Firstly, the stage directions declare that there is thunder when the witches enter. This suggests sinister activity. Secondly, before Macbeth arrives the witches are talking amongst themselves about what they have been up to since their last meeting. These are acts that only wicked beings would commit. Two quotes that show the nature of their ‘amusing’ activities are:
“Killing swine.”
Act 1: Sc 3
“Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
Wrecked as homeward he did come.”
Act 1: Sc 3
Thirdly, the witches are very ugly. This is made clear by the quote:
“What are these…
That look not like th’inhabitants o’th’ earth,
And yet are on’t?”
Banquo – Act 1: Sc 3
This may not mean much to us today but in Elizabethan times, when this play was written and first performed, ugliness was a sign of punishment for sins and anyone who was considered ugly (someone who had a wart for example) was also considered to be evil.
The witches never actually tell Macbeth anything, all their predictions are in the form of hints, but they do make him feel pretty sure that he will become king. There is a quote that shows this and it goes:
“All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee Thane of Glamis!
All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!
All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!”
Act 1: Sc 3
Immediately after hearing this, Macbeth receives word that he has indeed been appointed Thane of Cawdor and he then begins thinking of murder. Would he ever have done this without the witches’ information?
The fact that they also tell Macbeth that the sons of Banquo will be kings also suggests evilness because it makes Banquo more of a threat to Macbeth and gives him a stronger reason to commit another murder.
With such heinous characters making Macbeth think he will be great, can we really blame him for taking the quickest route to fame and glory?
The witches also leave their mark on Macbeth, without actually being present, just before he commits the murder. He is still slightly unsure about whether to carry out the dastardly deed so they give him a bit of encouragement using magic. Macbeth sees an apparition of a knife, proved by this quote:
“Is this a dagger which I see before me?”
Act 2: Sc 1
The most likely cause of this apparition is indeed the witches and the only feasible explanation of why they would do this is for encouragement. Macbeth believes it is a sign, showing him that it is right for him to murder the king, especially after bloodstains appear on it. The witches’ gesture works because straight after seeing the dagger Macbeth goes and performs the killing.
The witches have such a strong influence over Macbeth that they are the first piece of evidence suggesting that maybe he is not responsible for his actions.
Another person who has a great influence over Macbeth throughout the play is his wife, Lady Macbeth. As soon as she hears of the witches’ prediction, she immediately decides the king must be murdered showing us that she is pure evil. After reading the letter her husband sends to her, she remarks:
“Yet I do fear thy nature;
It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.”
Act 1: Sc 5
This means that she is afraid that Macbeth is too kind and innocent to murder the king and it shows that she certainly isn’t. She also says:
“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promis’d.”
Act 1: Sc 5
This means that she believes that Macbeth has been promised the crown and he will get it, no matter what he has to do. Again, this shows us that she is evil, plain and simple. Another quote that shows us just how evil she is is:
“Come, you spirits… unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top full
Of direst cruelty.”
Act 1: Sc 5
In this quote she is asking spirits to destroy all female feelings of kindness and fill her full of cruelty so that she can convince her husband to murder the king.
However, she also plays a big part in the murder herself. She encourages Macbeth that it’s the right thing to do not just once but twice, she plans out the murder herself, she gets the king’s bodyguards drunk so that they can be framed, she rings the castle bell, a sign telling Macbeth that the coast is clear and it is time to commit the murder and, after Macbeth brings the knives he used to Lady Macbeth, she goes back and smears the blood on the bodyguards. The quote that shows this is:
“My hands are of your colour.”
Act 2: Sc 1
Lady Macbeth is another excellent argument in Macbeth’s favour as she is a very strong woman with a very powerful influence over him.
After examining all that evidence in Macbeth’s favour I think it is time to examine the evidence suggesting that he is a monster because the point is, no matter how many people and how many events influenced him, he is still guilty of murdering the king, framing the bodyguards and committing many more killings afterwards.
As soon as he hears the witches’ news, he immediately thinks of murder (like his wife) as shown by he following quote:
“Why do I yield to that suggestion,
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature?”
Act 1: Sc 4
This thought comes straight after discovering he has become Thane of Cawdor and no-one puts the idea into his head. The witches don’t put it there (they don’t tell him anything) and neither does his wife. It comes completely from himself. This shows that he is after all a greedy monster.
Lady Macbeth does convince him to go ahead with the murder as planned but her argument is not a very good one. All she basically says to him is ‘If you don’t murder Duncan then you’re a coward.’ in about four different ways. An example of which being:
“When you durst do it then you were a man.”
Act 1: Sc 7
This is not a good argument at all to convince someone to commit murder but it works wonders with Macbeth, so it seems very likely that all he actually wanted was some reassurance.
His final argument against murder after his wife’s long, if slightly repetitive, speech is only the four words:
“If we should fail?”
Act 1: Sc 7
This is entirely the wrong reason to choose not to kill someone and shows us that Macbeth never was afraid of all the immorality of murder or of the punishments he might suffer in the afterlife. The only thing he was afraid of was getting caught, which, in turn, shows that he is only worried about himself.
Another way to prove that Macbeth is a monster is to compare him to his friend Banquo. As I have already mentioned, Banquo was present when the witches made the predictions. I have also already said that they don’t only promise that Macbeth will be king, they also promise that Banquo’s sons will be kings. However, after the witches vanish, Banquo says that he doesn’t believe the witches because they are evil:
“Oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths.”
Act 1: Sc 3
However at the same time Macbeth seems willing to ignore the fact that the witches are obviously evil because they have told him something nice. This shows that he is greedy and power-hungry compared with Banquo who is much more sensible and content.
My final piece of evidence against Macbeth is how his character changes after being crowned. He suddenly becomes much more confident after the initial shock of what he has done. In fact he becomes so confident that Lady Macbeth is hardly present at all after the murder. Shakespeare does this to show that he doesn’t need her anymore. He can arrange murders and other terrible acts on his own.
This is shown by what he does after becoming king. He becomes convinced that there are enemies all around him and sets out to eliminate them all. First of all he hires the ‘murderers’ to kill Banquo and his eldest son Fleance. The fact that Macbeth is perfectly willing to have his best friend murdered just to keep his crown shows just how cold and heartless he has become. At first the murderers don’t want to commit the murder because:
“We are men, my liege.”
Act 3: Sc 1
This means that they think I is not right for a human being to take the life of another human being but Macbeth convinces them to think otherwise. How does he do this? By using exactly the same technique of calling them cowards as Lady Macbeth used on him. This shows that he has become just as evil and cold-hearted as his wife. The final despicable act he commits is the order that everyone in Macduff’s castle, from babies to senior citizens, be slaughtered. This is the final piece of evidence showing just how evil he has become and there is no excuse for it.
Now we have looked carefully at all the evidence proving Macbeth to be a victim and all the evidence proving him to be a victim. It is now time for me to come to my own conclusion. I have to decide the answer to the question at the start of the essay.
Is Macbeth a monster because of the many murders he committed or is he a victim because of the powerful influence that ‘forced’ him to perpetrate these crimes?
In my opinion, Macbeth is a monster through and through. I think this mainly because there is simply more evidence against him. You can’t influence someone to become a monster, but it still happens to Macbeth.
He may not have been a monster to start with, as shown by the opinions of him throughout Scotland, but as the play progresses he becomes worse and worse. Although he had to be given a lot of encouragement to first murder the king, he needs none whatsoever from there on. This is shown, as I have already mentioned, by the fact that there is no need for Lady Macbeth anymore.
He also becomes much colder towards the end of the play. An example of this being when he is informed that his wife is dead. His only response is:
“She should have died hereafter.”
Act 5: Sc 3
This basically means; ‘That’s inappropriate timing.’
In my opinion, no-one can become a monster by pure influence. There has to be something evil down there to begin with, something that wants to get out. If Macbeth was in no way a monster then he would never have become the hideous creature that he develops into towards the end of the play.
This, in my opinion is the most important piece of evidence that shows just how much of a monster Macbeth is.