In scene two we emerge from the dark, oppressive and ominous atmosphere that Shakespeare created by pathetic fallacy for the witches to a horrific battle of an over powering army ageist a struggling force, until Macbeth and Banquo, in acts of outstanding courage and ferocity, destroyed the traitor Macdonwald and his army. But as this occurs, reinforcements from the king of Norway and the traitor, counterattack Macbeth and Banquo. Subsequently these two are not at all dismayed but as the captain is taken away to tend his wound, the outcome is still unsure. The Thane of Ross arrives to report that thought the fighting spirit of Macbeth, Duncan’s army has won the great victory. After Duncan declares that traitor Thane of Cawdor is to be executed and Macbeth is to receive his title and estates as a reward.
This is the first time you read about Macbeth’s full potential as a warrior and is discussed as a courageous warrior ‘brave Macbeth’ by the sergeant, and as a ruthless soldier ‘his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution’ emphasises the immense power and strength that characterises Macbeth, the violent nature of Macbeth may be seen as a weakness by the witches and the reason for choosing him to manipulate. Also he is named to be a ‘nobleman’, a contrast with the traitor ‘Thane of Cawdor’ Shakespeare uses dramatic irony because Macbeth will also be a traitor when he has this title. At this point in the play the audience would have a high opinion of Macbeth because of what his peer’s think of and how he is ‘brave Macbeth’ and how he taunts his enemy with ‘his brandish’d steel’ in a fierce battle. Also James was obsessive with his noble men betraying him on the throne, so the story of Macbeth’s betrayal on Duncan emphasises his fear on this subject and on paranoia.
In scene three we first meet the noble Macbeth. Macbeth’s first words are significant because he echoes those of the witches, ‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen’. The connection of evil and manipulation becomes first apparent when they are greeting Macbeth. The title has not yet been brought to Macbeth, but the witches appear to have the power to see into the future. The extreme influences of the witches would create an uncomfortable image for the audience. Whilst witches were accepted in society, their inversion of the natural Godly order would disturb most Elizabethan citizens and the ability to influenced with spells/ chants, ‘hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor’. The influence of the witches is spoken throughout the act and has a big effect on Macbeth’s judgment. Macbeth’s initial reaction is one of bewilderment, how he is it possible for these creatures who, ‘look not like th’inhabitants of the earth’ to predict who he will become? Similarly Banquo’s warning to Macbeth concerning the ‘instruments of darkness’ might also be construed as prophetic’ Macbeth is betrayed as a result of believing in prophesies. Also he talks about the witches speaking ‘my single state of man that functions is smothered in surmise’, Shakespeare uses a soliloquy on Macbeth to show that the witches have taunted Macbeth’s moral compass.
Macbeth meets King Duncan in scene 4, thanking him for his new title ‘The Thane of Cawdor’. The also loyal Banquo receives nothing. King Duncan remarks how he completely trusted the previous Thane of Cawdor. King Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm will be the new Prince of Cumberland. Macbeth sees Malcolm as a threat to what he now takes seriously as his destiny to become King of Scotland, a major turning point in Macbeth's changing morality. Macbeth makes this clear by famously asking in an aside, for the stars to hide their fires least they reveal his dark and deadly purpose or intent to kill King Duncan. Following battle Banquo and Macbeth arrive at Duncan’s castle ‘Forres’ to celebrate the battle. Duncan greets Macbeth ‘O worthiest cousin’ showing that he thinks he is worthy to Macbeth’s ambitions, he is also show that after the first battle that Macbeth shows great leader ship and astonishing brilliant worrier. Duncan explains how grateful he is ‘more is thy due than all can pay’, building up Macbeth confidence and desire to become great and achieve his distort ambition.
Ominously and in view of Macbeth's future betrayal, ironically, Duncan exclaims one can't tell a person's character by their face adding that the previous Thane of Cawdor was a gentleman upon which the King built an absolute trust. Now Macbeth learns of Duncan’s plans to make Malcolm his heir ‘our eldest, Macbeth, whom we name hereafter the Prince of Cumberland’. Macbeth doesn’t threat much he see ‘The Prince of Cumberland, That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap for in my way it lies’. But on the other hand Macbeth is fuming with Duncan because he has been praising Macbeth’s noble character ‘my plenteous joys’ drawing him in to a self sense of security to reveal that his son Malcolm will intrude within his prejudice ambition. Macbeth uses images of darkness to hide his thoughts ‘stars hide your fires, let not light see my black desires’ linking with the witches which shows that he has been influenced with his decision.
Scene five begins with ‘Lady Macbeth alone with a letter’. Lady Macbeth is reading the letter her husband has sent, which tells her about his meeting with the witches and they have predicted ambitious Macbeth to become king. He explains how he was called ‘hail, king that shalt be’. This news excites Macbeth and he starts to consider the possibilities of becoming king. The intensity of his ambitious feelings is evident ‘I burned in desire to question them further’, further showing Macbeth as a character. He is eager to tell Lady Macbeth, his dearest partner of greatness’ showing how he likes to share everything with her. She feels Macbeth would make a worthy king but feels that although he is a good soldier, he is too kind, too good hearted to slaughter for his throne, also will not be able to commit regicide.
The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suggests that they are very close, which is unusual in 1050. Women would have been considered second class citizens, they are there to run the house and have children, which completely contradict Lady Macbeth’s character. Macbeth urges her to keep quiet about the news ‘lay it to thy heart’ so that Macbeth can later speak to her in person. At this point lady Macbeth is more determined than ever to succeed in her husband becoming king because of the manipulative (on Macbeth), ruthless (would kill and slaughter anybody how get in the way of Macbeth becoming king) character who wants power (to become queen of Scotland). Also is portrayed as the dominant character of their marriage as she talks of arguing with Macbeth, ‘chastise with the valour of my tongue’ as she is disappointed due to him talking about not thinking about the throne.
After the letter has been read, Lady Macbeth begins a soliloquy ‘that I may pour my spirits into thine ear’ lady Macbeth talks about supernatural doing. She talks about spirits which again links to the witches as they are also supernatural and linked with evil spirits. Lady Macbeth then talks about taking the throne ‘all that impedes thee from the golden round’. By golden round, Lady Macbeth means crown. She is going to talk to him about how are going to get the crown which she wants so much. Lady Macbeth then calls upon evil spirits to ‘unsex’ her as she wishes to be a man in a man’s world so that she has more power ‘tend on mortal things, unsex me here’. Lady Macbeth calls upon the evil spirits to turn her into a man. She wants to be a man who is stereotypical stronger. She also says ‘take my milk for gall’ she wants the spirits to change the life source of a baby into a poison and give her power to be evil, which she desires greatly. She then goes on to stay ‘stop up the access and passage to remorse, she wishes to remain removed from the perils of guilt and her consciences. The image of darkness has show similarities between Lady Macbeth behaviour like the witches (evil). They have control over Macbeth and now appear to have control over her.
When Macbeth appears there is little trace of endearment from Lady Macbeth despite calling her ‘my dearest love’. She does not want to show any emotion because of that power she desires so much she would have to become a man even though she physically is not a man but mentally she can become what she… truly wants? Or has Lady Macbeth been manipulated by the witch’s sayings as well. Also her mind is focused only on the thought of the murder. She forces Macbeth to accept her plan for power and address him in the same way as the witches had in scene three ‘great Glamis, worthy of Cawdor’ illustrating how manipulative she is and one of the major influences. Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to cover up his feelings and put on a welcoming image ‘look like the innocent flower’ but underneath ‘be a serpent under’t’, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth to be two-faced. One side to be as a ‘noble worrier’ and innocent man and the other an evil, scheming character manipulated by his life and witches. Also the serpent is an analogy of the devil’s animals liked with the devils evil e.g. the garden of evil the snake manipulates Adam.
After disagreeing with the plans of the murder at first, Lady Macbeth finally manipulates Macbeth so that he agrees to her plans. Lady Macbeth ‘gives solely sovereign sway an masterdom’, controlling and manipulating Macbeth.
Scene six conveys a big contrast between Duncan’s thoughts and the future that he holds. The scene had been inserted into the play as it portrays the fact that no-one suspects Macbeth of anything and shows it is not a stereotypical thing for him to do. Whilst riding into Macbeth’s castle in Inverness, Duncan talks of the beautiful surroundings of the area ‘this castle hath a pleasant seat; the air nimbly and feelings’ whilst, unknowingly riding to his death. He has no idea of what is to come and feel it is just another relaxing stay at a noble man’s castle.
The idea of sympathy for Duncan is created in this scene when he is completely unaware of the happenings to come. He seems very innocent and there is a case of dramatic irony in Banquo’s dialogue ‘the temple-haunting martlet’ Banquo talks of a safe place to ‘nest’ within the castle walls. The irony is it really is not.
This scene also presents Duncan as an unsuspecting victim of murder which emphasises the real brutality of Macbeth’s plan. Also as the Scottish beat the Norwegian invaders, he seems a good king. Even though Duncan had helped to achieve victory, the Macbeths still plan to murder him. We see this when Duncan is very polite to lady Macbeth and respects their courtesy and efforts ‘ the love that follows us sometimes is our troubles, which still we thank as love’ the king is grateful for the hospitality given to him from Lady Macbeth.
In scene seven Lady Macbeth has dominated, and is probably the most memorable character in the play. Her violent, blistering soliloquies in Act I, scenes five and seven, testify to her strength of will, which completely eclipses that of her husband. She is well aware of the discrepancy between their respective resolves and understands that she will have to manipulate her husband into acting on the witches’ prophecy. Her soliloquy in Act I, scene five, begins the play’s exploration of gender roles, particularly of the value and nature of masculinity. In the soliloquy, she spurns her feminine characteristics, crying out ‘unsex me here’ and wishing that the milk in her breasts would be exchanged for ‘gall’ so that she could murder Duncan herself. These remarks manifest Lady Macbeth’s belief that manhood is defined by murder. When, in Act I, scene seven, her husband is hesitant to murder Duncan, she goads him by questioning his manhood and by implicitly comparing his willingness to carry through on his intention of killing Duncan with his ability to carry out a sexual act. Throughout the play, whenever Macbeth shows signs of faltering, Lady Macbeth implies that he is less than a man by calling him a ‘coward’.
Macbeth exclaims that Lady Macbeth should ‘ring forth men-children only’ because she is so bold and courageous. Since Macbeth succumbs to Lady Macbeth’s wishes immediately following this remark, it seems that he is complimenting her and affirming her belief that courage and brilliance are masculine traits. But the comment also suggests that Macbeth is thinking about his legacy. He sees Lady Macbeth’s boldness and masculinity as heroic and warrior like, while Lady Macbeth invokes her supposed masculine ‘virtues’ for dark, cruel purposes. Unlike Macbeth, she seems solely concerned with immediate power.
A subject’s loyalty to his king is one of the thematic concerns of Macbeth. The plot of the play hinges on Macbeth’s betrayal of Duncan, and, ultimately, of Scotland. Just as Lady Macbeth will prove to be the antithesis of the ideal wife, Macbeth proves to be a completely disloyal subject. In Act I, scene seven, for instance, Macbeth muses on Duncan’s many good qualities, reflecting that Duncan has been kind to him, and thinks that perhaps he ought not to kill his king. This is Macbeth’s first lengthy soliloquy and thus the audience’s first peek inside his mind. Yet Macbeth is unable to suppress his desire for power. He evades answering his own questions of loyalty and yearns unrealistically for the battlefield’s simple and consequence-free action ‘If it were done when ’tis done,’ he says, ‘then ’twere well’.
At the same time, Macbeth is strongly conscious of the gravity of the act of regicide. He acknowledges that ‘bloody instructions . . . being taught, return to plague th’inventor’. This is the first of many lines linking “blood” to guilt and cosmic retribution. As her husband wavers, Lady Macbeth enters like a hurricane and blows his hesitant thoughts away. She spurs Macbeth to treason by disregarding his rational, moral arguments and challenging his manhood. Basically, she dares him to commit the murder, using words that taunt rather than persuade. Under her spell, all of Macbeth’s objections seem to evaporate and he is left only with a weak ‘If we should fail?’ to set against her passionate challenge
The idea of a moral order is present in these scenes, although in muted form. Macbeth knows what he does is wrong, and he recognizes that there will surely be consequences. As we have seen, his soliloquy reveals his awareness that he may be initiating a cycle of violence that will eventually destroy him. Macbeth is not a good man at this point in the play, but he is not yet an evil one, he is tempted, but he tries to resist temptation. Macbeth’s resistance, however, is not vigorous enough to stand up to his wife’s ability to manipulate him.
In the play there are three major influences throughout the act, his power hungry wife lady Macbeth, his desire and ambition to become king after all those growling battles he had won for his leash and the manipulative witches’ prophecies. I believe that the greatest influence to Macbeth on killing king Duncan is all of them.
Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth so much that he was not aloud to stop thinking about the killing of Duncan. Also Lady Macbeth’s persuasion and manipulation in scene five undutiful over whelmed Macbeth. But all this would not have been calved in to Lady Macbeths mined if the witches chant had not of be spoke. Also if Macbeth did not have that inner ambition and desire to become king he would not of had the same attitude toward the chant or Lady Macbeth’s persuasion.
I feel that although there are many influences from many directions like a spiders web, spun together creates a trap that kills. Ambition and self importance is Macbeth’s gossamer thread inevitably leading to King Duncan’s death.