Banquo tries to stop Macbeth thinking about the witches’ predictions too much, he tries to make Macbeth question whether the witches are real. He then, after thinking about he witches predictions asks them to tell him what the future holds for him. The witches prophesy does not look as good for Banquo however, he learns that his descendants will be Kings but he himself will not get such a title.
Macbeth soon learns that the Thane of Cawdor is to be sentenced to death, Macbeth would then become the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth is amazed by this as I think that he must of partly thought that the witches predictions would not come true. He now starts to think how he will become King and clearly feels that killing Duncan is the way to do this. He possibly may not of even contemplated killing Duncan had it not been for the witches’ last prediction coming true. Macbeth by now will have accepted that whatever has to be will be. Meaning that if this is what Macbeth has to do to become King, this is what Macbeth must do, he sees it as his fate. We are now seeing that Macbeth is turning from good to evil.
Macbeth meets the King in Act 1 Scene 4 and is able to be kind to him; we can tell this by the way that Macbeth expresses his loyalty towards the King. The King then promised Macbeth and Banquo honours for their bravery. Macbeth at this time may be thinking that his honour would be to succeed the throne after Duncan, but Macbeth does not get this. The king announces that his son will take the throne after him; Macbeth soon changes the way he feels towards the King. Macbeth is now thinking very hard about killing the King. Macbeth makes a reference to astrology and the supernatural lines 50-51,
“Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires”
By this he means that nobody wants to see what he is thinking, he wants to hide away his thoughts, which is what he means by not letting his desires get out into the light for people to see, he wants to keep them hidden away in the dark.
In Act 3 Scene 1 Macbeth arranges the killing of Banquo, but he will not do it himself. Macbeth has to hire murderers to do the job for him. Macbeth at this time is worrying that Banquo’s descendents will become Kings and I think that this is why Macbeth is so desperate to get him killed. Macbeth is also aware of the fact that Banquo knows the witches prediction for him to become King and fears what Banquo might say about the witches with Macbeth Becoming King. Really Macbeth is just covering himself as much as possible.
In the ‘Dagger Scene’ (Act 2 Scene 1) Macbeth hallucinates that he sees a blood stained dagger in front of him.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me?”
By asking himself a question the idea that he might be going insane comes to mind. He would be feeling guilty about what he was going to do. This backs up the idea that he is not the type of person that would murder someone, and that he was only doing it to try and make the Witches predictions come true faster.
There are also other reasons for Macbeth seeing a dagger;
- The effect of tiredness due to his lack of sleep caused by nightmares.
- The effect of the amount of alcohol that Macbeth has been drinking prier to the attempted murder.
- The effect of the Witchcraft, he thinks that they may have put a spell on Macbeth.
- Flashbacks from the battle, which gained Macbeth the title ‘Brave’.
All of these reasons are acceptable and could each of caused Macbeth to hallucinate about the dagger; alternatively they could have all played a part in Macbeth hallucinating. This hallucination is causing Macbeth such fear and insecurity because he feels like he is falling apart at the thought of committing a murder. But without murdering the King he feels that he will never become King, because of what Duncan said about his descendants gaining the throne. Macbeth feels like this is his one and only chance to become King.
In Act 2 Scene2 Macbeth is obsessed by the murder and seems to be falling apart. The dramatic devices that help Macbeth to show his fear and insecurity are his constant asking of questions. At the start of the scene whilst Macbeth talks to Lady Macbeth after committing the murder he asks questions that indicate just how tense he is;
- “Who’s there? What ho?” (Line 8)
- “Didst thou hear a noise?” (Line 14)
- “When?” (Line 17)
- “As I descended?” (Line 19)
- “Hark, who lies i’th’second chamber?” (Line 21)
Lady Macbeth also answers these questions with a manner that adds tension to the scene, she answers them very quickly with only one or two word answers rather than trying to calm Macbeth, she must be able to see how tense he has become.
Fear that Banquo’s descendants will become kings and fear that Mcduff is a threat to his position as King influence Macbeth’s ultimate descent into evil. Macbeth feels that if Banquo’s descendants become King then he will never stand a chance of becoming King, he feels that the only chance he had was to kill Duncan.
It is clear to the audience that Macbeth was dominated by his wife. From the moment in the play where Lady Macbeth finds the letter Macbeth wrote she knows that she is going to have to persuade him to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth is well aware of the fact that he is not as strong (mentally) as she is. She talks about ‘defeminising’ herself so that she can be as strong as a man rather than a woman so that she can persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan, this would also make her Queen so you have to wonder weather she is not doing this entirely for Macbeth as she would benefit greatly from him becoming King!
In this Scene Lady Macbeth speaks in a quite different manner to the rest of the play, as we hear her saying things like;
“Unsex me here”
By this she means making her self as strong as a man, which goes back to the point of defeminising herself. When using soliloquy like this she is able to give the audience a good idea of what she is thinking, and even though she is speaking to herself in the play it seems like she is speaking to the audience because of the way she puts the words across. She also says
“And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty.”
By this she means that she wants to be filled with nothing but cruelty from head to toe, which would help her to persuade Macbeth even more.
Lady Macbeth uses various strategies to try and persuade Macbeth, for example praise. She also tells him to be courage’s;
“But screw your courage to the sticking-place”
Lady Macbeth plans the whole murder; this shows Macbeth how serious she is about him killing Duncan. Then she uses a different approach to try and get Macbeth to commit the murder, she tells him that he is not a man if he does not do it. Then she uses a final approach by encouraging him.
When Macbeth is around his wife he shows himself to be a weak man, which is another reason why she planned the murder for him. In Shakespeare’s time manly qualities were considered to be;
- Bravery (which Macbeth had already proved he had, from the battle) but did not appear to have when it came to him making the decision of weather or not to kill Duncan.
- Gentlemanly
- Honesty
The Supernatural is an important theme in the play of ‘Macbeth’.
The Witches are creatures of supernatural origin; if they were not there then Macbeth would probably have no more than ambition to be King. He would have no idea that he could be King if he killed Duncan and he would not know that Banquo’s descendants would be King.
The Witches seem to be evil, but because of what they told Macbeth he doesn’t really seem to care, he is more worried about how and when he will become King. Banquo appears to be more cautious of them, but this is probably because he found out that he would not be King but his descendants would. Macbeth seems almost hypnotised by what the Witches tell him; this is because that this is exactly what he wants to hear and he feels that becoming King is no more than he deserves.
The Witches use the line
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”
This means that whatever happens in the play that appears to be evil is not, it is really good. So whatever happens in the play that appears to be good is not, it is really evil. This also tells us that appearances can be deceiving. They end the Scene on this line so that it is emphasized more to the audience. During this Scene the Witches decide when and where to meet Macbeth;
“When the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won.”
By this the Witches meant that they would meet Macbeth after the Battle.
In conclusion it is clear that there are many possible reasons why Macbeth may have behaved in the way he did.
The first of these reasons is how far he is driven by his own ambition; I think that this is one of the main reasons for Macbeth behaving the way he did. He realises what he can achieve (become King) and he wants to achieve this. He then has to take into account what he will have to do to become King and then he becomes slightly more hesitant. I don’t think that this is the main reason for Macbeth behaving the way he did.
The second of these reasons is how far were Macbeth’s feelings of fear and insecurity an influence? I don’t think that this is the main reason for Macbeth behaving the way he did, if anything I think that Macbeth’s feelings of fear and insecurity put him off killing Duncan. I don’t think that this is the main reason for Macbeth behaving the way that he did.
The third possible reason for Macbeth’s behaviour is how he was dominated by his wife, Lady Macbeth. I think that this is the main reason for Macbeth behaving in the way he did. His wife played a huge part in getting him to commit the murder on King Duncan, without her numerous methods of persuasion I don’t think that Macbeth would of gone through with the Murder. Lady Macbeth planned the murder and made up an alibi, she also stopped Macbeth from falling apart, without her Macbeth would have been found guilty of murdering King Duncan, he would have been Executed. I think that this is definitely the main reason for Macbeth behaving the way that he did.
The last possible reason for Macbeth behaving the way he did is the influence of the Witches. I think that this has a big part to play in the way that Macbeth acted, but I don’t think that it is the main reason. Without the Witches predictions Macbeth may never have realised that he could be King, but Lady Macbeth Probably would have!
Overall I think that Lady Macbeth’s domination over Macbeth’s decisions and actions played the biggest part in Macbeth behaving the way that he did.
Stephen Holloway