Half way through the scene Ross and Angus enter. Ross backs up the bloody captains remark of Macbeth by saying he caught Cawdor and obtained a peace treaty from the king of Norway. ‘The victory fell on us’ – Ross. At this point Duncan sentences Cawdor to death.
From the information gathered from the reports so far from act one scene one, and act two scene two about Macbeth, we start to get the impression that he is a brave warrior on the battlefield. A Martyr for his country. An icon of power, strength and great courage and bravery. He also seems to be that of a born king as described in scene one as the witches chant of him. In some ways, Macbeth at the beginning of the story can be seen as someone like ‘Jesus’ from the Bible. The witches being the prophets. However, the most of Macbeths praise comes from Duncan alone, ‘DUNCAN No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth - DUNCAN What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.’
In act one scene three, titled ‘a heath near Forres’ Macbeth meets the three witches and upon meeting them is told that he will become Thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland; ‘First Witch All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! Third Witch All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!’ Macbeth doesn’t seem to believe the predictions of the witches. Maybe he thinks or feels cautious and uneasy about the idea. After all, he had just been approached by three old women saying that he is going to be king. As the seemingly ‘good’ future predicted for Macbeth by the witches is said, Banquo demands the witches predict his future as well. The three witches predict that Banquo shall not be king, but his descendants shall be. The witches vanish before Macbeth can have his questions answered. In this scene, the witches gain a sense of control over Macbeth and a feeling of wonder and intrigue over his character. They do this by telling him immediately his future and nothing else. The witches pull Macbeth and Banquo into a state of consciousness of wonder and excitement. Once in this state I believe that the Macbeth and Banquo could have been led to believe anything. Also the witches’ dramatic exit at the end of the scene would have further built upon the mystery in the story.
Act one scene five, named ‘Inverness, Macbeths Castle’ various sentences pick out Lady Macbeth as a loyal wife to Macbeth. However, although she may seem loyal to Macbeth, her personality shows that she wants to aid in the killing of Duncan (after she read the letter). When Macbeth arrives Lady Macbeth gains psychological control over him immediately by telling him; ‘Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, greater than both by the all – hail hereafter, thy letters have transported me beyond this ignorant present, and I feel now the future in the instant.’ Now she urges Macbeth to cover his intentions to kill Duncan. ‘Look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.’
Lady Macbeth understands the psychology going on inside the head of Macbeth. She understands that Macbeth has weaknesses and she can use them to her advantage when influencing him. She has already discovered his main weakness is his weak personality. He feels guilty at things he should not and this could undermine him when it comes to killing Duncan. She feels that it could stop him from becoming king. Lady Macbeth gains power over Macbeth using her own ambitions of becoming ‘great’ to drive her. This ambition causes Macbeth to subdue his attempts to calm his wife. Also, by stating that she will kill Duncan, in a subtle way suggests to Macbeth that he does not have much to worry about. ‘LADY MACBETH O, never shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't. He that's coming Must be provided for: and you shall put This night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom,’ quoted from scene five seems to be the beginning of Lady Macbeths power struggle she is taking powered by ambition and greed.
If I were direction a play, I would show the change in Lady Macbeth by shining a spotlight or directing the stage lighting (slowly fading in) onto the side of her face. So as the scene unravels, ‘so does her dark side.’ As the scene progresses I would also ask for much more facial expressions on the dark side (a lot may be needed to convey to the audience that she is actually talking as they may not be able to see the dark half of her face) and less on the light side so I can try to mentally tell the audience that her ‘darker side’ is starting to take control. Near the end of Act one, scene five, the audience understands Lady Macbeth is in control when she says ‘To alter favor forever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me.’ This tells me that Lady Macbeth feels confident. Probably because the shock that there is a chance she may become Queen has literally just been dropped upon her.
After Lady Macbeth has read the letter she obtains a positive motivation so strong she seems that she would do anything to get it fulfilled. In this case, her motivation was in the thought of her being ‘a great, wealthy and famous woman.’
During the Elizabethan times, women were considered inferior to men and weak emotionally, physically and mentally. Men were seen as the dominant ones during this time. . They were seen as solitary beings, designed to make the life of the male better. They were ‘great’ for house keeping and sociable when needing to be. Audiences at the time would probably have reacted with anger to Act one scene five as it shows a woman (Lady Macbeth) thinking freely and gaining psychological power over a male.
During the end of the scene, Lady Macbeth starts to talk in a way that covers a lot of questions Macbeth has had waiting, in very little sentences. It seems as if she’s been thinking of what to say for each question that could arise.
During act one, scene seven titled ‘Macbeth’s Castle’ Macbeth seems to have a battle going on in his head. Killing Duncan would be vengeance and will follow with guilt, however if he does, he shall go to hell for sure. The only motivation he has is ambition. The same ambition Lady Macbeth has forced upon him from herself. He finally makes the decision that he shall not kill Duncan. ‘We will proceed no further in this business.’ Because of this Lady Macbeth feels she needs to regain her power over him. She does this by telling him about what kind of person he shall be if he does not kill Duncan. She does this very cleverly by making them sound positive to help Macbeth believe killing Duncan would be a good thing to do. Although Lady Macbeth is only fueled by her own ambition, she realizes without Macbeth, it shall never happen. She shall never become Queen. ‘And live a coward in thine own esteem.’ ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man.’ Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth of her plan involving ‘two drunken body guards’ and Macbeth falls for her persuasional attitude.
After the death of King Duncan, during the act named ‘the same’ (act two, scene two), Macbeth seems to be in a ‘dream like’ state in the manor of which he talks, and the hallucinations he has pleasing his guilt. ‘I could not say Amen, when they did say god Bless you.’ This suggests Macbeth’s guilt has already overwhelmed him (as Lady Macbeth feared) and are creating barriers between consciousness and subconsiousness. ‘Methought I heard a voice cry, sleep no more: Macbeth does Murder sleep.’ ‘I am afraid to think what I have done.’ By now it is obvious Macbeth feels guilty. The ‘prize’ he has just won doesn’t stand up to the deed he has committed. He has lossed all sense of the mission set before him by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is the only person left with a sense of mission, however she is also starting to show signs of weakness at this point as she states; ‘I shame to wear a heart so white.’ By this she is referring to her own guilt kicking in. Now that she is feeling guilt because of the death of Kind Duncan, she too is starting to believe she has done wrong however she knows that at the surface she looks completely innocent. Therefore she feels that a ‘warm’ white heart (generally in most cultures white signifies peace) she should be wearing that of a black heart (signifying death).
Throughout act and two, the main power has been on the main character of the story to keep it centered on him. Macbeth. Lady Macbeth has been the one trying to persuade and influence his ideas to use this power to go and kill King Duncan. Although Lady Macbeth may seem to have power in parts of these acts when speaking to Macbeth (i.e. Act One Scene Seven) she is merely fighting and striving to get her own way: To gain power over Macbeth so that she can be sure that her ambition will be fulfilled. I also believe that the downfall of Macbeth (once the great warrior of a battlefield, saving Scotland from defeat) to the guilt struck murderer was due to the three witches and that infact their part at the beginning scenes of the play played a large part in the actual creation of Macbeths future by the way they ceased control of the conversations with Macbeth during act one.
