeth is. As you can see the actions of Macbeth which Shakespeare creates puts considerate emphasis on his downfall. Once Macbeth has killed the King, he continues to kill more to cover up his previous murders which makes him fall down even further. Shakespeare uses to put emphasis on Macbeth’s downfall after he kills the king. If you look at lines 15-20, you can see that Macbeth’s speech is very fragmented, Shakespeare has made it Macbeth’s speech fragmented to relate to Macbeth’s fragmented emotions, thoughts and how he is so nervous, - “When? , As I descended?, Hark!” . Shakespeare now begins to show another character emerging, Macbeth has turned into a person who is very scared, anxious and worried. He seems to be alarmed by the slightest of things, “Didst thou not hear a noise?”, - ordinary noises seems to startle him, and he forgets that he has spoken “Did not you speak? – When?”. He hasn’t got it all together and he is falling out of reality, he hears voices which puts emphasis on him being disillusioned and makes his downfall to the audience more effective. He regrets to have murdered Duncan; now he is worrying about the consequences and seems to be developing a guilty conscience. Between line 35-45 Macbeth say that he will not be able to sleep any more, “Sleep no more……..Macbeth shall sleep no more”. His wife isn’t supportive and is amazed by this disillusion and calls his outburst “brain-sickly”. With Shakespeare making Macbeth fall into madness and loosing his reality, he makes his downfall more entertaining and effective for the audience.

The next scene which I will be looking at is Act 3 Sc1. Shakespeare makes this scene more effective by putting emphasis on actions and language used. Macbeth, in this scene, is now planning the murder of Banquo. At this stage Macbeth isn’t really thinking straight, he is currently at the top and has everything he wants, line 1-3 “thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all”. If Macbeth is currently at the top, why should he continue killing?. Killing Banquo will not aid anything significant, he doesn’t pose a threat, and therefore with Macbeth killing Banquo, it really shows how obsessed he has became in that he is willing to kill anyone even if it is for no reason. Banquo respects Macbeth, line 18-20, “For ever knit” , he has been great friends with him all this time and has stuck by him even when other people took a different view, and to murder such a person, would seem confused, pointless and pure evil. Shakespeare shows that by murdering Banquo more problems would result for Macbeth. Shakespeare makes Macbeth fall and rise at the same time, as the same time he is rising to Kingship, but also he is killing further people which will only bring his downfall. Macbeth is falling deeper into destruction. Even though Banquo does not pose a threat, Shakespeare makes Macbeth for some reason to still have doubts, line 53-54 “ there is none but he whose being I do fear”. The scene is really split into two parts, this first part there is a light atmosphere with many people on stage and having Macbeth and Banquo talk like friends, however as the scene progresses in to the second part, there is a dark atmosphere with just Macbeth and the murderers on stage. There is a huge contrast in language between the two parts of the play. Macbeths acting changes from each part, it goes from friendly to fiendish.

Shakespeare puts emphasis with Macbeth’s obsession with murder and evil, by Macbeth actually instructing two professional Murderers to commit the deed. He stoops so low and the evil within him has become so great that he is actually hiring people to kill his best friend, - this is a reflection of how far much Macbeth is fallen.

The last section which I will be looking at is Act 3 Sc 2. Shakespeare makes Macbeth dramatically effective by using atmosphere and language. If we cross reference this scene with Act 1 Sc7, we can see that the atmosphere is the same in both scenes. In both scenes both characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are hidden away from the open comforts of a banquet in a secluded dark area, in both scenes Shakespeare has put particular emphasis on darkness and relating it with atmosphere. There is a great deal of isolation in the scene. In the first scene it seemed that the darkness aided in the unfeminine words of Lady Macbeth to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan, however in this scene the roles have switched. There is a huge contrast in terms of the actions of the characters in Ac1 Sc 7 and Ace 3 Sc2. Macbeth, is more determined, his mind is now set and he considers further violence and murder as a way through his problems, line 13 “we have scorched the snake, not killed it” , line 39 “ there’s comfort yet, they are assailable.” Before, Lady Macbeth had led Macbeth and told him what to do, she gave him instructions but the relationship is now changing. She begins to waver and now is not in the lead, she now is accepting the feminine role which she had previously rejected. This can be seen by her reaction to Macbeth wanting to kill Banquo, line 36 “you must leave this”. In previous scenes Shakespeare made Macbeth nervous and made him question his actions before he went and did them, as with the killing of Duncan. Now, he has no doubts, there isn’t any uncertainty in his mind and his full of pure evil. Macbeth has now fallen to the lowest position he can go; he has no consideration for others and he rejects his wife’s advice in which before he needed. This is shown on line 43-44 “there shall be done a deed of dreadful note”. Macbeth is now the strong masculine figure, and is now comforting his insecure wife by leaving her out of his plans to murder Banquo, line 45 “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck.”

In conclusion, I can say that Shakespeare cleverly uses a variety of techniques to portray Macbeth’s downfall effectively. As you can see from the scenes that I have selected these techniques have been used well and help in showing Macbeth’s destruction. Shakespeare does this in stages in each scene and makes it clear that Macbeth can never go back. Macbeth goes from order to disorder and breaks down from a respected warrior to an obsessive monster. Shakespeare doesn’t use any real action or violence to make the scenes dramatically effective, he cleverly uses a combination of atmosphere, language and tension to make and portray his point which he has done very well.