Nonetheless, Macbeth explains that as Duncan’s host he should protect, rather than attack him, “as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door”. Macbeth says specifically, his only incentive is ambition, which is like a rider who tries to vault into the saddle, but jumps too far and falls on the other side,
“ I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on the other.”
This acknowledgement comes after he has considered all the good reasons for not murdering Duncan and only ambition is left to overrule his troubled conscience. Macbeth’s ambition is in control. Macbeth’s one flaw is that he never took control of his own life and is instead ordered around by Duncan or Lady Macbeth.
Moreover, whilst the influence of both Lady Macbeth and the witches is strong, their power over Macbeth is only possible because ambition is already there. We see this with Lady Macbeth when she derides his intention to “proceed no further in this business”. Her comment “Was the hope drunk / wherein you dressed yourself?” clearly implies that he has raised her expectations of the throne – she did not have to raise the issue with him.
Subsequently, Lady Macbeth calls him a breaker of promises and cannot even believe him when he says he loves her, “From this time such I account thy love.” Moreover, Lady Macbeth is contemptuous in his change of mind and accuses him of cowardice, “live a coward in thine own esteem”. His reaction to this, which is to counter the argument, hints that his wife’s opinion of him is very important.
He argues that by killing Duncan he is not behaving like a human, “I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none”. Subsequently, Lady Macbeth picks up on the idea of Macbeth’s lack of humanity by calling him a “beast”.
Macbeth’s claim of being a man is again countered when Lady Macbeth insists that he must prove his manhood to her by murdering Duncan, because she would even abandon all mothering roles and murder her own baby rather than break such a promise, “dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this.” Lady Macbeth again refers to herself in a mothering position; this reverts to her earlier speech when she asks for milk to be turned into “gall”. “Gall”, used in medieval medicine is a bitter fluid produced by the gall bladder and is associated with anger, emotional bitterness and resentment. It therefore suggests in this passage, sweet milk turning into bitter gall. Shakespeare plays on the idea of motherhood, which may also suggest her lost child.
Shakespeare again raises gender as a theme in suggesting that Lady Macbeth’s nature is masculine rather than feminine, “Bring forth men – children only!”
What’s more, Lady Macbeth evidently objects to his protest as a man in two ways: firstly by calling him a beast and secondly doubting his manliness and cruelly suggesting that he is ladylike. In this way, Shakespeare explores what it is to be a “man”. A ‘man’ should be in control of himself and his destiny.
Macbeth’s explicit and strong arguments against the treason are all demolished after Lady Macbeth’s questioning of his manhood; this is confirmed when Macbeth replies “If we should fail,” which indicates that he has been listening and has invited the trial of persuasion to continue. I can imagine this line being said as though it were a question, as if Macbeth was pondering the damnation of his act, “If we should fail?”. I could also replace the question mark in Lady Macbeth’s reply with an exclamation mark “We fail!”, giving the impression… ‘If we fail that’s it we’re over’.
Lady Macbeth’s persuasive skill links in with the idea of women dragging men into sin, originally from the story of Adam and Eve, and King James I hatred of witches and women. Afterwards, Lady Macbeth talks about “reason” which is ironic given her later state of mind.
After weighing up the reasons for and against killing Duncan and despite saying “We will proceed no further in this business”, by the end of the scene he has been talked into the crime by his wife, “I am settled and bend up”. We see that when he succumbs to murdering Duncan, ironically, even Macbeth’s courage is compromised. To reinforce the point that Macbeth has been persuaded he echoes Lady Macbeth’s earlier advice, “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” Plus, Shakespeare finishes with an iambic pentameter and rhyming couplet, “…show… know”, contributing a sense of completion and adding a memorable touch. While being performed on stage, the rhyming couplet would signal to actors to prepare for the next scene.
Macbeth is not easily tempted to do evil – his conscience is strong, and throws up many objections to his doing the deed. However, he is too easily manipulated by Lady Macbeth, the key human agent. Lady Macbeth has a frightening uncompromising ambition for her husband, which undermines his integrity; Macbeth’s lack of self-will is his fatal weakness and this makes him a tragic hero.
In Act Two Scene Two of the play, amidst the sounds of shrieking owls and crying crickets, Macbeth enters and is visibly shaken by what he has done. Everything sets him on the edge and his paranoia is expressed without delay: “Who’s there? What ho!” The shortness of his rushed inquiry, demonstrates the uncertainty of his mind.
When Macbeth says “I have done the deed”, he uses the word “deed” as a euphemism for ‘murder’ which suggests his ambivalence about the crime. I can imagine Macbeth saying this line in a quick yet soft and panicky tone of voice, demonstrating his urgency to get it off his chest.
Macbeth is particularly distressed by the fact that when passing Malcolm and Donalbain’s chamber he was unable to say “Amen” in response to their request for blessing, “I could not say Amen”. This shows that the guilt of what he has done torments him and even religion plays on his mind. For such a superb warrior to be lost in terrifying guilt indicates the full extent of his crime. Earlier in the play, Macbeth wanted to “jump the life to come”, as if there was no heavenly retribution he should fear. Now the need for “Amen” which he cannot speak and the fact that even the ocean cannot clean him indicates absolute damnation.
Increasingly tormented, Macbeth uses strong visual imagery to convey his disgust and to stress the ghastliness of his sin. He says, “My hand will rather /the multitudinous seas incarnadine, /making the green one red.” Macbeth fears that his blood-spattered hands, which serve as a reminder to the murder, are so bloody to the extent that they would turn green seas red. Here, Shakespeare uses hyperbole, which may suggest Macbeth’s psychological anarchy.
Macbeth is traumatized after having heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep. Shakespeare equates the killing of Duncan with Macbeth’s punishment, the killing of sleep. Macbeth then uses several metaphors which describe the benefits of sleep,
“Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleeve of care…
balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
chief nourisher in life’s feast”.
In brief, sleep becomes symbolic of mental peace and is a sign of good conscience. Sleeps has the power to put right worries and to refresh oneself. However, Macbeth is being deprived of the ability to sleep and cannot recover. It is this lack of sleep which has led to paranoia and hallucination.
Therefore, Shakespeare opens up the possibility of Duncan’s death being a hallucination. There are no full stops which may confirm that he keeps going over Duncan’s death in his imagination.
“There’s one did laugh in ‘s sleep, and one cried,
“Murder!”
That they did wake each other: I stood and heard
them;”
Macbeth’s unstable mind is validated by this apparent nightmare in his dreams. These signs of horror show that Macbeth is psychologically falling to pieces and is trapped in his own mind. In contrast, he ignores Lady Macbeth and listens to her no more when she asks, “Consider it not so deeply”.
As Macbeth reflects on his behavior he seems to yet again lose control, “Whence is that knocking?” The sudden noise alarms Macbeth and he is anxious of being discovered. The dread of being caught is enhanced further when Macbeth notices the shriek of an owl, during his conversation with Lady Macbeth,
“Did you not speak?”
“When?”
“Now.”
“As I descended?”
“Ay”
Macbeth’s short one word questions create a distorted effect, which doesn’t allow the language to flow. This arrangement of text, more commonly known as staccato, builds up intensity and dramatic tension.
While looking at his hands Macbeth conveys the feeling of regret and says, “This is a sorry sight.” I can imagine Macbeth saying the line with either disgust at himself for murdering his King and betraying God or perhaps with disappointment for acting so jittery and pathetic. The idea of feeling regret for killing his kinsman is confirmed when he says, “I am afraid to think what I have done”.
There is a change in Macbeth’s character as he describes himself in all manifestations,
“Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor
shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!”
Macbeth is forever changed and he is none of these people now. Macbeth concludes exclaiming “To know my deed, t’were best not know myself.” Macbeth feels that he would rather not be himself as the murder of Duncan means he has not only changed his rank in the hierarchy, but has changed him fundamentally. Hence, Macbeth reveals himself as a tragic figure because he has in deed murdered his own self in effect.
In Macbeth’s first appearance within act five, he scoffs at the approaching army and expresses a feeling of defiance,
“I’ll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hacked…
I shall not be afraid of death and bane”.
Macbeth is overconfident because of the witches’ prophecies that “no man born of woman will defeat him” and that he will remain in power “until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane.” Without a doubt, the prophecies give him the assurance that he is unassailable. Yet, the dependence he has on the prophecies influences his own decision-making and capacity for action.
“Bring me no more reports: let them fly all:
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane”
This is a frantic statement for someone in a war, as intelligence gathering is usually of primary importance. Although the recurrences of the witches’ predictions give him a feeling of security, they have sadly become a mantra to him. The indication that Macbeth’s survival depends on the prophecies and not his own self opens up the prospect of an outcome he cannot control, which may also support the hypothesis of him being a tragic hero.
When Macbeth inquires about the health of his wife the doctor tells him that she is not sick; rather she is disturbed by persistent hallucinations which prevent her from sleeping. He commands the doctor to cure his wife, to erase tormenting thoughts from her mind with medicine.
“pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow…
with some sweet, oblivious antidote”
But he curtly dismisses the doctor’s medical advice and enquires of him, what would cure his country…“Cast the water of my land, find her disease.”
The presence of the doctor from Act V Scene 1 provides a sense of dramatic irony, as the question of looking after Lady Macbeth broadens to the issue of taking care of the country, which has a “disease”. Macbeth basically sees Scotland as a sick person in need of medical attention. However, Macbeth himself also carries a disease. The comments he makes on Lady Macbeth’s health, apply equally to him. But he will have “none of it”. Instead his restless energy seeks violent outlets; for instance, he orders Seyton to “hang those that talk of fear”. This shows the audience, how heartless and corrupt he has become.
Macbeth then abuses a frightened servant as he reports that the English troops are arriving. He uses the expressions “Cream-faced loon” and “lily–livered boy” as an insult describing the servant as, white with fear and lacking red-blooded courage. Subsequently, he instructs the boy to smear his face with blood so to cover the paleness of his skin. “Go, prick thy face, and over–red thy fear”. Such behavior suggests to the audience that Macbeth is a bully, which may cause us to loathe him.
Macbeth later scornfully comments on the treacherous Scots stating that they “mingle with the English epicures”. This shows that Macbeth despises the English for their soft living. The reason why Shakespeare used the noun “epicure” is because it uses English as the insulting adjective. Plus, there is an alliteration of the ‘e’ sound in “English epicures”.
Nonetheless, Macbeth declares that the only reason he doesn’t challenge Malcolm’s army directly is because their numbers are reinforced with rebel Scots who should be on Macbeth’s side.
“Were they not forced with those that should be ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard”.
Macbeth believes that this battle will decide everything once and for all. If he loses, he will die, and he has no qualms about that. If he wins, he will reign forever without friends, “This push will cheer me ever or disseat me now.”
In the speech beginning “I have lived long enough…”, Macbeth thinks about the things that he might have looked forward to in old age, but can now not expect. He conveys a feeling of depression and instability as he utters “my way of life has fall’n into the sere”. Just as a plant becomes withered and yellow with age, Macbeth’s life enters its final phase. His recognition of the life he might have had, which included “honour, love, obedience, troops of friends”, evokes compassion from the audience. Macbeth knows what is good, but has still chosen the opposite, which again supports the idea of him being a tragic hero.
Soon after, a woman’s cry is heard and Macbeth’s servant goes to investigate. Macbeth would have normally been startled by such a noise, but admits that as of late he has become desensitized to shrieks of horror…
“ I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been, my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek.”
But when the servant returns to inform Macbeth that the cry was for the death of his wife, his lack of sorrow at the news makes him realize that he doesn’t care about life anymore. In his speech molded in iambic pentameter, he coldly states that life is meaningless and that each interminable day brings us unknowingly closer to death.
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.”
He would rather die now because in the grand scheme of things, he is like an actor with a worthless moment on the stage, and no one will remember him after the show is over, “a poor player”. His response to his wife’s death is to curse himself for still being alive. He uses the imagery of a candle and its shadow afterwards to illustrate that history has done no more than provide light for fools on their journey to death. The word “dusty” perhaps recalls “Dust to dust…” in the funeral service.
Following the death of his wife, Macbeth cannot talk with her and must now remain silent as regards to the crimes he has committed. Thus, he wishes that his wife had “died hereafter” and uses the memorable repetitions of “tomorrow”, which also suggest the pointlessness of life, to reinforce his point. His realization of the loss in his life, from which he is suffering, causes the audience to feel strong feelings of pity towards him (such moments are known as pathos), despite our disgust for his treatment of the frightened servant.
A messenger enters to give an alarming report that Birnam Wood seemed to move towards Dunsinane. Macbeth threatens to hang the messenger if he is wrong, but if he is right, Macbeth doesn’t care if he gets hung himself.
“If thou speak’st false, upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive…
If thy be sooth, I care not if thou dost for me as much.”
After having seen his own men betray him and then receive awful news concerning the death of his wife, further reports that his castle is being invaded can be played as a comedy, demonstrating the now doomed character, Macbeth. In response, he curses the witches for lifting such a deviously phrased prediction, and he declares that if he will die at least he will die fighting - “At least we’ll die with harness on our back.” Macbeth’s state of mind in the speech is summoned up: “I’gin to be aweary of the sun”. He no longer cares whether he lives or dies. Yet this doesn’t mean to say he will commit suicide like in plays…
“Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword?”
Macbeth is finally confronted by Macduff who insists that they fight. Initially, Macbeth refuses to kill him, because his soul’s in a great deal of trouble as it is for killing Macduff’s family-
“My soul is too charged
With blood of thine already.”
As they battle, Macbeth boasts about his invulnerability to any man born of woman, but his confidence is dashed when Macduff reveals that he was delivered through a Caesarean operation. He has realized how profoundly the prophecies have betrayed him. In a final act of courage Macbeth fights Macduff, only to be slain.
The slaughter of Young Seyward earlier in the play is symptomatic of all the promises that Macbeth has destroyed by his reign and activities. The killing of Young Seyward also reminds the audience that Macbeth is a warrior, although indicated in the beginning of the play, may have been forgotten through the series of murders. On the other hand, in the final scene we are reminded that he is primarily a warrior, which is significant, otherwise the achievement of slaying Macbeth is reduced.
Due to succumbing to the temptation that the three witches offered him, the witches had succeeded in destroying almost every virtue of Macbeth’s humanity. His courageous virtue momentarily deserted him when he learned how false the predictions were. Nevertheless, his courage came back and he challenged Fate as well as Macduff “Yet I will try the last”, which shows the audience the remainder of his valour, and ultimately the part of him we once knew and loved.
The idea of the witches “juggling” with words ties in with the idea of equivocation running through the play. Equivocation, given its relevance to the Gunpowder Plot is synonymous with treason. Ironically, the witches have betrayed Macbeth, just as he betrayed Duncan. When Macbeth argued the prose and cons of treason he commented, ‘we but teach…bloody instructions, which, being taught, return…to plague th’inventor".
We now know this has come true; he has had no sleep because his own men have defected from his cause and his faith in the witches has also been confirmed as a mistake.
In conclusion, Macbeth’s weakness is his inability to take control of his own life. Instead he allows his wife’s ambition for him and the witches’ prophecies to undermine his integrity. He relies on the prophecies, which drive him into a fate he cannot control. He is too easily influenced into the direction he secretly desires to go and then is determined, and with his determination goes a violent and ruthless nature. All of this, combined with his unstable mind, makes Macbeth a complex and tragic figure.
