“There’s no art
To the mind’s construction in the face”
Duncan then greets Macbeth as if Duncan is but a mere servant and Macbeth is his mater to which he has done wrong to and is trying to apologize to, this shows us that Duncan feels he could never reward Macbeth as much as he deserves. Macbeth feels angry when Duncan announces Malcolm Prince of Cumberland, before he thought he might have to kill Duncan, now he knows he will have to kill Duncan, he is then given the chance when Duncan says that he will be visiting Macbeths castle and staying there for the night. When Lady Macbeth reads a letter that Macbeth sent her saying of the Witches prophecy she is shocked, however she says
“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised; yet do I fear thy nature,
It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness”
Which says he is too nice and would not go all the way he needed to go without a little help. In act 1 scene 5 line 40 Lady Macbeth call on evil spirits to help her, to turn her into something without a trace of remorse, to strip her of any gentler feelings to fill her breasts with poison to make her become so cruel and unfeeling that she’d be capable of anything.
When Macbeth arrives at his home lady Macbeth greets him and tells him to change the look on his face to seem welcoming and act oblivious to the events that will happen later on
“Your face, my thane, is a book where men
May read strange matters.”
This is saying that his face and the looks on it give away what he is about to do to Duncan. In act 1 scene 7 when Duncan arrives at the castle Macbeth is having second thought about going through with the murder. Lady Macbeth once again reads Macbeths character of which she knows so well and can tell that he does not want to go through it so she manipulates him in such a way by insulting his manhood. At this point we see the full power that Lady Macbeth has over Macbeth as she exerts it over him and uses her full power to make him change his mind she shows herself to be the most powerful, stronger, ambitious and somewhat evil of the two by making Macbeth go through with the murder, at this point Macbeth becomes cold and starts to fit the profile of a murderer, however this does change. In act 2 scene 1 just before the murder Macbeth is having second thoughts in a large soliloquy and thinks that he shouldn’t do it, then he thinks that this was meant to happen and that there would be no use fighting it. After the murder of Duncan Macbeth is troubled saying that the blood on his hands can never be washed off and that it will mark him forever he says this
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine”
This basically means that all the oceans and seas would not clean the blood off merely made the waters of the world blood red. However Macbeth takes charge of the situation but he has changed.
After the murder of Duncan more murders follow however Macbeth no longer needs Lady Macbeth he is more independent he also does not want more murders on her mind. He has become ruthless and a tyrant in his own land the same land that once had him as their hero. He is determined to keep his power at any cost and remembering the prophecy of the witches saying Banquo’s children will become kings has enraged him so he hires murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance but Fleance (Banquo’s son) escapes.
At a banquet shortly after Banquo was murdered Macbeth begins to act very strangely, he begins seeing things and starts acting like he has gone insane and just before he lets everything slip Lady Macbeth comes to his rescue. Lady Macbeth stands up and says that Macbeth is not well.
When Macbeth became king the effect on the nobles was that they all gained suspicions about him and how he became king there was always suspicion about who killed Duncan and Malcolm and Donaldbain had fled as they thought that they would receive the blame, however now they highly suspected Macbeth especially after his outburst at the Banquet. The evil deeds on his mind are preventing him from acting as a good king and serving his people. Macbeth in a hope of desperation or maybe just the fact he has become so paranoid has began to rely on the witches merely because they can see things in the future he does not see the fact that they don’t tell him that the things they tell him will make him take actions, he has become so paranoid he suspects everyone he has a servant in everyone’s house now and he has taken away all privacy from everyone. Macbeth wants to know future events from the witches’ as he wants to be prepared, he is re-assured by the fact that he lives a charmed life and no man born of woman can kill him and he thinks that this must make him immortal.
The scene with lady Macduff and her son shows us that Macbeth has sunk to a new low he is truly a tyrant and that he is so ruthless and cruel that he would kill women and children, I believe the fact that Macbeth has heard that he cannot be killed by any man born of woman has gone o his head and that he will stop at nothing to make sure the power of his kingship stays with his family and that no-one will overthrow him in a way turning him more evil than before as a result of the witches.
The sleepwalking scene shows us that the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth has deteriorated so badly that a once physical love filled relationship has turned to nothing more than a mere “thing” which they must do. When we next see Macbeth he is in the middle of a civil war, his state of mind has left him agitated I think he is starting to see his own mortality and that his death will soon come but he refuses to accept it, he relies on the witches, their prophecies and half truths to sustain himself. I think now in his lat few hours he realises that the first murder has led to this his change I do not think is to clear in his mind but he realises that these are all consequences of his own actions.
When he is told that his wife, his love Lady Macbeth the queen has died he merely says
“She would have died hereafter;”
He has become cold hearted and cares about nothing. When it comes to Macbeth’s time to die he takes it like a man and dies fighting. Macduff who has lost all of his family because of Macbeth slays him and takes his head as a prize. Macduff was able to kill Macbeth as he was ripped from his mother’s womb in a caesarean section. Macbeth believed so blindly in the witch’s prophecies that he followed them until the end.
Shakespeare uses techniques and imagery to represent changes and make them standout more. When some of the nobles talk about their old clothes being more comfortable this is saying that they were happier with Duncan as king. The theme of babies and children appears much signifying vulnerability and innocence. Also the themes of animals appears suck as the time when Macbeth chose to stand and fight before his death he said
“bear like I must fight the course”
Light and dark are also regular themes light being good and dark being evil.
Macbeth is physically strong, however emotionally and mentally he is weak unless in a fight, he is more of a warrior. Macbeth will openly fight in a war but shies away from private murder. In the whole story Macbeth went from valiant hero and warrior for the king to a cold hearted tyrant who lost everything, friends and his beloved wife, at the end of his life he showed a glimmer of his former self by not wanting to kill anymore but choosing to stand and fight and to not be the “roman fool” and commit suicide. I feel a great sympathy for him for he is fortunes fool, the witches encouraged him and put the idea into his head I think without their interference none of this would have happened except becoming thane of Cawdor which was decided before their meeting with Macbeth that is why the play is truly a tragedy.
