Should an audience just dismiss Macbeth as a ‘Butcher’ or is there more in his character to interest us? Consider how Shakespeare shapes our response to him.
Should an audience just dismiss Macbeth as a 'Butcher' or is there more in his character to interest us? Consider how Shakespeare shapes our response to him.
The play Macbeth is about a man's battle between good and evil. It is based on a historical King of Scotland who was alive many years before Shakespeare. Shakespeare often used history for the basis of his plays, but he never followed history to the line and always adapted it to his liking to make in more exciting and appealing to people. This is what he did in the play Macbeth, he changed King Duncan from a weak and ineffectual ruler to an old and revered ruler and he omitted historical Macbeth's ten years of successful rule. He did this to make the story more exciting and interesting and ran some themes through the play that did not exist in history. These themes include order and disorder which plays a big role in the play and appearance and reality which is an important part of Macbeth's character. In the play there is an obvious battle between good and evil and the play can be interpreted this way.
Throughout the play there are many examples of Macbeth's evil character. There are different situations that present themselves to Macbeth where he has the chance to do evil and in many of these situations he takes the opportunity. There are also more subtle examples of his evilness such as his link with the witches in Act 1, Scene 1. The three weird sisters mention Macbeth's name in the first scene, 'There to meet with Macbeth'. In Shakespearean times, people treated witches and anything to do with witchcraft with a morbid and intense fascination and Macbeth's link with the witches was a strong sign that he was evil.
This connection with evil is heightened in Act 1, Scene 3, when Macbeth actually meets with the witches. As he enters the scene there is thunder and lightening, which is a sign of disorder in the play and would have excited the audience of Shakespeare's time. This spectacle would have gripped their attention and would have made them take notice of Macbeth's meeting with the witches. Another thing that helps the audience make the link between Macbeth and evil, is made by his first words of the scene which echo those of the witches' last in scene 1. They left saying, 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair,' and Macbeth enters Scene 3 saying, 'So foul and fair a day I have not seen.' This connection of Macbeth's, provides a suggestion of disorder and is already providing the audience with the image that he is evil.
After Macbeth has been told the witches' predictions, he talks in an aside. An aside is the technical name for a character expressing his/her feelings or thoughts aloud on stage, so that the audience can hear, but the other characters on stage cannot. It is very like a soliloquy, except that an aside is usually only done by an 'evil' character. This shows the audience that he is not a totally innocent character and has another side to him. In his aside he responds to the witches' predictions by saying his thoughts out loud so that the audience can hear. His interpretation shows us a lot about his character.
Though the witches have predicted that he will become king, they do not suggest how he might do this, yet Macbeth's thoughts are of murder. 'My thought, whose murder yet is fantastical'. Here is another example of where Macbeth's character proves he is evil. Macbeth interprets their predictions to mean murder, yet they did not even mention this in their meeting with Banquo and Macbeth.
Later, in Act 1, Scene 4, when King Duncan announces that his son Malcolm will become the heir to the throne, the audience receives another insight into his character. Before King ...
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Though the witches have predicted that he will become king, they do not suggest how he might do this, yet Macbeth's thoughts are of murder. 'My thought, whose murder yet is fantastical'. Here is another example of where Macbeth's character proves he is evil. Macbeth interprets their predictions to mean murder, yet they did not even mention this in their meeting with Banquo and Macbeth.
Later, in Act 1, Scene 4, when King Duncan announces that his son Malcolm will become the heir to the throne, the audience receives another insight into his character. Before King Duncan had announced that Malcolm was to be the heir to the throne, Macbeth had decided to let the matter of whether he was to become King to fate, but now that Duncan has introduced a barrier, Macbeth feels he must act. 'The Prince of Cumberland: that is a step/On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap'. This allows the audience to see that he has now decided to take the evil route and make himself become King.
Shakespeare has made Macbeth say all this in an aside so that the audience will receive another impression that he is evil. Here, his words show us his true feelings, 'Let not light see my black and deep desires,' he wants to hide his true 'black' desires, so another difference between 'reality' and 'appearance' is shown.
Later, in Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth is alone on stage; he speaks a long soliloquy in which he uses much imagery. Towards the end of his soliloquy, Macbeth starts to use images of 'evil' animals, which shows how dark his mind has become. 'Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf.'
From this point, he goes to commit the murder of Duncan. This in itself is an example of how evil Macbeth is, but his actions and behaviour afterwards show how double-faced he is. Once the murder has been discovered and the alarm raised, Macbeth pretends to be distraught about the King's murder. 'Had I died an hour before this chance,/I had lived a bless(d time.' This means that Macbeth is saying that if he had died an hour ago, before Duncan's murder, he would have died a happy and peaceful man.
As Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had drugged the King's guards and faked the evidence so that they would be blamed for the King's murder, it has made Macbeth nervous of their discovery. To play safe, Macbeth then kills them and pretends to have done so in a fit of anguished fury at Duncan's death. 'O, yet I do repent me of my fury/That I did kill them.'
Lady Macbeth faints when she hears Macbeth say this, to distract the others from what Macbeth has done. It shows the audience that this murder was not planned and was of Macbeth's own doing. This clearly shows the audience Macbeth's brutality and how evil he has become.
After the first of Macbeth's murders there are knock-on murders which follow. He then orders some murderers murder Banquo and Fleance. Banquo fought along side Macbeth in the battles in Act 1, Scene 2, but is now murdered by Macbeth. To convince them to commit the murder, Macbeth says that 'Banquo was your enemy' so that they will turn again Banquo and go and murder them. This is an example of where he has turned really evil. Banquo was once Macbeth's fellow hero and now his murder is being plotted by him. This shows how low Macbeth has become and how evil he now is.
Then in Act 4, Scene 1, Macbeth goes to see the witches. This, again, would have made the audience believe that Macbeth was an 'evil' murderer. Not only does he talk with the witches, he sees three apparitions. This would have horrified the Shakespearean audience and convinced them that Macbeth was totally evil.
Immediately after this scene there is another murder committed under Macbeth's command; the murder of Lady Macduff and her son. This in itself was a greater act of evil than the previous murders, as they served no real purpose. Killing Banquo benefited Macbeth, but his next two murders are completely pointless and were brutality for brutality's sake. Their murders are made to seem even more barbaric by what Lady Macduff says early on in the scene. She says that Macduff's flight to England was madness and because of fear. She says he was not wise 'to leave his wife, to leave his babes...From whence himself does fly.' She is frightened of what might happen to her and her children and this is shown in the image that she is a 'poor wren' with 'her young ones in her nest.' This image of gentle nature makes Macbeth's indirect murder of her and her son as a very cruel and tyrannical thing to do.
In Act 4, Scene 3, in a conversation between Malcolm and Macduff, Macbeth's rule of Scotland is described. Scotland has become a place of terror. 'each new morn,/New widows howl, new orphans cry.' This means that there are murders happening all the time and deep unrest. In this scene, Malcolm also 'tests' Macduff to see if he can truly be trusted. He does this by pretending to be even more evil and cruel than Macbeth is. He claims to have no kingly qualities, 'But I have none. The King becoming graces - / As justice, verity, temp'rance, stableness...' By doing this, it draws the audience's attention to the fact that Macbeth does not have any of these 'Kingly' qualities.
However, having found many examples of where Macbeth has been a 'Butcher', there is also evidence that shows that he has more to his character and may not be as evil as he first seemed.
To begin with in Act 1, Scene2, Macbeth's actions in two battle is reported to King Duncan and both the Captain and Ross speak extremely high of Macbeth. 'For brave Macbeth', 'Noble Macbeth', 'valour's minion' is the way that they describe him. 'valour's minion means that he was the bravest man on the battle field and 'Belona's husband' shows the audience that Macbeth is equal in standing with that of the Goddess of war; Belona.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth comments on her husband's character and gives an insight into the 'good' side of Macbeth. 'It is too full o'th'milk of human kindness' here she is saying that her husband is too kind and good to take the most obvious route to kingship - murder. Both these reports of Macbeth's character give the audience another view of him. He appears to be noble and good from these accounts.
Towards the end of the scene Macbeth arrives and the first thing he says to her is 'my dearest love' which shows that he both loves and respects her. This shows a kind and respecting side to his nature, which is an example of where his character goes deeper than the more obvious tyrannical side.
Though Macbeth commits the murder of Duncan himself, he is persuaded to do the murder by his wife. She attacks his masculinity and bravery, 'to look so green and pale.' He is affected by this criticism, which shows that Lady Macbeth has a strong hold over Macbeth. She argues and persuades him to commit the murder even though he decides not to in Act1, Scene 7. He argues to himself that there are many reasons why he should not murder Duncan, 'First, I am his kinsman and his subject' and 'as the host,/Who should against his murderer shut the door,/ Not bear the knife myself'. As he recognises these reasons for not killing Duncan, it shows that he is torturing himself in his effort to make a decision and if left at this point he would not have committed the murder.
Here, when Lady Macbeth come to find him, he tell her that the murder is not going to happen, 'we will proceed no further in this business.' This shows the audience that Macbeth knows that the murder of Duncan would be wrong and that he decides not to do it. If the decision had then been left up to Macbeth the murder would have been unlikely to continue, yet it is Lady Macbeth who sways Macbeth back to the original plan. She again calls him a coward, 'live like a coward in thine own self esteem', she again attacks his masculinity, 'When you durst do it, then you were a man.' This makes him rise to the bait and agree to do the murder.
In Act2, Scene 1 there is a piece of the play which suggests that Macbeth did not commit the murder calmly and in cold blood. He has a vision of a dagger in front of him, 'Is this a dagger which I see before me,/the handle toward my hand?' This shows that he was going through mental torture before he committed the murder. This shows that he does have compassion and struggle with his conscience.
Once he has done the murder the audience gets another insight into his character, he tell his wife that the when the guards woke up and said a prayer, they said 'Amen' but Macbeth was unable to say it as well, 'List'ning their fear, I could not say "Amen"'. This clearly shows that Macbeth is felling extremely guilty and fighting his conscience. Lady Macbeth tries to calm him, but he is fixated by the idea that he 'hath murdered sleep.' This clearly not the reaction of a cold blooded 'butcher', it is the reaction of someone appalled at what he/she has done.
Once he has become King, Macbeth continues to suffer from stress and guilt, this is shown in Act 3, Scene 2, Macbeth says he is afflicted by terrible dreams, 'O, full of scorpion is my mind'. This shows how unstable he is. This is shown again in Act 3, Scene 4, when the ghost of Banquo appears at the banquet. 'never shake/Thy gory locks at me!' It is clear that he is not just a 'butcher' who in unaffected by murder, but a person who is clearly affected by what he has done.
In Act 5, Scene 3, it is possible for the audience to feel sorry for Macbeth, when he admits to himself in a short soliloquy that by his actions he has denied himself all the good things that come with old age such as love, honour and friends. 'Is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf,/And that which should accompany old age'/As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends.' If he was simply a 'butcher', the audience would be unlikely to be able to feel sorry for him.
Though he knows what he is losing all these things, he vows to fight on in Act 5, Scene 5. In this scene Macbeth is told that Birnam wood is coming towards Dunsinane, 'I looked towards Birnam and anon methought/The wood began to move.' He decides to die fighting rather than flee, 'At least we'll die with harness on our back.' This attempt at defiance can be interpreted as bravery, which was a quality with which Macbeth was attributed with in Act 1, Scene 2.
Again, in Act 5, Scene 8, Macbeth's action can be interpreted as bravery. All is up; his followers have fled and his castle invaded, yet Macbeth is determined to fight to the bitter end. 'I will not yield/ To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet ... Lay on Macduff.' Macbeth is saying that he will not surrender and be forced to bow to Malcolm, he will fight until death instead.
As shown by taking these two points of view, Macbeth's character can be interpreted in different ways. Though his character is good in the beginning, it becomes evil through a variety of factors, yet there are places where good features about his character are shown. Shakespeare has done this to show how someone can be tempted by evil, but then regret what he/she has done. This struggle between good and evil has made an interesting play, with many different features that would have appealed to people of Shakespeare's time, such as the connection with the witches and the thunder and lightening. I personally feel that Macbeth was underlyingly good, yet weak enough to be tempted by the witches' predictions and his wife's persuasion. I think that without these two factors, Macbeth would have carried on being the brave and loyal subject of King Duncan that he was so good at. He is not totally evil, but wavers between the two, throughout the play.
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