King Duncan's murder marks the beginning of Macbeth's downfall. Who can be held mostly responsible for this?

Shrouk El Sayed

GCSE English

S5R

Shakespeare Coursework

King Duncan's murder marks the beginning of Macbeth's downfall. Who can be held mostly responsible for this?

'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare is a play set in 1040 about a Scottish general named Macbeth. It explores the transformation and effect of his ambition upon his life. Although it is set in 1040, it is written in the 1606 under the reign of James 1st. James' very recent accession to the English throne would have been of great contemporary importance and a play which focuses on Kingship would have roused interest too.

The first characters we are introduced to in the opening of the play are the witches. The witches immediately give the sense of a supernatural presence that creates fear and confusion for the audience, who would at that time have believed in witches. The witches use rhyming blank verse:

'When shall we three meet again

In thunder, lightening, or in rain?'

This rhyming blank verse stands out from the blank verse spoken by the other characters. This line in the play also emphasizes that whenever the witches 'meet' or appear there is always 'thunder', 'lightening' and 'rain,' this links with the stage directions that also change to 'thunder and lightening' whenever the witches appear. This emphasizes that with the chaotic change of weather in the natural world it breeds unnatural beings. The witches speak in rhymed verse combining alliteration and assonance also to emphasize that they are supernatural beings:

'Double double toil and trouble;

fire burn, and cauldron bubble'

In addition to the rhyming verse the witches also use language of contradiction, 'fair, is foul and foul is fair,' and 'lesser then Macbeth and greater.' These verses add to the plays moral confusion and suggest that nothing is what it seems. The last verse said by the witches in Act 1 Scene 1:

'Fair, is foul and foul is fair

Hover through the fog and filthy air'

Shakespeare combines alliteration, repetition and an oxymoron, not only to create a sense of confusion, but also, using a rhyming couplet that foreshadows something evil is going to occur. Although it is the witches who say this verse, Macbeth's first line upon meeting the witches is 'so foul and fair a day I have not seen.' This line echoes the witches' line and creates a link between the witches' evil and Macbeth. The witches do not immediately convince Macbeth that he is going to be king however, when he realizes that the 'instruments of darkness' tell the truth and he is Thane of Cawdor 'horrid imaginings' begin to plan out evil in his head.

The witches' presence as the primary scene casts the mood for the entire play. The audiences' beliefs of the supernatural power of witches that threatens their religion and society would provide an excuse for Macbeth's downfall. The audience would interpret that the witches' power overpowered Macbeth and would cause him to act in such an evil way. Shakespeare perhaps included the witches for dramatic effect and to show that the evil against the divine order could not come from a human being but from 'unnatural' beings. The divine order was an order decided by God that Jacobeans of that era believed in, and anything unnatural that was to occur was against this divine order.

The witches are constantly referred to as 'weird sisters,' the word 'weird' comes from an Anglo-Saxon word 'wyrd,' which means 'fate' or 'doom,' and that in fact resembles the fate and doom they bring. The idea of the witches creating these prophecies which they tell Macbeth is perhaps to provide Macbeth with self-fulfillment which means that the evil is already in Macbeth. This is because it is unlikely that Macbeth would have killed Duncan were it not for his meeting with the witches which awaken his ambition.

The second character responsible for Macbeth's downfall is without a doubt his wife Lady Macbeth. ...

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The witches are constantly referred to as 'weird sisters,' the word 'weird' comes from an Anglo-Saxon word 'wyrd,' which means 'fate' or 'doom,' and that in fact resembles the fate and doom they bring. The idea of the witches creating these prophecies which they tell Macbeth is perhaps to provide Macbeth with self-fulfillment which means that the evil is already in Macbeth. This is because it is unlikely that Macbeth would have killed Duncan were it not for his meeting with the witches which awaken his ambition.

The second character responsible for Macbeth's downfall is without a doubt his wife Lady Macbeth. The first appearance of Lady Macbeth is in Act 1 Scene 5, as she reads a letter from Macbeth in her soliloquy. A soliloquy is a famous technique used by Shakespeare to reveal a character and that indeed is what he establishes as Lady Macbeth's personality is presented to the audience. Shakespeare uses prose rather than blank verse at the beginning of the soliloquy to indicate that Lady Macbeth is reading a letter. The language then shifts back to blank verse, and we are immediately introduced to a very vivid and fierce character who is planning a murder. Another technique used in this soliloquy is dramatic irony where the audience is aware of Lady Macbeth's intentions but the actors in the play are not.

Lady Macbeth is already portrayed as more powerful then her husband as she is the one who fears Macbeth's 'nature' and that he has too much 'human kindness to catch the nearest way.' In her opening soliloquy we are also presented with a link between the language used by Lady Macbeth and the witches:

'What thou wouldst highly,

that wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,

and yet wouldst wrongly win'

A switch of vowel sounds and playing with words creates a similar mood to that of the witches and suggests that Lady Macbeth in fact has witch like qualities. The use of these female characters suggests that they are more callous than the men around them.

Lady Macbeth's strong will of wishing to pour her 'spirits' in Macbeth's ear and 'chastise with the valour' of her tongue to make him commit the murder would surprise the Shakespearean audience. Lady Macbeth would not have represented a stereotypical woman as she proves to be stronger than Macbeth on many an occasion. Her following soliloquy marks the beginning of the exploration into female roles and masculinity. Shakespeare uses bird imagery of a 'raven' that is 'hoarse,' a bird of ill omen to foreshadow the 'fatal' actions that are to occur upon Duncan's arrival. Lady Macbeth then surprises the audience by rejecting her feminine characteristics as she cries out to the 'spirits' to 'unsex' her and replace the milk in her breast with 'gall' so that she will have enough power in her to murder Duncan. This powerful soliloquy emphasizes Lady Macbeth's determination to murder Duncan as she asks the 'spirits' to 'stop up th'access and passage to remorse,' which means she wants the 'spirits' to prevent pity from flowing through her veins so she can feel no compassion and no feelings of humanity will interfere in her actions. These feelings presented in the 'thick night' by Lady Macbeth illustrate her belief that murder, violence and no compassion is the definition of manhood and masculinity. The use of the darkness of the natural world, 'thick night' underlines the idea that with every evil deed there is a change of weather to a chaotic world much like the change in weather when the witches enter a scene. Although the plays were performed in the daytime Shakespeare, included exposition through dialogue to illustrate to the audience the time of day and weather.

It is clear that Macbeth's confrontation with his wife shows he has no strong intentions of killing Duncan, even though it has crossed his mind. In the beginning of Act 1 Scene 7 Macbeth realizes that he is a loyal 'subject' to the king and therefore cannot commit such an immoral crime. Lady Macbeth's determination to carry out this crime over rules her husband's as she uses words like 'coward,' and 'beast' to criticize, tease and insult him rather than persuasion to get her way. Although the witches are clearly responsible for awakening Macbeth's ambition, Lady Macbeth is responsible for manipulating Macbeth to kill Duncan as she ignores his rational and moral arguments and challenges his manhood. Lady Macbeth firstly taunts Macbeth by comparing his ability to carry out a sexual act with the willingness to carrying out the murder:

'Art thou afeard

to be the same in thine own act and valour

As thou art in desire?

This reinforces the idea that Lady Macbeth is clearly much more courageous and ambitious than Macbeth and will therefore do anything to get her own way. Although Macbeth's strong ambitions have awakened, Lady Macbeth seems more solely interested with immediate power which she uses her supposed masculine 'virtues' to achieve. She then shifts to implying he is unmanly:

'They have made themselves, and that their fitness now

Does unmake you.

The emphasis that the right time and place has presented itself to Macbeth, but yet he is 'like the poor cat' who is too cowardly to wet his paws to get what he wants.

Macbeth's objections to and confusion about whether to murder are not strong enough to withstand Lady Macbeth's strong sense of purpose and taunting and he is therefore left weakly asking:

'If we should fail?

The use of female characters such as Lady Macbeth and the witches are used in Macbeth by Shakespeare to undermine the idea that:

‘Undaunted mettle should compose’

Nothing but males’

Shakespeare clearly contradicts himself as he presents strong female characters who use manipulation to advance a male's ambitions. This play strongly implies that women can be as ambitious and as cruel as men, we can see that from Lady Macbeth's manipulations and strong desire to commit murder. However, due to the setting in the 16th century, social restrictions deny women the freedom to follow ambitions of their own. This stresses that Lady Macbeth would certainly surprise the Shakespearean audience whose thoughts of women are that they are submissive and not associated with murderous plots.

Later, after the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth's character shifts drastically as she becomes vulnerable and weak. The first time in which Lady Macbeth is shown to be vulnerable is after her visit to Duncan's chamber in which she compares Duncan to her father:

'Had he not resembled

My father as he slept I had done't'

This underlines that although her desire for power is strong and she wishes to be able to murder without her conscience, she cannot. Macbeth slowly takes the place of Lady Macbeth and is in more control now that she has moulded him to do evil.

Although it is Lady Macbeth who clearly provoked Macbeth's thoughts to kill Duncan she now says the same as Macbeth that 'desire is got without content' it is therefore very difficult to believe that the person who urged Macbeth to murder is the same woman who is suffering now.

The contrast between Lady Macbeth's earlier role and that before she commits suicide, is very powerful. She says to Macbeth that 'little water clears us of this deed' but in fact towards the end of the play the 'blood' has not washed off, there is still a 'spot' and she dreads the 'smell of the blood.'

Macbeth is the play's core character as he is also to blame for his downfall. The introduction of Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 2 illustrates a 'brave' and 'noble Macbeth' who 'deserves' such a title as Thane of Cawdor. The audience momentarily imagines a loyal and trustworthy subject to the king. However this image of Macbeth slowly fades away after his meeting with the witches and the prophecies delivered to him and Banquo.

The audience's impression of Macbeth changes when his prophesized 'crown' is given to Malcolm, rather than to him. Now that he has realised the 'crown' will not come to him he says:

'Let light not see my black and deep desires.'

We immediately realise that this is an indication that there is a plot in Macbeths mind and that he might be thinking of murder. I have realised that Macbeth uses a lot of euphemisms to soften the meaning of 'murder.' Upon the news of not being crowned 'Prince of Cumberland' Macbeth euphemistically indicates that Malcolm being crowned is just a 'step' that he must 'o'erleap.' This suggests that Malcolm is merely an obstacle between Macbeth and the throne and which he must overcome in any way possible, which foreshadows murder.

Contrasts, riddles and oxymorons are widely used in this play, not only by the witches, but also by Macbeth:

'cannot be ill cannot be good'

and

'nothing is but what is not.'

These verses are ambiguous and raise the audience's involvement in the play. It is also a link between the confusion that the witches bring to the play and Macbeth.

There are many factors that contributed to Macbeth killing Duncan, although it is seen that the witches and Lady Macbeth were the reason Duncan was murdered, it was in fact Macbeth's own ambition. The witches are not the cause of Duncan's murder; they did not tell Macbeth to kill Duncan, they merely told him he would be king. Lady Macbeth clearly insists on Duncan's murder and speeds up the process, however in Act 1 Scene 3 Macbeth clearly states:

'If chance will have me king, why, Chance will crown me

Without my stir,'

This reinforces the idea that Macbeth believes he has to do something in order to become king but his 'fair' thoughts are clearly fighting against his 'foul' thoughts. Macbeth is clearly too ambitious to allow Malcolm to become 'Prince of Cumberland' and it must have also been his decision to kill Duncan.

In Macbeth's first soliloquy he clearly emphasizes that 'bloody instructions' caused by someone end up plaguing ' th'inventor.' This is the first time blood is linked with guilt. However this idea is expanded after Duncan's murder and the shift from Lady Macbeth being in control to Macbeth. Although Macbeth is now king and has fulfilled his ambition he realizes that they have only 'scorched the snake, not killed it,' this foreshadows that further actions will have to occur in order for him to sustain his position as king. Macbeth's state of mind at this point in the play is chaotic and the use of evil animals such as 'scorpions' that are in his mind stress that in fact their 'bloody' actions have come back to 'plague' their minds.

This shift between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth is stressed when he echoes her previous comment that he must 'look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't' by telling her that they must make their 'faces vizards' to their hearts, disguising what they are.' Now that Macbeth is in control he mimics Lady Macbeth's manipulative techniques and questions the murderer's manhood and states that 'in the catalogue' they go for men. This shows that Macbeth has adopted Lady Macbeth's ways and questions the murderers manhood to taunt them and persuade them to kill Banquo, who has 'held' the murderers so 'under fortune.' Macbeth realizes that everyone is a threat especially his best friend Banquo, whose son is to become king.

Macbeth's strong link with the witches as supernatural beings also stresses the appearance of the floating 'dagger' and Banquos ghost at the banquet. This underlines the idea that 'unnatural deeds breed unnatural troubles,' Macbeth's decision to believe the witches and pursue his desire for power using any means possible stresses that he has started a chain of violence that can now not stop unless Macbeth is dead. The appearance of Banquo as a ghost also stresses the guilt felt by Macbeth for killing his best friend.

As the play continues and Lady Macbeth's character fades away, Macbeth's character strengthens as he thinks about murdering Macduff:

'I am in blood

Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more,

Returning were as tedious as go o'er.'

This underlines Macbeth's feelings that he is so advanced in this murder that it is easier to continue his course of violence then to go back. This also foreshadows that anyone is in danger and Macbeth shall murder again. At this point in the play we realize that no one but Macbeth is responsible for the death of Lady Macduff and her son, it is the point where Macbeth kills only for desire and not political gain.

I believe that although Macbeth is clearly influenced by the witches and Lady Macbeth, he still has a freedom of will and the evil is therefore primarily inherent in his character. He therefore makes a decision whether to murder or not.