Shakespeare’s treatment of evil in Macbeth

Towards the beginning of the play, King Duncan, his sons, and Lennox meet a captain who was wounded from a battle. Macbeth is well spoken of, and even though the audience have not yet seen Macbeth himself, they are given the impression he is a noble and respectable man. The captain tells of Macbeth's victory in having captured the Thane of Cawdor, a traitor to the king. Hearing this, Duncan is overjoyed with Macbeth and gives Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor for himself.

"For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)

Distaining Fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

Which Smok'd with bloody execution,

(Like Valour's minion) carv'd out his passage."

- Captain (1.2)

Macbeth therefore has good qualities at the beginning of the play that makes his abrupt change terrifying. He is simply a human being with human weaknesses, particularly his ambition, which makes him vulnerable when it comes to being tempted be the idea of having power He does not seem evil at all at the beginning of the play, infact he seems very far from it. He is a man who, as Lady Macbeth says:

"Too full o' th' milk of humane kindness to catch the nearest way".

- (1.5)

From the opening scene, Macbeth is chosen as a target for temptation by the witches. This suggests that perhaps he was not an evil person, but just a victim of his ambition and moral weaknesses. He is tempted when he first meets the three witches when they say that he was to be king. But when Macbeth is told that he had been made Thane of Cawdor, he asks:

"The Thane of Cawdor lives, why do you dress me in borrowed robes?"

- (1.3)

This seems to suggest that at the stage, Macbeth wants no honour that is not rightfully his? At first, Macbeth does not want to murder Duncan, as his fears were that he would be eternally damned, especially as Duncan was a good king to his country. But eventually, ambition takes over and he does not let his thoughts get in the way.

The witches are not the only reason for why Macbeth becomes so unhinged and obsessed with the idea of becoming king. Lady Macbeth was very responsible for Macbeth's decision to kill Duncan; it was she, who mocked Macbeth when he did not want to carry on with their plans to kill him. Lady Macbeth says:

"When you durst do it, then you were a man:

And to be more than what you were, you would

Be so much more the man."

- (1.7)

Lady Macbeth is an extremely strong and power craving woman. She is tremendously ambitious for herself and who is astute enough to recognise her husband's strengths and weaknesses, and also ruthless enough to make the most of them, this is shown when as she mocks him when he did not want to murder. The idea of becoming queen is incredibly tempting to her, and she realises that without her, he will never win the Crown. She therefore calls on the powers of darkness for his and her sake.

"Come you spirits,

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full

Of direst cruelty"

- (1.5)

Lady Macbeth describes in violent terms what she herself would be prepared to do in this situation, she explains how willing she would be to kill for the Throne, by stating that she would go as far as murdering her own child if necessary.

"I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,

And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn

As you have done to this."

- (1.7)

The idea she expresses here certainly fits perfectly with the 'fair is foul and foul is fair' speech. This shows that appearances may be deceitful. Lady Macbeth seemed like a very feminine, weak lady. This is shown when the murder of Duncan had just been discovered, Macduff says to Lady Macbeth:

"O gentle Lady,

Tis not for you to hear what I can speak:

The repetition in a woman's ear,

Would murther as it fell"

- (2.3)

She is also a very cautious criminal; she remembers details well such as in Act Two, Scene two, when Macbeth had just murdered Duncan, he forgets to leave the daggers back to the scene of the crime. Macbeth, at this point, is shocked after what he had just done. He is frightened, and very guilty, he is not in the state to return the daggers. So Lady Macbeth does it for him to cover their tracks. Not only does she influence Macbeth to such actions, but she is ambitious enough to finish off any things he had begun. At this stage, Macbeth still has a conscience, he panics after he had sinned.

"I'll go no more:

I am afraid, to think of what I have done:

Look on't again, I dare not."

- (2.2)

But as time passes, he realises he will have to carry on killing people to cover up the truth that it was him who murdered Duncan. One of those people was his friend, Banquo, who knew about the witches prophecies. Banquo was suspicious, as he had always thought the witches were misleading Macbeth in some way. If anyone knew who had killed Duncan, it would be Banquo. Macbeth therefore needed to rid of him, and also his son, Fleance, as it was said by the witches that he would also become king.

First Witch: "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater".

Second Witch: "Not so happy, yet much happier."

Third Witch: "Thou shalt get Kings, though thou be none."

- (1.3)

This is the point where Macbeth gets carried away with his ambition. He tries to stop what the witches said would happen. This is proved impossible when Fleance flees from the murders, leaving his father, dying. Macbeth carries on murdering innocent people including Lady Macduff and her son. Macbeth returns to the witches to hear more of what was going to happen, in Act Four, Scene One. His ambition had already taken over by then. He is obsessed with keeping the throne. The apparitions one by one tell him bad news, but Macbeth is over confident and is now almost certain he would not be defeated.

"The power of man: for none of woman born

Shall harm Macbeth."

"Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until

Great Birnam Wood, to high Dunsinane Hill

Shall come against him."

- Apparitions two and three (4.1)

Again, not all things are what they seem. This is again, another example of the half-truths that Shakespeare uses. They play a large role in Macbeth, and are what was used to draw Macbeth into doing evil deeds.

Evil is also emphasized by clothing in productions and films. In the production that I saw, and in the RSC production, the actors were wearing mostly black all of the time. Lighting was very effective in the live performance; green lighting was used for the witches which gave a supernatural atmosphere. Smoke was also used to create a feeling of mystery in the opening scene.

The consequences of evil develops drastically throughout the whole play, starting off with doubts and indecisions, and ending with empty, ruthless cruelty. If Macbeth is viewed as a psychological study of a murderers mind, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both show symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as "a psychotic disorder characterised by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought, and conducts." They may also hallucinate, and can not distinguish between what is real and what is not. Macbeth imagines Banquo's ghost at the dinner. This scene was done very effectively in the live performance. Banquo appeared onstage, and slipped in and out of the stage through the iron gates, which normally, the actors would have to open to walk through. Stepping through the gate broke the boundaries and gave a very supernatural edge to the scene. Some schizophrenics withdraw emotionally, for example, their outlook on life is deadened and they show little or no warmth. This is exactly what happens to Macbeth near the end of the play.

"I have liv'd long enough; my way of life

Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf."

"I have almost forgot the taste of fears"

- (5.5)

Lady Macbeth is so mentally disturbed by what she and her husband have done that she cannot sleep peacefully, resulting in her sleep walking. This signifies that she can not get it out of her head, and she is beginning to become crazy because of it. She is even re-acting some of the past out, including the letter writing, which symbolises the letter that her loving husband wrote to her to inform her of the news that he was to be king. She feels unclean after touching the daggers and the blood of the king. She has hallucinations that her hands are covered in blood and that she cannot remove the smell of blood from her hands either.

"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

The Thane of Fife, had a wife: where is she now? What will these hands ne'er be clean?"

"Here's the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."

- (5.2)

She also knows her husband is getting out of control, and she feels that it is all getting unbearable. This is first shown when Macbeth is planning to kill Banquo. Lady Macbeth tries to discourage him, but fails:

Lady Macbeth: "You must leave this."

Macbeth: " O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife:

Thou knowst, that Banquo and his Fleance lives."

- (3.2)

It is towards her death, when she is seriously psychologically damaged by the events. Shakespeare shows this through the way that she speaks. While throughout most of the play, Lady Macbeth spoke in unrhymed iambic pentameter. At the end when she was sleep talking, she spoke in prose, which showed how disjointed her mind was:

"Wash you hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale: I tell you yet again Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on's grave."

- (5.1)

In conclusion, I think Macbeth was extremely influenced by the witches. They were the main reason for spread of evil. There is certainly with little doubt, without the witches, and their prophecies, Macbeth would not have murdered Duncan. Though the witches were the main reason, the others was also his ambition, his weakness to temptation, and the power his wife had over him to tempt him to do what his conscience knew was wrong. Lady Macbeth is incredibly determined, and powerful, and eventually, the two of them lost their passion they had for each other because of their evil deeds and desire for control

"Your hand, your tongue, look like th' innocent flower,

But be the serpent under 't. He that's coming,

Must be provided for: and you shall put

This night's business into my dispatch,

Which shall to all out nights, and days to come,

Give solely sovereign swat, and masterdom."

- Lady Macbeth. (1.5)

"Upon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on th' other."

- Macbeth (1.7)

Michelle Cheung