The evil in Act Two is heavily influenced by Lady Macbeth, the future queen of Scotland. She asks for her feminine side to be diminished as she wants to become queen in Act One. Most of Macbeth’s evil actions could have been prevent or at least reduced if it was not for her manipulative nature and her dominant role in the relationship. The murder of King Duncan would not have happened if her emotional blackmail of Macbeth when she questions his love for her and challenges his masculinity. Her duplicitous personality assists with the murder of King Duncan as he was hoodwinked while she was showing her positive side when he entered Macbeth’s castle and he accepted her false hospitality. Her desire to become queen drove most of her evil deeds. This deadly flaw can be shown in Act One Scene Five when she reads the letter that Macbeth has written for her, she asks for the supernatural to posses her feminine side, and to block out the human emotion remorse this is evident in the line 35-50 in Act 1 Scene 5 ‘…Come on, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse….’. These evil actions are all caused Lady Macbeths flaw of ambition. Her evil nature split up a family as King Duncan’s two sons Malcolm and Donaldbain fled to England in fear of their lives as their father was savagely stabbed in bed. This started of the political crisis of Scotland.
The actions that occur in Act Three gives the over riding theme of evil more flare. These actions can be shown in the storyline as Banquo suspicions involved with being appointed King of Scotland. This leads to the breakdown of their long term friendship. Such a disconnection of such close friends can only be described as evil. Macbeth’s memory of the consultation with the supernatural is still fresh in his mind. He remembers the witches’ prophecy’s of how Banquo will father generations of kings. This leads Macbeth to assign a pair of murderers to murder Banquo and his son Fleance are responsible for all their ill-luck in the past. The act of killing a friend for ones own benefit is such a despicable evil act. This act shows how Macbeth’s deadly flaw is really affecting his livelihood as he is distancing his close friends and family. The audience can see how his murder of King Duncan is affecting his behaviour. The guilt of the murders is still fresh in his conscience as the viewers see at the feast how Macbeths hallucination of Banquo sitting in his place. His evil action of isolating people of high importance of his life has deluded him into believing that his power was everything and nothing is as important as him. The evil man Macbeth has become is shown in Act Three.
Act 4 shows the evil as it is the over-riding theme in the play. The tragedy of Macbeth suddenly prevails; his power madness takes a step further after consulting with the witches yet again. The consultation with the supernatural shows how desperate and gullible he has become after isolating close friends and his wife. The witch’s prophecy becomes a new religion for Macbeth. This leads Macbeth to be a tool of evil as the violence responsible by him continues. This is evident in Act Four Scene Two as Macbeth realises that Macduff is a threat to his reign over Scotland, he arranges murderers to kill Macduff. As he had fled to Scotland his family were murdered instead. The news of the tragedy reached Macduff through Ross the audience can see how the grief is affecting him through the lines 200-240 in Act Four Scene Three. We as the audience see Macbeth as a tyrant, his fear of losing his position of king is driving most of the violent actions. The carnage that follows in Act Four shows another respected family broken up under Macbeth’s reign as king. His evil actions are escalating at an alarming rate.
Act Five is the act we see Macbeth totally losing his sanity as the fear of being overthrown is driving his feeling of insecurity and mistrust. His evil nature of personality has distanced many of the people in the past that had once been loyal to him. We see the insanity of his wife as the guilt of murdering King Duncan triggered her suicide. The audience sees the lack emotions that Macbeth expresses at the news of Lady Macbeth’s death. This is evident in the line 15-25 in Act 5 Scene 5 ‘She should have died hereafter, Tomorrow, and tomorrow...’, The lack of emotions shows the evil, inhumane person he has become due to his deadly flaw taking full force. Macbeth is beyond the point of mending the evil crimes that he as committed in the past as it is too late and pointless. The fight between Macbeth and Siwards son shows how Macbeth’s respect of human life is shockingly low. The murder of Macbeth by Macduff was the only way out of his evil tainted life.
The audience see Macbeth as a tragic hero, due to his fatal flaw his respect in society came crashing down as his fatal flaw took over his livelihood. The over-riding theme of evil is expressed throughout the five acts in many ways present in the play Macbeth. The evil over-rides the play completely.