When we actually meet Macbeth any morality he had in the eye’s of the audience soon starts to dissipate. His very first words are: ‘So fair and foul a day I have not seen.’ Although these words may seem to be commenting on the fact that there has been ‘foul’ bloodshed yet a ‘fair’ victory, there is another layer of meaning which resonates back to the dark creepy first scene where the three witches uttered the very same words in a chant-like manner: ‘ Fair is foul and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air.’ This was the first speech in the play in which all three witches spoke simultaneously and the rhyming couplets without iambic pentameter coupled with the inversion of the lines and the repetitive ‘f’ sounds which make it feel menacing, add to the atmosphere of the witches casting evil spells with this chant. This line would have been ominous to the audience and easy to remember. When Macbeth utters in his very first line those exact words fair and foul this links Macbeth to the supernatural that is the witches. This causes the audience to already feel that he is not as ‘valiant’ or loyal soldier as he was talked of but a man with a darker edge but we do not know why.
This blackening of Macbeth’s character simply continues as the play progresses. In the very first Act when the witches prophesise that he shall be ‘ king hereafter’ Macbeth’s reaction by contemplating murder causes Macbeth to seen evi: he seeks kingship not only after cavorting with witches but by planning murder: He states‘ My thought whose murder.’ This immediate plotting of murder seems unusual. Macbeth had the first part of the prophesy (‘Thane of Glamis’) fulfilled without his involvement just as a consequence of actions which did not concern him- a Shakespearean audience might have believed that this fulfilment was fate. However Macbeth does not seem to want to wait for another consequence or fate to bring him the throne instead he tries to make it happen himself. The witches mention no evildoing in each case they just prophesise. It is Macbeth who shows his own evil by deciding to contemplate murder in order to achieve his ambition.
This interpretation of Macbeth controlling his fate is backed up by when the witches first make the prophesy Macbeth seems to ‘start and fear Things that do sound so fair’ in Banquo’s opinion and the reason for this fear once again brings into question Macbeth’s character. Why is he scared of such a positive seeming prophesy? One interpretation is that this was always one of Macbeth’s ambition and the witches have finally voiced his deepest aspiration. Therefore he is shocked at the witches levels of accuracy in deducing the inner thoughts of his soul. This would mean that the witches did not cause Macbeth’s evil but simply by voicing it gave him the courage to act it out. This interpretation is backed up with the idea of Macbeth being a man of weak temperament. His wife comments on this: ‘art not without ambition but without the illness that should attend it.’ This tells us that his wife believes Macbeth to have ambition to fulfil the task but he does not have the nature to do it; in that he is too scared to actually fulfil his ambition. However the voicing of the plan and the achieved prophesy of Thane of Glamis make Macbeth more confident. This means however that the witches did not instigate the crime but made Macbeth more confident that his actions would lead to his desired outcome. This interpretation means that the witches have no blame for the actions that occur. Macbeth himself interpreted their language and acted it using his own inner evil. If this interpretation was taken then Shakespeare is saying that although fate is set in stone, the way we achieve our fate is up to free will. This interpretation is backed up by theaforementioned fact that Macbeth contemplated murder of his own accord.
However this interpretation would not have been one which the audience of the play agreed with in Shakespearean times evil was instigated by an external force. Although human beings could be evil this was not something innate in them but a part of what they learnt to become after temptation, therefore another interpretation must have been made by the audience. Lady Macbeth descirbes her perceived lack of strength in Macbeth as not having an ‘illness.’ This shows that being evil and cruel is not normal or human but actually unnatural. Shakespeare calls the witches the ‘weird sisters’, they are only once called witches. The word weird comes from the Old English word ‘wyrd’ which means fate. Shakespeare could be using the three fates which in Ancient Greek mythology controlled the fate of humans completely. Although the Jacobean audience no longer believed in this mythology they still believed in the principles of the belief, that fate existed and basically ruled their lives. They would have thought that the witches in the play were controlling the fate of Macbeth with their evil powers (even if this seems silly today). This view of the witches’ being evil and fully controlling the actions of Macbeth would be backed up with another possible interpretation. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger covered in blood and in his following soliloquy he talks about a lot of evil images including: ‘Pale Hecate’s off’rings.’ This shows that Macbeth is going to kill Duncan as an offering or sacrifice for the goddess of the witches. This seems very off character for Macbeth because although the audience has seen and heard him contemplate murder and mingle with witches, he has always seemed uneasy or unsure. Now however he seems confident to murder. If the audience believed in the latter interpretation that the witches were instigators, they would believe that the witches had put a spell on Macbeth and caused him to go into such a state. However if the former interpretation that free will dictates fate is taken then the dagger could simply be an hallucination of Macbeth’s fuelled by the pressure on him to commit the crime. I take the former interpretation, I do not think that the witches made Macbeth commit the crime, I think he interpreted their prophesy and came up with his own ideas, albeit evil ideas, on how to secure the throne. Although the witches represent fate they do not represent the route to achieve that fate. The route is down to free will and Macbeth’s free will was tempted into evil and not instigated by witches but by evil ambition. His ambition of wanting to be king and taking God’s law into his won hands would also be considered extremely evil and perhaps the evil ambition instigated the evil acts.
In the scenes leading up to the murder of King Duncan the audience wonders if Macbeth has redeemed himself and may not commit the crime. Macbeth comments of why the crime would be so evil. I think the fact that Macbeth thinks carefully and fully acknowledges the level of evil he is about to commit show us that he is in control of his actions. It is a difficult choice for him to make. If he was under a spell then he would not have worries and after the murder no regret.
However he is shown has being too weak, due to ambition, to follow good morals and eventually does kill Duncan while he sleeps. Shakespeare uses the imagery of nature to show how evil this act was. In Act 2 Scene 4, Ross and an old man discuss the strange happenings that occurred after the king’s death: ‘darkness does the face of earth entomb’ the fact that although it was day it has turned dark, acts as a metaphor that suggests that the Earth or nature is mourning the death of the king. This shows that the divine right of kings is true and that messing with what God placed on Earth causes trouble. Also Duncan’s once tame horses ate each other this is againt natural order and acts as a symbol of the breaking of natural order that Macbeth has committed.
After the murder the imagery of blood acts as a symbol to show the guilt of Macbeth after he murders Duncan he attempts to wash his hands of the blood and his wife Lady Macbeth comments on how easy it is to wash away the ‘filthy witness’ but Macbeth is not sure he says: ‘ Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood....No; this my hand will rather the seas incarnadine.’ This speech uses the idea that even the great ocean of Neptune (the mythological sea-god) could not wash away the blood on Macbeth’s hand but instead the blood would make the whole sea blood-red. This is a powerful image; although literally the blood can be washed away, the methaphorical blood is Macbeth’s guilt for the action and that can never be undone. The fact that the blood would make the whole ocean red whows how great Macbeth’s guilt is and also how heinous his crime was.
After the murder the degeneration of Macbeth continues even further with his arrogant cruel nature demonstrated by his speech after the witches second prophesy and also his cruel murder or Macduff’s wife and children. This was for pure bloodlust. He is told by the witches that he should fear not any man from the womb and takes this to mean that he need not fear Macduff, however he states: ‘But yet I’ll make assurance double sure.’ Even though he feels that he has nothing to fear of Macduff he still thinks that murdering him is worthwhile just to be double sure! He considers murder such a small trifle now that he would kill someone simply to have safety. Also when he realises that Macduff has fled the country, he decided to have ‘his wife, his babies and all unfortunate souls’ murdered and no real reason is given for this, it seems Macbeth has degenerated from someone who worried and fretted before murdering to someone who kills for pleasure. Macbeth has changed and the humanness of him has left and he is left with just evil; the unnatural acts he has commited caused him to become like this. The words he speaks in Act 3 highlight this; he says: ‘Blood will have blood.... I am in blood Stepped in so far.’ Due to his first murder he has now had to commit many more evil murders to hide his original and to keep his position, he feels that turning back is worse than continuing therefore he must now do yet more evil. In a sense this could also act as a symbol what actually happens to Macbeth himself as he commits more evil acts he too wades into a deeper level in his evil character and it is too difficult to turn back.
When Lady Macbeth dies Macbeth’s soliloquy: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow gives us another dimension to Macbeth’s character from which we can rate his evilness. He believes life is ‘a tale told by an idiot... signifying nothing.’ Therefore he may believe that life is meaningless has he has discovered kingship offered him little of the happiness or power which he desired; instead he feels all of life means nothing. This would mean murder was also meanliness and therefore Macbeth may not feel or understand how evil he actually is
Therefore if ignorance is interpreted from this soliloquy then perhaps Macbeth is not evil in intention because to him all actions are as pointless and neutral as each other. However even though he may not consider himself to be evil, this does not mean that in Shakespearean times his character would not be considered evil. Although, nowadays, some may argue he evil is relative to what each individual believes therefore since Macbeth did not consider his actions evil he was not evil. However although this interpretation may be valid for some, I think the loss of distinguishing between good and bad morals, just proves how deep he has waded into unnatural acts that he no longer sees the purpose of life. He surely understood the meaning and significance of his actions back in the earlier Acts when he was plotting murder and deliberating over whether he should commit it or not. Therefore I believe all this soliloquy shows is that he really has gone so far into evil that he does not recognise life any more.
When Macbeth is killed, Shakespeare’s message almost explicit: evil destroys the human soul. His soul is as seen with the ‘Tommorow’ soliloquy already destroyed because he cannot even understand the purpose of the life. His wife Lady Macbeth’s suicide equally portrays the message as both Macbeth and he became deeper entrenched in evil, the guilt of the evil caused Lady Macbeth’s death and Macbeth’s loss of humanity caused his demise.
Shakespeare’s overall portrayal of evil in the play shows us that evil is not natural within us; this is shown by the fact that either ambition or the witches caused Macbeth to murder. Shakespeare also tells the audience that evil causes the natural order of the world to become tumultuous. And finally Shakespeare’s ultimate message, I believe is that evil destroys the soul either through the guilt symbolised by blood or by the degeneration of the human shown by Macbeth’s degeneration from the beginning of the play. Shakespeare tells the audience key things about human nature which can cause us to become evil and he also shows that appearances are not always what they seem using dramatic irony (even when Lady Macbeth acts hospitable when really she seeks murder of her guest). Shakespeare effectively warns people from evil ambition by using his powerful symbols like blood.
