“Fair is foul and foul is fair...”
That is an indication that there is a lot of deception in the play. This deception is evident in Act 1 Scene 3. The scene opens with the 3 witches. They are talking in riddles, and talk about how they are making life a misery for a captain of some ship. This is more drama and fright created by the supernatural aspect of the play.
Them , Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches. The witches have deceptive appearances; Banquo thinks they are women, but they have beards which cast doubts in Banquo’s mind.
“you should be women...your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.” (I/III/45-47).
The witches then tell Macbeth that he will become the Thane of Cawdor, and then the King. Macbeth then speaks out loud in a soliloquy. He has evil thoughts, those of murdering the King.
“My thought, whose murder yet is fantastical...” (I/III/139).
Although Macbeth then dismisses his thoughts, even his thoughts would have created a huge amount of drama and tension in the audience, as regicide was an absolute sin. The King was considered almost divine, as he was chosen by God, so Macbeth’s thoughts would have been all the more evil.
In Act 1 Scene 4, King Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm, will be his successor. Macbeth is shocked by Duncan’s decision as he sees it as a development that may prevent him from becoming King. He says in another soliloquy,
“...that is a step...which I must...o’er leap” (I/IV/48-49).
He then goes on to confirm the thoughts of the audience and that he is thinking of murdering Duncan again.
“Let not light see my black and deep desires...” (I/IV/51).
This scene is very powerful in my opinion. It creates drama, with Macbeth’s evil thoughts, and I think it creates more fright for the audience, of the supernatural. I think the audience would realise that the witches planted the seeds of evil in Macbeth’s brain and that is enough to get Macbeth thinking improper thoughts.
Act 1 Scene 5 opens with Lady Macbeth reading a letter from Macbeth. Macbeth tells his wife in the letter of all that has happened, and I gather from his letter that Macbeth now believes that the last of the witches prophecies will become true. Lady Macbeth then talks to herself, saying that she will have to persuade Macbeth into killing Duncan. She talks in a somewhat masculine way, and like the witches, she may be a female but she has very masculine qualities. She does not talk like an ordinary female,
“...unsex me her...make thick my blood...” (I/V/40-42).
Lady Macbeth’s use of violent imagery would have shocked the Shakespearean audience, and created drama.
When Macbeth returns, his and his wife’s desires are perverted. They talk about killing the King and Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation. It is almost like the roles are reversed between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, so this is more deception.
There is a reference to a raven in this scene,
“The raven...” (I/IV/39),
and the raven was a bird often associated with death. It was thought that the raven appeared when someone was going to die. This reference may have been a prelude to a murder and the audience may have recognized this. This would have created drama and anticipation.
In Act 1 Scene 6, Lady Macbeth acts like a perfect hostess, being polite and welcoming to King Duncan. However, the audience knows that she is being deceitful as she is plotting to kill the man and this creates tension.
Another ironic point in this scene, is the fact that Duncan speaks of Macbeth so highly.
“...we love him highly...” (I/VI/29).
This is ironic because we know that Macbeth intends to kill King Duncan.
In Act 1 Scene 7, Macbeth has a chance to think about killing the King. This scene is very dramatic, because the audience do not yet know for sure if Macbeth is going to kill King Duncan or not. It is a very much a ‘will he’ or ‘wont’t he’ situation. Macbeth decides he is not going to kill the King,
“We will proceed no further in this business...” (I/VII/32),
until he informs his wife of his decision. Lady Macbeth verbally tears him apart. She questions his manhood and calls him a “coward” (I/VII/43).
She claims that Macbeth has broken a promise and if she had done that she would take her baby and smash it against the wall.
“the babe that milks me...dash’d the brains out...” (I/VII,43).
This outburst from Lady Macbeth and her perverted use of violent imagery would have horrified the Shakespearean audience. In the end, she eventually persuades Macbeth to kill the King.
Act 2 Scene 1 is an extremely tense and dramatic scene. It seems that Banquo as well as Macbeth, is very tense. He even reaches for his sword in one instance, but one should not need a sword in the home of one’s friend.
Then Macbeth and Banquo use very short speech when they talk to each other, indicating that they are both tense.
Then Macbeth has a vision. He has some sort of hallucination, where he thinks a bloody dagger is leading him to King Duncan’s deathbed.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me...” (II/I/32).
Shakespeare increases the horror by using language full of references to blood.
“...gouts of blood...” (II/I/46)
“...bloody business...” (II/I/48)
Macbeth also talks about witchcraft in his final speech of the scene.
“witchcraft celebrates...” (II/I/51)
This shows the evil that has been planted into Macbeth and this really adds to the horror. There is very much a suffocating atmosphere, with the horror and tension in the scene.
In Act 2 Scene 2, Macbeth returns to his wife with blood on his hands, having murdered King Duncan. I expect this moment of his return would be extremely dramatic for the audience, for a number of reasons. Any murder is dramatic enough, but the murder of King Duncan is so deeply dramatic, because his murderer, Macbeth, has almost committed a triple sin. He murdered a King, which was considered an act against God. Duncan was his relative,
“...I am his kinsman...” (I/VII/13),
so he also murdered a member of his family. And Duncan was a guest at Macbeth’s home, so Macbeth was not being a very good host by killing his guest.
Another point that makes the murder all the more horrific, is the fact that Duncan was a really good-natured, genuine character. Even Macbeth concedes this fact having murdered him.
“...the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;” (III/I/66).
Another point is, that King Duncan trusted and respected Macbeth greatly. He praises Macbeth countless times throughout the play,
“...we love him highly.” (I/VI/29),
He made Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, and he went to his house as a guest. The fact that Macbeth murdered him despite Duncan’s attitude towards him indicates that Macbeth has a very cold, evil side to him that would have created a lot of drama.
I feel that Macbeth knew that murdering Duncan was not a good idea, and that one day it would come back to haunt him.
“Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor;” (I/VII/9-10).
I think this makes Duncan’s murder even more incredible because you would not expect someone to commit murder if they were distinctly aware beforehand that it may be a bad idea.
One also senses deep down that Macbeth did not completely want to kill Duncan. He was somewhat pushed into it by his wife and although he had the desire to kill him to a certain extent, I feel that there was part of him that wanted not to.
The whole of Act 2 Scene 2 has a very tense feel to it. You do not even see the murder, but I think this is what makes it all the more dramatic. I think the fact that you just see the way Macbeth and his wife react to it, is a very clever technique used by Shakespeare.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth talk to each other using very short sentences. This creates tension too.
It is also quite a scary scene. The only noises are those made by owls and crickets,
“I heard the owls scream and the crickets cry.” (II/II/16).
And Macbeth has reacted badly and is behaving in a crazy manner. He claims he can hear voices announcing Macbeth’s evil deed.
“Still it cried,’Sleep no more!’” (II/II/42).
After the murder of King Duncan, the drama related to it continues. It is almost as if the world order is disrupted. There are earthquakes, an eclipse, and the animal kingdom is messed up.
“Duncan’s horses...’tis said they ate each other.” (II/IV/19)
The idea of horses eating each other seems ludicrous, but this is the supernatural aspect of the play.
The consequences of Duncan’s murder are also dramatic. Macbeth’s life is ruined. He orders more and more people to be killed. And he becomes under the influence of witchcraft. He becomes an evil man who cannot sleep and is haunted by his evil deeds. Macbeth is eventually killed by Macduff in battle. This is a direct consequence ofhs own evil deed. This is true drama.
In conclusion, Shakespeare use many methods to make the murder of King Duncan so deeply dramatic. He uses the supernatural and witchcraft extremely effectively, and uses powerful imagery and dramatic irony. I feel that the play would have been much more powerful to the Shakespearean audience, although it is still a hugely dramatic tragedy.
