Another virtue of Macbeth’s is that he is held in high regard by the king. On several occasions, King Duncan praises Macbeth going as far as saying on one occasion, “ we love him highly”. King Duncan obviously held a lot of trust in Macbeth even visiting his castle and one way he displayed this was by promoting him to Thane of Cawdor. I felt it is somewhat ironic that Macbeth became the new Thane of Cawdor because the previous Thane had been a traitor to king Duncan also.
Moreover, another positive aspect of Macbeth’s character is that in earlier stages of the play at least he seems to have a good loving relationship with his wife. He writes her a letter as soon as he hears the witches prophecy, sharing his feelings with her. He refers to her as his “dearest partner” showing a more tender, gentle, loving side to Macbeth a certain contrast to his heroic qualities of a warrior.
However as the play progresses, this “loving relationship” is not so open (although this might be because Macbeth wants to protect her by keeping her innocent of what he has planned.).
Lady Macbeth gives us an interesting insight into Macbeth’s character in Act One when she tells us that he is “too full of the milk of human kindness” to do or plan evil deeds” She admits he does have ambition but lacks the wickedness to obtain it.
However bad Macbeth becomes, he certainly know right from wrong, and we see in Act one his conscience works hard on him as he struggles with what he is considering - the murder of King Duncan, knowing it is wrong and he wrestles in his mind. Macbeth changes his mind six times about what he is away to do- showing the decision to kill king Duncan was given a lot of contemplation. Certainly not at this stage does this appear the action of a butcher which would be cold and unthinking.
Despite these positive qualities of Macbeth’s character that I have mentioned his nobility, kindness etc. he has crucial weaknesses in his character which lead him to end up as the butcher he was branded. The biggest of all his weaknesses is this very ambition. He wants too much to be king.
“ I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other”
This shows Macbeth’s ambition is out of control, which he is aware of. Once that weakness is there, other things come in to exploit it .
The second weakness I noticed in Macbeth was that he is too easily led. He is very easily persuaded to do things that were always well within his capabilities but the evil thoughts or motive would never have beforehand crossed his mind. Macbeth could have became king much sooner if he had thought that killing the king was an answer. Maybe he is unaware of his evil side and unless it is brought to his knowledge he’s happy to let it lie. Therefore, he is too easily influenced by others for example, the witches. He had the same choice to dismiss the idea and wait and see if it happens (as becoming Thane of Cawdor did) as he has to act on it. His evil side made him choose the latter. He is eager to know more prophecies from the witches “stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more” but the witches vanish. In his defence, the fact that the first witches prophesy comes true so quick is like fate tempting him. I feel that if he had not been told that he would be king he likely would have been happy with his “promotion” to Thane of Cawdor.
Macbeth further weakens under the pressure from his wife to murder king Duncan when she says to Macbeth what kind of man was he to back off of killing the king. Macbeth gives into this tremendous pressure.
Lady Macbeth even says if it was her who had made the promise to kill king Duncan she would have killed her own child rather than go back on her word.
“I have given suck, and known how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done this.”
This is one of those infamous speeches that has made lady Macbeth famous for her cruelty. Her husband is also astonished by it and buckles under such tremendous pressure.
Killing king Duncan played on Macbeth’s active conscience to the point that he became delusional. When he was about to kill Duncan he thought he saw a dagger floating mid-air and pointing towards Duncan room. When he went to grasp it, it disintegrated before his eyes. Does this suggest a mental instability? At a later time when he knew that Banquo was indeed dead he swore to see his ghost sitting at the banquet table. This suggests how unstable Macbeth has become, a pattern of behaviour that only increases as he becomes more deeply involved in the destroying of opposition.
The guilt in his conscience made him so paranoid that someone may betray him that he had anyone who may have known it was him who killed the king- including his loyal friend Banquo and all Banquo’s family killed. Although, Macbeth’s conscience is still alive in some senses as he refused to fight Macduff at first, because he knows he is guilty of killing his family, his conscience does not prevent him slipping into treacherous behaviour, destroying Scotland. But it is still active enough to give him no peace of mind. Macbeth in a desperate attempt to control the future by erasing all opposition becomes simply a butcher, proving the truth of the statement of Malcolm- Macbeth’s successor.
In conclusion, I think that Malcolm was correct in judging Macbeth when he said he had become a “butcher.
However, Macbeth did have many good qualities and great potential to be a virtuous person and likely a good king. Therefore it is the greater tragedy that tempted and pressurised he succumbed and has become remembered for evil rather than good.