Act 1 Scene VII is the turning point for Macbeth. Through his siloquy at the beginning of the scene, we learn that Macbeth is in doubt and contemplating the consequences of the murder of Duncan and he thinks Duncan doesn’t deserve to die. It illustrates that he is not as corrupt as he later becomes. However Lady Macbeth plays on his weaknesses and conscience by saying he is not brave enough to be a man. As Macbeth suggests he is proud of his bravery in link 46-48, he changes his mind and is ready to do whatever to “become” a man (i.e. to kill Duncan). Once he has chosen to achieve his ambition through the immoral act of murder, there is no turning point. All in all, Macbeth is a good man, who without the persuasion of his wife, would not do what he ultimately did. This is illustrated when he questions, “If we should fail?” (Line 61)
Lady Macbeth changes throughout the play. At the beginning, she is confident, determined and single-minded. While women were submissive in those days, Lady Macbeth, instead, suppresses all her feminine tenderness and compassion and dominates over Macbeth. She is imagination and calls upon supernatural aid to murder Duncan, “Come you spirits … unsex me here.” (Act 1 Scene VI Lines 38-41). However, as chaos brings upon more chaos, she starts to question her actions and loses her nerve.
In Act 1 Scene VII, Lady Macbeth clearly illustrates her dominant feminist side by describing her violent masculine ways (line 51-60), making Macbeth yield to her ways of corruption and evil. She is very intelligent and accurately perceives Macbeth’s weaknesses and plays upon them. Lady Macbeth is truly responsible for Duncan’s death as she is the chief planner of the murder (line 61-72). She continues to support Macbeth but in the end, her guilt and disturbance of his mind causes her to sleepwalk and finally commit suicide.
One of the reasons which shows that this extract is very significant in the context of the play is because it is where all the action starts as there is a transformation of Macbeth’s character, who as once a good and loyal man, has been persuaded by Lady Macbeth and finally chooses to kill Duncan. This first step he takes in this particular scene to become the king has made him sink deeper and deeper into disorder and evil as the play progresses and finally comes to a tragic end.
Another reason to show the significance of the extract is the great detailed insight of the two protagonists character. Through this scene, the audience is able to work out Lady Macbeth’s feminist, ambitious, manipulative ways and willing to sacrifice anything for her purpose and Macbeth’s weaknesses and his original good character. Macbeth still as his conscience in the beginning of this scene as he is considering the consequences of murdering Duncan. Towards the end of the scene, however, he has been persuaded by his single-minded wife and makes up his mind to commit murder.
This scene is a complete contrast to Act 3 Scene 2 where Macbeth lies to Lady Macbeth about the planned murder of Banquo and Fleance. In this scene there is a reversal of character between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. After the murdering of Ducan and the crowning of the king, Macbeth is much more confident and is now able to make decisions on his own, contrasting to the weak man who listens and is controlled by his wife in the previous scene. It clearly illustrates the growing evil of Macbeth (line 29-35). Lady Macbeth, on the other hand has become weaker and starts to consider the consequences (line 47), contrasting her feminist and single-minded character in Act I Scene VII.
Finally this extract is the starting point where the themes become more evident. This includes ambition, good vs. evil, appearance vs. reality and the overthrow of the natural order.
From the invasion of the Norwegians at the beginning of the play, to the murdering of Duncan and Banquo by Macbeth and to the battle between Macduff and Macbeth at the very end of the play, ambition continues to flow along within the play. In this scene, Macbeth’s ambition overtakes his conscience and goodness for the first time, which leads him to failure at the end.
The conflict between good and evil is one of the themes of Macbeth. Shakespeare uses various charcters and events to show the audience what is good and evil. Loyalty, courage and honesty represent good while evil is represented by dishonesty, cowardice and a lack of moral awareness. The scene clearly illustrates the evil of Lady Macbeth and the growing evil of Macbeth. The fact that they also have some admirable qualitites, e.g. Macbeth’s bravery at the start, move the audiences to pity for their corrpt and unnatural ways, therefore symbolic of a tragedy.
Appearances often hide reality and cannot always be trusted. In the scene Macbeth states, “False face must hide what the false hearth doth know”. This shows that Macbeth is going to hide his evil away.
During the Elizabethan period, people believed that everyone and everything was arranged in a certain order. Unnatural acts such as murder and witchcraft are always accompanied by unnatural events in nature. For example, the King was thought as the God’s representative to uphold the order on earth. Therefore, the decision made by Macbeth to kill Duncan in this scene has led to the overthrow of the natural order. E.g. horses eat each other and fish flying in the sky.
In conclusion, Macbeth is a very interesting and meaningful play, which outstands from many others. The changes in character continue to provide unpredicted surprises for the audience to maintain interest and for Shakespeare to exemplify the consequences of corruption of the natural order of things. It is obvious that Act 1 Scene VII is a very significant one which deals with the main characters, themes and which the actions that unfold depending on decisions made within this scene.