From the structure of the speech, we can see that what Macbeth speaks about killing Duncan and what he speaks about not killing Duncan are largely different amount, with him speaking for Duncan’s death for eight lines but then for 6 of the lines he speaks against killing Duncan. This shows the Macbeth doesn’t want to kill Duncan, and just after the speech he concludes “We will proceed no further in this business.” With the sight of the two halves of Macbeth, we also see how the two sides are portrayed. The use of words such as “Bloody and poison’d,” show to use that one half of Macbeth is quite evil.
The other half then fights back, with him portraying Duncan as an angel, with words such as “angels trumpet tongued,” and “naked new-born babe.” The use of strong alliteration such as “deep damnation,” and “trumpet-tongued,” emphasises the image Macbeth is trying to portray. The extremely strong feelings of guilt overpower the ambition. Saying that Duncan “Hath bourn his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his office, that his virtues will plead like angels trumpet-tongued.” Using similes to liken Duncan to angels. And the use of Meek, meaning that Duncan has been so nice in his Throne and always pleased the people. Macbeth again tries to stop himself from committing the murder by making him feel sorry for himself, and how this will affect the people. This shows a kind side to Macbeth. “Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, that tears shall drown the wind.” The continuous use of but and besides in the speech shows very much a cautiousness to Macbeth, going into this situation. It also reinforces the 2 sidedness of Macbeth. Now comparing this to his speech in Act 5 scene 5 we can see that Macbeth has greatly changed his viewpoint and opinions. The first thing we see when scanning through this passage is that Macbeth talks to Seyton, Shakespeare does this to imply that Macbeth is now talking with evil people and so has become an evil person himself. Macbeth enters with defiance, but this soon changes, he says that he has “almost forgot the taste of fears,” implying that what he has done is worse than what anyone has done before and after that he has no chance of being scared again. He doesn’t care if he hears a “night-shriek,” this shows a cold heartedness he has gained as a result of his misdemeanours. He says he has “supp’d full with horrors;” and he has “Slaughterous thoughts.” this shows how evil he really has become. In the next short passage Macbeth talks with much repetition, this shows how tired he has become of his current situation and how he wishes to leave this situation. He uses many “s” sounds when he is speaking because the letter s gives a very evil image and helps portray Macbeth’s character. He starts not caring about life anymore because he believes it isn’t worth living. “Life is but a walking shadow,” “Signifying nothing.” Macbeth is now about to give up on life and his mood has changed form a man with pride in Act 1 to a man who does not wish to live anymore in Act 5.
We can see from these two differing scenes that Macbeth has been exposed to very extreme circumstances, but Shakespeare makes us still believe the whole story because of the ability we have to look into the thoughts of the Main characters.
We knew Macbeth would come to bloody death from one circumstance or another because this play is a tragedy and like many tragic heroes of the time has a fatal flaw; Macbeth’s flaw was his ambition.
