His soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 3 is another clue. Macbeth is considering the witches’ words and he is again using their kind of language “cannot be ill, cannot be good” He is clearly frightened by his thoughts and he says that he feels in his heart that such thoughts are unnatural. It is only a thought, but he is terrified of it, yet still he cannot think of anything else “nothing is but what is not” This suggests not only that his ambition may be getting the better of him, but that the evil is becoming stronger as he is continually using this witchlike contradictory speech.
The second thought that comes to him is that, if it is a prophecy then maybe it will fulfil itself. This is not his first thought, even though it may seem the logical one. It seems as if he might have been searching for a reason to kill Duncan and the prophecy immediately stirred that thought in him.
Macbeth now seems rather insincere as he assures Duncan that his loyalty needs not payment. It is especially so, as Duncan feels the need to reward him, while Banquo he gives only praise and no presents. This may be saying that Macbeth is untrustworthy and is ambitious enough to be a problem to the king.
Before, Macbeth appeared to be ambivalent as to what he should do, but he suddenly makes up his mind when he hears that Malcolm is to be made the heir to the throne. This is a rather startling transformation, as he starts what appears to be a kind of spell to invoke darkness. He calls upon the night to hide his deeds from people’s eyes. The last two lines are a rhyming couplet, suggesting that this is at least partly a spell, which would again mean that Macbeth has a connection to evil.
Lady Macbeth seems to want to bet the driving force behind the murder when she is introduced to the audience. Her speech seems to refute the allegations that Macbeth is too ambitious and straying towards evil, as she says he is too kind. She clarifies that he is ambitious, “but without the illness that should attend it” It appears that she wishes to infect him with this sickness, so that he can do the job. From her point of view at least, he is not capable of this murder on his own.
Lady Macbeth then does a spell not unlike Macbeth’s, but seemingly more unnatural and evil. She calls on spirits and asks them to take away the part of her that is feminine, so that she can have the cruelty to do what must be done. She too summons darkness to her aid and wishes to hide her actions from Heaven. At this point she seems both more forceful and more evil than Macbeth.
When the Macbeths are together, she seems to dominate him and to be much more eager for the murder to be done than he does. Macbeth, who is normally very eloquent, has nothing to add to her plan and seems uneasy, more evidence that she is the driving force.
Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 7 gives us detailed knowledge of his conscience, which has now overtaken his ambition. His basic point is that if there were no consequences then he would do the murder as soon as possible. He does, however realise that peoples actions can come back to haunt them. Macbeth also knows that Duncan is a good man and that he is his guest. He, himself shows how evil Duncan’s murder would be and seems to berate his own ambition for bringing him to these thoughts.
Lady Macbeth seems ready to meet Macbeth’s reluctance and she knows how to deal with it. She insults him, saying that she will judge his love for he on his courage and that he is a coward to refuse to do this. She comments that it is even more foolish of him because he is refusing to do something that he wants to do. His reply is ironic, as it is so true and yet he goes against his own words in the end. He says that he will do anything that “becomes a man” and that anyone who “dares do more is none” He is showing the difference between doing something courageous, which is good and “becomes a man” and something courageous that is evil and is not at all manly. He misses the wisdom of his own words.
She ignores this statement and says that he has become a coward, since he was ready to do murder when the time was not right, but now that it is he has lost his bravery. She then gives a very unpleasant image of herself as she says that she would kill her own child if she had made a promise to do so. This seems to be her rather strange view of what it means to be a man, but while shocking to the audience it seems to convince Macbeth, as he seems to be wavering.
After some more persuasion, Macbeth agrees to carry out the Murder. This is the turning point and at first glance, everything in this scene seems to say that Lady Macbeth drove Macbeth into the murder. However, it does appear odd that Macbeth should back down so easily, as he felt so strongly about Duncan’s innocence. He may have made up his mind, but subconsciously hoped that Lady Macbeth would persuade him. This does look likely when we see how feeble his resistance was.
Although he does seem easily driven, maybe his pride is more important to him that his morals. Lady Macbeth showed that she was braver than him, in their measurement of bravery at least; therefore he had to prove himself her match. It may also be her threat that she did not think his love was worth anything without his courage.
In the Murder scene, Macbeth does seem driven and seems to be regretting his choice. Lady Macbeth has trouble holding him together as he appears to be maddened with fear. Many explanations are possible and all seem plausible. What is clear is that Shakespeare’s audience would have believed that Lady Macbeth drove Macbeth to the murder, but in modern interpretation things are different and more complex.
