“Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo” enter scene three. This is where Macbeth meets the three witches seemingly for the first time “speak if you can. What are you?!” before this scene we were led to believe that Macbeth had already met these three witches as they had planned to meet him during scene 1. We cannot rule out the possibility that Macbeth has met them in another form which he was unaware of. Maybe the most important and influential aspect of the play happens during this scene.
The “three weird sisters” all great Macbeth individually and differently, “All hail Macbeth, hail to the, Thane of Glamis!” “All hail Macbeth, hail to the, Thane of Cawdor!” “All hail Macbeth, that shall be King hereafter!” At the current time Macbeth is only aware of one of those titles belonging to him, he is Thane of Glamis and Thane of Glamis only. The audience is then seemingly led to believe that these are in fact “predictions” for Macbeth’s future. This is further backed up with Banquo’s reply to the witches, “you greet with present grace and great prediction”. Sure enough Banquo asks about himself getting the reply “thou shalt get King’s” meaning he will be the father of king’s. Macbeth desperate to get more from the witches commands the witches to “stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more”. He seems to not understand the witches predictions and shows this in his outburst, “predictions, but how of Cawdor” “and shalt be King stands not within the prospect of belief”. The witches disappear suddenly and without warning, strengthening the idea that they are of the supernatural.
A short while after Macbeth hears the news of him becoming “Thane of Cawdor”. He hears the news from Ross and Angus two other Thane’s who tell him, “He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor”. An indication that one of the witches predictions for Macbeth has come true, it is an also an indication to Macbeth that if the witches were indeed correct then it would only be a matter of time before he should become King. Let’s not forget that the time during the play was set (1040 AD) would also be a very superstitious time and people would also be very wary of the supernatural. The audience would also have had a strong hint that something is about to happened during this scene we see the first cracks starting to appear in Macbeths strong and courageous character and maybe the first indication of the ego he will develop during the play we see this in his desperation for answers from the witches.
The first appearance of Lady Macbeth or as Macbeth refers to her in the letter he wrote “my dearest partner of greatness” comes during Act 1 scene 5. She is reading a letter sent to her by Macbeth after his meeting with the witches and explains their predictions for the future. The fact that Macbeth informs his wife of this meeting shows he can trust his wife. This indicates their relationship is also strong, loving and loyal. We can sense Lady Macbeth’s evil almost immediately in the fact that she doubts Macbeths “nature” in “human kindness” to murder Duncan. Another example of this evilness is the fact that she shows no signs of doubt or examination of her conscience. She calls upon evil spirits to take away her good as she has decided that Macbeth will become king “…and shalt be what thou art Promised.” She goes on to say “that I may pour my spirits in tine ear”. This quote connects with her later speech where she calls upon the “spirits which tend on mortal thoughts”. The fact that she calls upon the spirits to help her suggests she knows Macbeths ambitions and that he would like to be King, her love for her husband effectively drives her to do this and in turn leads to her downfall. The evil spirits suggests that the three witches have taken control of Lady Macbeth to an extent. Therefore tightening their grip on Macbeth further as they have his wife, the one he loves and trust, there at their disposal to drive him towards making those predictions come true. This evidence further backed by the fact that Lady Macbeth devises a plan on how Macbeth will become King.
In act 1, scene 5, Macbeth and his wife are seen together for the first time during the play. “My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight”. This gives Lady Macbeth and her inner demons the perfect opportunity to brainwash and convince Macbeth into carrying out her plan to kill Duncan. She tells the plan to Macbeth “O never shall sun that morrow see” she means Duncan will never see the daylight from the next morning as Macbeth would kill him that night. Her drive towards making Macbeth kill Duncan himself instead of her doing this same deed is similar to the witches planting the seed, that grows in Macbeth due to many different factors, that will make him realise the possibility of obtaining the power, leading to his ambition. It is in this scene that Lady Macbeth shows the first sign of deceitfulness by telling Macbeth he must also be deceitful “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” again this is a sign that the witches may be the spirits she called upon because as ever they are driving Macbeth slowly to do the deed that has been asked of him.
We see a flash of the strong character of Macbeth coming through “we will speak further” but again Lady Macbeth and the power of the supernatural take hold of the situation again and dominate Macbeth by saying “leave all the rest to me”.
When Duncan arrives Lady Macbeth demonstrates to Macbeth precisely how he should act, as she explains before “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”. Here, she treats Duncan with great manners and respect, “your majesty loads our house”, while all along she is secretly planning the murder of Duncan. Up to and during the scenes leading up to Duncan’s death Lady Macbeth is portrayed at being very dominant towards Macbeth and seems to be the stronger of the two in this situation. However, after Duncan’s death her conscience appears to come into play and battle with the demons she calls upon. This eventually leads to her losing her sanity.
During the final act in the play we find out many things as the puzzles that are slowly being built throughout the play are now slowly being solved. Lady Macbeth eventually becomes mentally ill. The demons that she called upon originally for help are making her pay the price as her conscience cannot win the battle with them. A “gentle” and doctor have to watch her at night as she has started to sleepwalk. She has not sleepwalked for two nights. “I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive no truth in your report”. Lady Macbeth seems to be afraid of the dark spirits as “She has a light by her continually, tis her command”. It seems she is afraid that if she is in darkness she will see the dark spirits or maybe she is scared of facing the ghost of King Duncan himself. It is obvious that she is losing the war against the demons in her head and her conscience starts to reveal things that she would not normally reveal. She starts to rub her hands, the guilt inside of her is eating away at her and it refers back to the point after Duncan’s death where Macbeth asks the question “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” the blood in this question is a metaphor for the guilt that Macbeth is feeling. Again, Lady Macbeth is using this metaphor for her as she sleeps. Still in her sleep, Lady Macbeth also reveals details about Duncan’s murder although they are not too obvious that the doctor and gentle realise what she is talking about. “Who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him”. She then goes on to say “All the perfumes in Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” still referring to the guilt she is feeling.
Macbeth does not concern himself with his wife dismissing her condition, when the doctor tells him, “…it is not a medical condition” he replies, “I will not be afraid of death”.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s characters have role reversed since the murder of King Duncan. Now, Macbeth is the cold and heartless character while Lady Macbeth is now filled with guilt and paranoia. Now it seems as if the evil spirits have taken control over Macbeth.
The supernatural is one of the main themes during the play, in act 1 scene 1 the question “When shall we three meet again” suggests a recurring theme throughout the play of the supernatural, this stands to be correct. During Elizabethan times, when the play was wrote, supernatural forces such as the witches were portrayed as being evil. The witches have continuous involvement with Macbeth throughout the play and slowly and piece by piece build up a plan for Macbeth to kill Duncan. The first part that we knew of was when the witches told Macbeth the predictions. This started his brain working and gave him the determination and ambition to succeed to his position now. He does not fear the witches or the supernatural no longer “Then live Macduff, what need I fear of thee?”
The queen of the witches Hecate, shows her anger towards the three witches as they talked to Macbeth without consulting her first. “how did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth”. Hecate believes that Macbeth is not commited to the unnatural and is only interested in his own future, “Love for his own ends, not you”. Hecate decides that whatever the witches tell him will become his destiny, “thither he will come to know his destiny”.
The witches conjure up apparitions that show Macbeth’s thoughts to himself and also to the audience. The first apparition delivered the message “beware the Thane of Fife” meaning Macduff. The second apparition delivered the message that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth “…for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”. These two apparitions do not make much sense to Macbeth when put together. The second apparition, “…for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” but seemingly Macduff is born of a woman so what is there to beware of the Thane of Fife. The third and final apparition delivers the message that Macbeth will never be defeated until “Great Birnam wood” moves “to high Dunsinane hill”.
Macbeth meets the witches again and they play more mind games with him. They tell him “Speak/ Demand /We’ll answer”. This fills Macbeth with great power. He feels, if he is controlling these unnatural creatures like his slaves then what is there to fear? If he does not fear the more fearful thing around during those times then he had lost all know fear to him. This makes his desire to become even greater. His own feelings and confidence also are a major factor on Macbeth’s actions. This is also backed up with his loyalty towards Lady Macbeth when she is trying to convince him to kill Duncan. She threatens and Blackmails Macbeth into thinking that if he did not kill Duncan then he did not love her, “from this time such I account thy love”. This was one of the main influences in Macbeth murdering Duncan.
Macbeth’s ambition and determination ultimately drive him towards failure. He believes he has become overpowering and believes the witches will protect him and warn him of things but Macbeth is not clever or strong enough to overcome them. Also, once he had a taste of what the witches could give him, demonstrated when he becomes Thane of Cawdor, he gets overambitious and it leads to his downfall.
I think now I am in a position to answer the question, Is Macbeth dominated by his wife? I have examined all of the aspects that could effect this question and have now come to a conclusion. I have decided that the main influence upon Macbeth is by far the supernatural which in effect leads Lady Macbeth to dominate her husband.
All the way through the play Macbeth has a part of the supernatural in him. Even in the beginning the witches show some connection with him and then Macbeth himself seems to speak some of their words “So foul and fair a day I have not seen”. Lady Macbeth calls upon evil spirits to help her to fill her “from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty”. This gives her the confidence and power to dominate Macbeth and for the supernatural in her to use the fact Lady Macbeth loves Macbeth against him. She succeeds in convincing Macbeth to kill Duncan. “false face must hide what false heart doth know”. This shows she did dominate her husband during this part of the play. Therefore lady Macbeth did dominate Macbeth.
The supernatural is simply an influence on Macbeth that leads him astray through many aspects of his life. The witches who appear quite regularly through the poem, which shows their importance as an influence on Macbeth and not as characters, as we are never given a detailed description of any of them.
In conclusion I have decided that there was a negative influence upon Macbeth either directly or indirectly it was always there. Lady Macbeth did dominate Macbeth but it was not without the help of the supernatural. They tapped into a very personal and important part of his life which had the greatest influence and effect on him which led to him being dominated.
