Scene 5 of Act 1 see’s the introduction Of Lady Macbeth, she is reading the letter that Macbeth has sent detailing the prophecies of the witches and his wishes to become king. Macbeth writes a metaphor that describes his feelings and ambitions perfectly “ when I burned in desire”. However he also says that he “fears thy nature” evidently meaning that he fears that he is unable to kill Duncan even though it would lead him to kingship. It is also during this scene that we find out that Lady Macbeth is indeed ruthless this is seen when she suggests the killing of Duncan that night “ O never shall sun that morrow see”.
The final scene of Act 1 is substantially significant because it shows the effect of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth himself. In this scene we see that Lady Macbeth is firm and very able to win Macbeth around. She does this by asking rhetorical questions such as “ was the hope drunk wherein you dress’d yourself?” and “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour, as thou art in desire?” These questions are not easily answered and give the effect of bullying and mind games. This is seen when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he will gain from his crime, this leads him to agree to the feat and set his concerns on the consequences.
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth contribute hugely to the tragedy in the opening scenes of act 2. As Macbeth heads to butcher Duncan he encounters Banquo and Fleance this makes him hesitate but he still proceeds and kills the king. This deed is a turning point in the play; Macbeth has now degenerated into a butcher, and effectively throws Scotland into turmoil.
In scene 2 the deed is done and this already disturbs Macbeth “ wake Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst”. Once again Lady Macbeth’s dominant side comes into play when she takes the daggers away from Macbeth, this gesture is significant because it is almost as if she is trying to take away the burden of the crime. During this scene Lady Macbeth also warns Macbeth “ these deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad” implicating that the events must be put behind them and forgotten about.
As Macduff and Lennox find Duncan murdered Macbeth panics but puts on a guise, when the news of Duncan’s murder is out his sons and Lady Macbeth join them, at this point Macbeth goes into a speech and Lady Macbeth faints to take the light off him. When they all leave Donaldbain and Malcolm are left and talk of their suspicions “ there’s daggers in men’s smiles” meaning that it is someone who was close to the king.
During the time when Macbeth was wrote (1606) it was believed that God appointed kings and that killing a king would stop the natural process of things. This is seen in scene 4 of act 2 when Ross is discussing ‘unnatural events’ with an old man “ ’tis unnatural even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last, a falcon tow’ ring in her pride of place was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d”. This has no significance to who is responsible but it is useful when looking at events after Duncan’s death.
Act 3 gives us a different view on Banquo, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, and the witches. Banquo becomes suspicious of Macbeth “ thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, as the weird women promis’d, and I fear thou played’st most foully for’t” this quote shows that Banquo feels that Macbeth’s succession has only happened because of some supernatural happening i.e. the witches, he also conveys the possibility of Macbeth being involved. Macbeth speaks before he meets up with the murderers. He tells us – the audience - that he needs to be secure as king “ to be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus” meaning that he wants to murder Banquo to get rid of ‘suspicion’ and the feeling of a “fruitless crown”. The tyrant then proceeds to give the murderers motives for killing Banquo “ it was he in the times past which held you so under fortune” “ whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave and beggared yours forever?” “ Both of you know Banquo was your enemy” each of these stir up their spirits and so give reason to them to kill him. Macbeth feels that he has to kill Banquo so that Banquo will not kill him.
In scene two Macbeth has to reassure Lady Macbeth because she is also uneasy, he refers to Duncan as a snake that is merely hurt and will heal and come back to get him, this refers to his Sons Malcolm and Donaldbain who have fled the country. It is also in this scene that Macbeth assures her that he will take action but does not apprise to what is planned; this is where he begins to block her out, he does tell Lady Macbeth to “hold thee still” implicating that he would rather her carry on as before than to get involved in his plans.
Banquo is killed but Fleance escapes, he does not return in the play and so we do not know if Banquo really was a father of kings as the witches had first predicted. After the state banquet we see that Macbeth has completely lost any moral conscience “ I am in blood stepp’d in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”. When trying to analyse this we can see that he has committed so many murders, it seems apparent to him that he may as well proceed and carry on killing thus extending the tragedy further as we see later when Lady Macduff and her son are killed.
There is a dramatic change of opinion that is apparent when Lennox talks to an unnamed lord, we see that Macbeth has made his subjects fearful of him and the idea that Macbeth is cursed becomes apparent “ that a swift blessing may soon return to this our suffering country under a hand accurs’d”. Lennox is saying that Scotland needs help from forces outside the country; this help later comes in the form of an English Army. This scene puts the idea that it is not Macbeth’s fault and he is not to blame for the tragedy, it is blamed on a curse. This refers to the witches and the ideas of witchcraft during the time Shakespeare wrote the play.
The witches are last seen in the opening scene of Act 4, this is where they give Macbeth the apparitions. Macbeth seeks them and so wants to find out more about his fate. On one hand this gives us reason to say that he is responsible, but the witches give him a false sense of infallibility “laugh to scorn 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”. His response is “that will never be” and so believes that no one can hurt him or sabotage his rule as king.
We see that the events of the tragedy finally catch up with Lady Macbeth when she talks walks in her sleep, she has become delirious with guilt and worry. The doctor believes that it is due to a disturbance in nature; once again referring to the theory that dire things happen when a force other than God kills a king. Lady Macbeth relives the night of Duncan’s murder, “who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” it is almost as if she is trying to confess to the crime. The doctor reaches a decision that Macbeth is heavily burdened and it is because of “unnatural deeds”.
The final scenes in the play are where Macbeth realises what has happened around him. He is senseless and somewhat deranged, when he hears of his wife’s death he says “she should have died hereafter” meaning that he is not fazed by this news and it was inevitable to happen sooner or later. When the messenger brings the news of the wood moving Macbeth cannot bring himself to believe it, he realises that the witches have told him the truth but he has misinterpreted the meanings of the apparitions.
After Macbeth meets the witches in the opening scenes we see him slowly proceeding to become an automaton. The witches’ ambiguous prophecies act as a catalyst to Macbeth’s ambitions and so are only really sustaining thoughts that he already has. Lady Macbeth is just as ruthless as Macbeth but cannot cope with the strain of guilt, Macbeth carries out her ambitions, and it seems that she has harboured the same thoughts of kingship as him. The witches play a very small role in the tragedy and when they give Macbeth the apparitions they really are telling him or warning him of what will happen, it is his own misinterpretation that leads him to think that no one could stop him. After reading and analysing the play chronologically I have come to the conclusion that it is Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who are to blame for the both the tragedy of Macbeth and Scotland. Both were there to support each other and evidently both wanted to be King and Queen. Neither of them drew a line and stopped the butchering this is because they had killed Duncan already and they may as well kill others to for fill their idea’s of infallibility and security i.e. the murder of Banquo. It is also both appropriate and feasible to say that the unnatural happenings that they caused by killing Duncan resulted in their own deaths.
