Analyse 3 scenes from ‘Macbeth’ and discuss how they contribute to the play as a tragedy
Analyse 3 scenes from 'Macbeth' and discuss how they contribute to the play as a tragedy
Macbeth is a play that explores the nature of temptation, ambition, evil and the qualities of kingship. Macbeth has been so successful theatrically because the audience could relate to the noble hero's mighty ambition, which eventually turns him to a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a character that the audience sympathises with despite his/ her actions would indicate the opposite. Even though Macbeth horrifically murdered so many people, he is still a pitiable man. The question of Macbeth's freedom of will and action is essential to the play. Many would say that Lady Macbeth and the witches drove Macbeth to evilness. Evil is a term difficult to define especially in relation to Macbeth. Although it is said that evil cannot exist without will behind it. I would describe Macbeth as ambitious maybe not evil, because if Macbeth was clearly evil, he would be enjoying the kingship and not letting his conscience let him down. Even though it is difficult to separate ambition and evil from each other in Macbeth as they are so closely related.
However Macbeth is a mixture of hero and villain. The audience condemns him and sympathises with him. After analysing the three scenes from the play "Act 1 Scene 3", "Act 3 Scene 4" and "Act 5 Scene 5" its clear why the play is known is known as a tragedy. The actions led him from being Macbeth the determined Thane of Glam is to Macbeth the murderous King of Scotland. The three scenes fit the pattern finally and without these scenes and Macbeth's soliloquy Macbeth may not have been given the title of a tragic hero.
The play gives out a very strong moral message, that even though Macbeth achieved his ambition of becoming king of Scotland. That did not give him the happiness or satisfaction he thought he would have achieved.
Act 1 Scene 3 is where the tragedy begins. The witches play a major part in the play. The witches represent the evil that drives Macbeth to his sinful murders. However the witches also establish the fact that evil cannot act without freewill. It is clear to the audience that the witches are evil, but in the scene they are not actively evil, as they themselves do not "do" anything evil, but they suggest actions and manipulate situations with evil consequences. You could see how Lady Macbeth is similar to the witches. As she only tells Macbeth what to do, not MAKE him do it. Once again whatever Macbeth does is out of his freewill. The witches and Lady Macbeth are evil characters (more than Macbeth is) yet it is Macbeth that acts on his ambition/temptation.
The first time we hear from Macbeth automatically connects him to the witches. "So foul and fair a day I have not seen". Macbeth asks the witches to speak "Speak if you can: what are you?". The three witches then respond to Banquo and Macbeth. The first witch says, "All hail.........Thane of Glamis." This first prophecy is not really prophecy; it's just a statement known by all. The second witch says the same but "Thane of Cawdor." The third witch says, "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king thereafter"- Macbeth doesn't say anything "My noble partner you greet with pleasant grace, and great prediction." Banquo doesn't believe the witches prophecy and puts it down as a great prediction.
"Stay you...Speak I charge you". This is the first time Macbeth speaks after the witches tell him about being king. It is clear that Macbeth is taken in by what the witches have told him. Macbeth responds to the prophecies with many questions. Macbeth doesn't know anything about him being Thane of Cawdor.
"I know I am Thane of Glamis; but how of Cawdor? The king of Cawdor lives". Later on in the scene it is revealed to him that he is also Thane of Cawdor. After this important speech made by Macbeth the witches vanish, leaving ...
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"Stay you...Speak I charge you". This is the first time Macbeth speaks after the witches tell him about being king. It is clear that Macbeth is taken in by what the witches have told him. Macbeth responds to the prophecies with many questions. Macbeth doesn't know anything about him being Thane of Cawdor.
"I know I am Thane of Glamis; but how of Cawdor? The king of Cawdor lives". Later on in the scene it is revealed to him that he is also Thane of Cawdor. After this important speech made by Macbeth the witches vanish, leaving so many questions unanswered. This leaves Macbeth thinking, which creates tension. The audience is in suspense, as they do not know what Macbeth is thinking. Banquo doesn't believe the witches prophecies and when he sees how taken in Macbeth is, he asks
"Were such things here as we speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root". Basically he's asking Macbeth has he taken some sort of drug and that's why he is behaving the way he is.
When Angus tells Macbeth that he is now Thane of Cawdor "Who was...overthrown him". Macbeth is clearly very surprised and happy. Not at the fact that he ahs been placed Thane of Cawdor but because he realises that the witches prophecies are not just a "great prediction" as Banquo had said, but a fact. If Macbeth was appointed "Thane of Cawdor" before he had met the witches, he would have been satisfied with being Thane of Cawdor, but we can clearly see that Macbeth is not satisfied with being "Thane of Cawdor", and wants to be king, which is now his ambition. "Glamis and Thane of Cawdor; the greatest is being king" Macbeth is now more certain than ever that he will be king, because the third witch said "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter"
This prophecy has taken a major effect on Macbeth. Banquo is a vital character in this scene, as Shakespeare tries to establish that the witches are not entirely to blame for the way Macbeth is motivated by the prophecies and receives a similar but apparently contradictory prophecy. "Lesser than Macbeth, yet greater, Not so happy, yet much happier". But he is also aware of the likelihood that the witches are on illusion. Lines 53- 54
The moral sense and caution shown by Banquo is constantly emphasised by Shakespeare to highlight the freedom of choice Macbeth and Banquo have. Lines 128- 142 we can see how Macbeth is clearly wrapped in his own thoughts and fantasies on being king. Macbeth already had ambitions and desires; maybe that's why the witch's prophecy took such a powerful effect on him. Macbeth wants to believe he will be king but he sees a terrible way to achieve his ambition (murder). He is aware that even thinking the thought "murder yet is but fantastical" is dreadful. But Macbeth also says, "if chance will have...my stir". Sympathises
He rightly sees that he is not compelled to do anything and he is "meant" to be king. The desire to be king is in front of Macbeth's mind.
The next scene I am going to analyse is Act 3 Scene 4 this scene also takes place at night when though it seems totally different to Act 3 Scene 4, there are endless reminders which takes Macbeth out of the "perfect world of kingship" to a obscene world in which innocent men are murdered all because of ambition and evilness. This scene is set for an important banquet, as this is the first opportunity for Macbeth to enter the nobility of Scotland. It's very symbolical because it unites the kingdom the nobility of Scotland. It's very symbolical because it unites the kingdom under the new king.
In this scene we realise that Macbeth gains the throne, but he loses his peace of mind (which we can clearly see in this scene); his fulfilled ambition proves hollow; he like Lady Macbeth, is beset by nightmares. He has not got the satisfaction or happiness he thought he would have achieved when he was appointed king. Act 3 deals with how Macbeth handles the situation. The scene is in middle of the play; it examines Macbeth's characters. He's become king and where does he go from here. The scene is very vital into the whole play. The audience realises why Macbeth is so "tragic".
In this scene Macbeth's first words "You know your degrees, sit down" we realise that that the sittings of the table were planned. Everyone takes there seat apart from Macbeth as he "...mingle with society. And play the humble host", the audience gets the impression (or lady Macbeth) gives out the impression she is enjoying the banquet (so far) merely because she "keeps her state". When the first murderer enters, Macbeth quickly asks him "There's blood upon thy face". Macbeth is clearly pleased with this news. He praises his wickedness warmly "thou art the best of the cut-throats". When Macbeth hears that Fleance is not dead he is panicking again.
"Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect; whole as the marble, founded as the rock". Macbeth has an illusion that if Fleance was dead, he would be completely safe. Murder is his preoccupation now, not the banquet and the pleasures of kingship. "I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears".
Macbeth feels trapped in this whole scenario and he can't see a way out.
Lady Macbeth is too preoccupied with the banquet she calls Macbeth back to his role of host and the new king, "my royal lord, you do not give the cheer". When Banquo's ghost arrives, only Macbeth can see it. The audience and the guests can see how strange Macbeth's behaviour is. He is not playing the role of the "perfect host", he's doing quite the opposite. So Ross tells the guests that Macbeth isn't well and they should leave. "Gentlemen rise, his highness is not well"- Lady Macbeth tells the lords to do the contrary to what Ross has said
"Sit worthy friends and pray, you keep seat". The lords do not know how to react to such an extraordinary interruption. In this scene the audience gets to see that Lady Macbeth is more fascinated in playing the perfect queen than a perfect wife to Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is angry and annoyed at Macbeth because she thinks Macbeth is imagining the presence of Duncan. She doesn't know about the killing of Banquo.
"O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your pear, this is the air drawn dagger which you said, led you to Duncan."
The ghost of Duncan reappears just before he is about to drink a toast, and just after the Lords give there good wishes "Our duties, and the pledge". This is followed by an insult "Avaunt and quit my sight!". The lords soon realise that Macbeth is not addressing them. But they still have no idea what is the cause of his obscene behaviour. When their curiosity spills in to interrogation. Lady Macbeth is then very eager to get rid of the lords. She insists that they go, and go very quickly.
"At once, good right. Stand not upon the order of your going; but go at once." She wants them to go immediately, not as slowly as they come in.
The banquet, which began very formally, ends in chaos. Macbeth has disgraced himself in front of everyone. Lady Macbeth who was once his partner in his ambition. She is ignorant of the mess he is creating; the same mess that will entrap them both. The only way Lady Macbeth can respond to Macbeth's speech 130- 140 by suggesting what he needs is sleep. "You lack the season of all natures, sleep"
After analysing this scene we can see that Lady Macbeth is a much more stronger character than Macbeth. But she cannot escape the guilt of what her and Macbeth have done. The moral message that Shakespeare gives out in this scene is that Macbeth has to take the bad with the good. Even though Macbeth has achieved his ambition, more bad has happened to him then good. The fact that the murder of Duncan has imprisoned Macbeth and his wife rather than giving them the liberties they set out to achieve is revealed in performance by the next scene in which Lady Macbeth appears (Act 5 Scene 1). The audience soon learns that she too lacks "the season of all natures".
The third scene I analysed from the play is Act 5 Scene 5. This is the last scene for Macbeth. In this scene Macbeth has given up, as he knows he is going to die. Macbeth's "tragic weakness" comes to a forefront. Like Duncan before him, Macbeth is too trusting. We realise that Macbeth has given up in Scene 5. "We might have met them direful, beard to beard, and beat them backward home". When Macbeth realises his wife is he couldn't care less. "She should have died hereafter". She would have died sooner or later Macbeth says. But Macbeth's heart has long since shrivelled. The audience realises that Lady Macbeth who seemed a much stronger character then Macbeth doesn't escape her madness.
Shakespeare ends Macbeth's speech with an effect which is distinctively generous to his hero "Life's but...signifying death" Because of out human nature we can relate to this speech which shows the audience Macbeth's tragic mental condition.
Everything that had seemed so important before -ambition, hopes, desires, victories, and bravery - now adds up to nothing. When the messenger comes to Macbeth and says to him "I look'd toward Birnam, and anon methought, the wood began to move," Macbeth doesn't believe the messenger and calls him a "liar and slave". Macbeth then realises that the messenger is not lying. From this moment "I 'gin to be aweary of the sun" he knows he is only looking at the end, When Macbeth is killed by his enemy, the audience feels that Macbeth who raised himself so high shouldn't really die so low. Even though he deserves it. But then again this is the essence of a successful tragedy.
The fact that Macbeth's tragic life is coming to an end doesn't seem to bother him, he sees life as meaningless "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day", the audience can see how depressed Macbeth is. He believes that life and the world has no meaning at all. He describes life as a "brief candle", and a "walking shadow". This speech of Macbeth is a statement of total despair and the depression Macbeth is suffering, which interests us very briefly because it leads nowhere. However this speech/scene contributes immensely to the play as a tragedy, mainly because we realise that Macbeth is repentant of his sinful acts.
Macbeth ends exactly how it had began: with a victorious battle in which a noble hero kills a traitor and displays his head. In act one we hear of Macbeth's bravery and how he cuts off a traitors head. Here at the end of the tragedy Macbeth himself who was a traitor to Duncan and his family gets his head cut off.
The moral at the end of the play Shakespeare is giving out is that fate cannot be changed, and ambition can get the better of us. The events that the witches had predicted, "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king be king hereafter", happened exactly as they had said at the beginning of the play. Macbeth believes the witch's prophecies at face values not realising that things are not always what they seem. Banquo even tries to point tries to point this out to Macbeth "And oftentimes, to win us to our harm. The instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with trifles, to betray's. In deepest consequences." But Macbeth didn't pay any attention. The witches have "equivocated; they had told him a double truth, concealing the harsh and complex reality within a framework which seems so simple and straightforward".
What is interesting about Macbeth is the self awareness he shows in his own self-destruction, Macbeth knows exactly what he is doing and is at all stages aware of his progress. Macbeth can distinguish bad from good. He knows what he is doing and realises its sinful and he pays a big price for it.
