Macbeth is forced into making a decision by his wife, Lady Macbeth. She is very power crazed and the conflicting emotions between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth represent the battle of good and evil. She forces him to make a decision by questioning his masculinity:
“And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
... Art thou afeard…live a coward”
Macbeth questions whether he really should go through with it and this gives us some hope as it looks as if good is winning over evil. We learn that his courage has vanished and Lady Macbeth manipulates him by emasculating him and asking if he is scared. Macbeth falls for Lady Macbeth’s manipulating ways and makes the decision to kill the king even though he is still uncertain about it. The fall of man takes place here as Macbeth is slowly changing from a brave and valiant soldier to a ruthless and heatless killer. Evil wins over good here and Macbeth decides to kill the king.
As soon as he kills the king Macbeth starts to lose his mind. His guilty conscience constantly troubles him and he lives in paranoia that someone will find out that he killed Duncan. Macbeth fears that he will never sleep again:
“Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep” the innocent sleep”
Having a guilty conscience is proving to be very troublesome for Macbeth as he is being kept awake at night. He is hallucinating and thinks that he hears voices which are not there. This is also important as it is a stage in the fall of man and it is ultimately this guilt which leads Macbeth to kill several other characters. The imagery used here shows that something that makes life worth living and is a necessary part of life. It also foreshadows the chaos that Macbeth would eventually bring as he has disrupted the natural order of things. The decision ultimately leads to Macbeth becoming paranoid and almost reaching a state of madness.
The fall of man is very apparent when Macbeth goes to see the witches. Through the apparitions, the witches convey other prophecies:
“Something wicked this way comes…
None of woman born shall harm Macbeth…
Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill”
Just before Macbeth appears the witches predict his coming. They refer to him as “evil” which is ironic as even the witches identify Macbeth as being evil and this ties in with the fall of man as Macbeth is becoming more and more evil. At this point Macbeth is unafraid, bold and uncompromising. This is a stark contrast to the Macbeth we see at the beginning of the play. The second apparition tells him that no one born of a woman will kill Macbeth. However, this is deceptive as although Macbeth immediately thinks that every human is born of a woman, caesarean birth is not considered a natural birth and therefore those born by this method may kill Macbeth. The third apparition warns Macbeth about Macduff and Macbeth immediately makes a decision to murder him. The fall of man is complete here as Macbeth ruthlessly decides to murder Macduff and his family. The image of Macbeth is a great contrast to the image of Macbeth we see in the beginning of the play.
The tempo of the play changes in Act 5 reflecting the rapid pace of the battle. Lady Macbeth commits suicide as Macbeths reaction is not one of grief but one of despair. He makes a deeper comment about life:
“Out, out brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.
The comment reflects Macbeth’s feeling of hopelessness. He speaks in poetry to illustrate the idea that life is brief and each person’s life is very insignificant. He does not express any grief which is very unusual considering his wife has just passed away. Macbeth also comments that he has forgotten what it feels like to be scared which emphasises how evil he has become. In the battle Macbeth is lured into a false sense of security by the apparitions and he believes that he cannot be defeated. On realising the true meaning of the prophecy he realises that he has been tricked by the witches and he is killed. The battle of good and evil is represented by Macduff and Macbeth respectively and ultimately Shakespeare makes good triumph over evil.
The decision which Macbeth made ultimately led to Macbeth’s own death. The change in Macbeth’ character – from the brave hero to the evil power-crazed king - was also brought about by his fateful decision to kill the king. Shakespeare portrays the triumph of good over evil and gives a deeper message that murder has very foul consequences.
by
aryaaruhotmailcom (student)
