When we first hear of Macbeth in a captain’s account of his battle field valor, our initial impression is of a brave and capable warrior. However, once we see Macbeth confront the three witches, we can see that, despite Macbeth’s doubtless courage, he is consumed by an irrepressible ambition. Throughout ‘Macbeth’, Shakespeare masterfully uses Macbeth to illustrate the effects of guilt and overwhelming ambition on a man who lacks strength of character. We never classify Macbeth as an irretrievably evil man, but his weak character separates Macbeth from all Shakespeare’s true villains such as: Iago in Othello, Richard III in Richard III, Edmund in King Lear—who are all strong enough to conquer their guilt. Consequently, the audience has great sympathy for Macbeth. He, however, heroic a warrior, is unprepared for the psychological consequences of crime. Essentially Macbeth is a good man who falls into a terrible trap set by the witches, knowing wholly that he is doing wrong and never doubting the immorality of his actions. Macduff describes Macbeth’s murder of Duncan not just as the murder of a human-being, but as a “sacrilegious murder” comparable to the destruction of “The Lord’s anointed temple”. This is a “breach in nature” and turns the whole of God’s Natural Order upside down. This is no better reflected than by the witches’ chant of “fair is foul and foul is fair”, and the statement “nothing is but what is not”, for from now on everything in the universe is horribly changed.
In the macrocosm, Scotland now “sinks beneath the yoke/it weeps, it bleeds”. Macbeth has overthrown the Natural Order and he causes the unnatural confusion; Duncan’s “sacrilegious murder” is mirrored throughout nature; “Tis unnatural/Even like the deed that is done”. To portray the true state of Scotland’s sickness, Shakespeare uses images of false appearances and unnatural happenings; “By the clock ‘tis day and yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp”. Such imagery is not just a random, coincidental collection of similes and metaphors; Shakespeare masterfully unifies them into a concentrated set of ideas which adds to the vividness of play. On the night that Macbeth “hath broke ope/ The Lord’s anointed temple” others describe the night as “unruly” and claim that “the earth/ was feverous and did shake”. This is the beginning of the end for Macbeth’s inevitable death as God mounts his come back to cure Scotland of her disease and ultimately restore the Natural Order, with a rightful King.
However, more tragically, in the microcosm of Macbeth’s own life, it is clear that Scotland is not the only thing sick, Macbeth’s life falls apart. All aspects of life that we would see as natural are denied him. He strains to sleep as Lady Macbeth stresses “you lack the season of all natures, sleep”. Similarly, just prior to this, Macbeth can no longer eat with out interruption. Macbeth is now even starved of food as at his banquet he is haunted by the ghost of Banquo and unable to eat. The murder has also distanced him from his wife, his “dearest chuck”, whom he clearly loves, from evidence at the start of the play. The thought of the murder plagues all aspects of his life. His state of mind at this point leads him to disillusionment as his wife’s death sets Macbeth brooding on life’s futility: “I begin to be weary of the sun”, “It is a tale/…Signifying nothing”. In Act 5 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s existence is described with motifs such as disease (“My land, find her disease”), blood (“There’s blood upon thy face”), hell (“Hell hound”) and famine (med’cine of the sickly weal). The results of violating God’s Natural Order are devastating and the burden on Macbeth himself has become intolerable.
Malcolm appears to be cowardly and unaware of his potential power, when he and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland. Nonetheless he is the rightful heir to the throne. With the aid of Macduff and more importantly God, Malcolm has the support to be the “med’cine of the sickly weal” and eventually restore the Natural Order. Parallels can be drawn with another Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet. Marcellus says “something’s rotten in the state of Denmark”. In reply, Horatio says “Heaven will direct” to mend the state and ultimately restore the Natural Order. Malcolm reminds us that: “The king-becoming graces / are justice, verity, temp’rance, stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, and lowliness” The model king, then, offers the kingdom an embodiment of order and justice, but also comfort and affection; as Edward the Confessor healed with touch. Under a true king, subjects are rewarded according to their merits, as when Duncan makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory over the invaders. Most important, the king must be loyal to Scotland above his own interests. Macbeth, by contrast, brings only chaos to Scotland—symbolized in the bad weather, bizarre supernatural events all wholly unnatural occurrences “ A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place/Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed”—and offers no real justice, only a habit of capriciously murdering those he sees as a threat. As the embodiment of tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that Scotland can have a true king once more, “the flower is to replace the weed”.
As the curtain comes down on the play and in due course Macbeth’s life, ironically it is a series of unnatural events that bring about the return of the Natural Order. “Birnam wood must come to Dunsinane” and a man “not of woman born” are be the only incidents which will spell the end of Macbeth. Too late, Macbeth calls for his armour and returns to his natural place, as a warrior, ready to fight. Unlike Richard III who by this point no one cares about, Macbeth through his undoubted bravery despite both of the witches’ prophecies being fulfilled, stands firm to fight Macduff who was “untimely ripped”. He will “try the last”. Sadly, Macbeth, as the audience realizes was to all intents and purposes a good man, but too easily falls into the trap of his hamartia. It is because he could have been a great man that he gains our sympathy and we are able to experience what Aristtole called catharsis. While we should never ignore Shakespeare’s great skill of characterization, our appreciation of Macbeth is deepened as we are fully aware of the concept of Natural Order and how Macbeth sought, ultimately in vain, to overthrow it. His tragic demise was inevitable from the start because of this.