‘Why do you dress me / In borrowed robes?’
Act 1 Scene 3 Lines 106 – 107
Shakespeare uses clothing as a dramatic device to make the audience aware of the deception in the play and the desire for some characters, in particular Macbeth, to change their position in society.
By the end of Act 1 Scene 3 Macbeth is seriously considering the Witches predictions. However when asked by Banquo, he denies that he is thinking of the Witches. This is an indication of Macbeth’s road to evil and deceit as he lies his true feelings to his best friend.
‘Think upon what hath chanced and at more time’
Act 1 Scene 3 Lines 152 – 153
His first Soliloquy shows the audience his true thoughts about what he has to do to become King. He decides that he must kill Duncan to become King. Although excited about being King and living up to his ambition, the act of murder that he is about to follow brings out his fears and insecurities for the first time in the play.
‘Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock against my ribs
Against the use of nature?’
Act 1 scene 3 Lines 134 - 136
The images make his hair stand on end and his heart pound, but only the audience is aware of his fear. His fears grow stronger in Act 2 Scene 1, just before he is actually going to kill Duncan. He is horrified about the murder he has to commit. He pictures a dagger infront of him, yet he cannot touch it. He believes this to be a reflection of his fear of what he about to do.
‘It is the bloody business which informs/ Thus to my eyes.’
Act 2 Scene 1 Lines 48-9.
In fact he is so paranoid he fears that even the stones beneath his feet will tell people what he is about to do.
‘For fear / Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,’
Act 2 Scene 1, Lines 57-8
Shakespeare uses references to water in Act 2 Scene 2 when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to wash away the responsibility of what he has just done.
‘A little water clears us of this deed’.
Act 2 Scene 3 Line 70
This shows the audience how calm Lady Macbeth is and how her self-control contrasts Macbeth who is truly horrified by his actions.
‘I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on’t again, I dare not.
Act 2 Scene 2 Line 55 - 56
Macbeth is almost hysterical as he comes to terms with what he has done. He begins to fall apart, which is an indication that there is still some good in Macbeth; he still has a conscience.
In Act 3, Scene 1, Macbeth tries to justify his plans for murdering his loyal friend Banquo. He fears Banquo’s good nature not just for being exposed for his terrible crime, but because Banquo’s character is a constant contrast to his own sin.
‘Our fears in Banquo / Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be feared.’
Act 3 Scene 3 Lines 50 – 52
This shows that his own insecurity about being exposed for what he has done lead him to the conclusion he must get rid of Banquo. This is a major turning point for Macbeth as he killing of his own accord with only his fear and insecurity driving him.
In Act 3 Scene 4 Banquo’s ghost appears before Macbeth. Knowing that no one else can see him, Macbeth begins to fear of his manhood. He says:
‘What man dare, I dare’
Act 3 Scene 4, Line 99
He then insists that if the ghost were to take the shape of a wild animal, he will face it without fear. When Banquo’s ghost disappears he says:
‘I am a man again.’
Act 3 Scene 4, Line 107.
His fears are distinctive at the beginning of the play, however at the end of the play in Act 5 Scene 5 we see a completely fearless Macbeth.
‘I have almost forgot the taste of fears,’
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5, Line 9.
We know Macbeth has fears and he is afraid of showing them. This comes from his insecurity of not appearing manly if he does. He wife is aware of this and uses it to drive him to kill Duncan, making her another reason for Macbeth’s downfall.
When Lady Macbeth first hears of the witches prophesies she believes them straight away. She assumes that killing Duncan is the only way Macbeth will ever become King. However she fears that Macbeth is to kind to carry out the deed.
‘I fear thy nature, It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way’.
Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 14 – 16
She knows that Macbeth is a good man and that it will take a lot to pursue him to carry out this act. Macbeth had always been concerned about being a real man. His wife uses this as a weapon to convince him to kill Duncan. She calls him a coward, which pushes him into proving he is not.
‘I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more, is none.’
Act 1 Scene 7, Lines 46-7
By this he means that the crime would be inhumane. Lady Macbeth takes further lengths to convince him as we can see in her soliloquy, where she calls upon evil spirits to take away everything good in her in order to help her kill Duncan.
‘Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here’.
Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 38-9
This means she is asking the evil spirits to take away everything that makes her an innocent woman. With this done she continues to push Macbeth into the murder of Duncan.
In Act 1 Scene 7 we see Lady Macbeth really playing on Macbeth’s insecurities. He decides he doesn’t want to kill Duncan, so she calls him a coward and says that she would have dashed her own baby’s brains out if she had sworn to do so, just as Macbeth has sworn to kill Duncan.
‘I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out, had I sworn
As you have done to this’.
Act 1 Scene 7 Lines 56 – 59
This shows her ruthless ambition and how manipulative she can be towards Macbeth. She manages to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan. Unlike Macbeth, she is seemingly calm and non-remorseful of what she has helped Macbeth to do. She has no patience with Macbeth’s fear or guilt.
‘These deeds must not be thought / After these ways;
so, it will make us mad’.
Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 36 – 7
She tells Macbeth not to think about what he has just done. She is able to push away any feelings of guilt and makes Macbeth do the same.
‘Go get some water / And wash this filthy witness from your hand’.
Act 2 Scene 2
This means that the evidence of what they have done can be easily washed off their hands and it will no longer be their problem.
In his weakness Macbeth was easily lead by his wife. His worry to prove his manhood to her is a reason for this. However the Witches also played on Macbeth’s weakness to lead him from good to evil.
The supernatural in Macbeth (The Witches) are representative of the evil in the world that Shakespeare’s audience would have taken very seriously. They relate very closely to the devil and are spiteful, destructive and deceptive in their ways.
We are first introduced to the Witches in Act 1 Scene 1, where the Witches are on a moor chanting spells and arranging to meet with Macbeth. Already Macbeth has been linked with the Witches.
They chant:
‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’
Act 1 Scene 1 Line 12
This is an important quote in the play because it not only suggests that things have been turned upside down but also links to a later quote by Macbeth:
‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’.
Act 1 Scene 3
This means that although he doesn’t know it, Macbeth is connected with the Witches and their evilness.
The Witches predict that Macbeth will be King and that Banquo will father Kings. Macbeth eagerly believes the Witches but Banquo is not so sure about their intentions.
‘But ‘tis strange, And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;’
Act 1 Scene 3
By this Banquo means that even the truth can be used as a means of trickery.
Unfortunately, Macbeth can’t help but think about the Witches and decides to tell his wife about them. With a push from his wife, his own ambition and the echoing sound of the Witches prophecy’s, Macbeth goes through a journey from good to evil.
It’s hard to point out one direct cause of Macbeth’s downfall, If he had never of met the Witches his ambition may have not have been boosted to such a point where he would kill or his wife wouldn’t have got the idea to kill Duncan. However it is hard to say whether his wife would have thought of Macbeth being King even without the Witches.
I think that if Macbeth had not mentioned the Witches to his wife, he would have thought about killing Duncan for a bit, then, due to his good nature, decide that he couldn’t, and get on with his life. This makes his wife a very strong key factor to his downfall, but not a single reason. It seems he just got caught in a fast flow of events that he could not control.