It is these three influences that change Macbeth so dramatically. This change is apparent by looking at the beginning and end of the play. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth has a very positive image;
“For brave Macbeth…Like Valour’s minion…valiant cousin, worthy gentleman…noble Macbeth…’
These positive adjectives along with the ‘evil’ enemy that Macbeth was fighting at the time, that contrasts and shows up his greatness makes Macbeth look very good indeed.
By the end of the play though Macbeth’s image has completely changed;
“…the tyrant’s grasp…bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin that has a name…thief…hateful…fearful…hell-hound…villain…usurper’s cursed…butcher…violent…”
As you can see the vocabulary has changed vastly, signifying Macbeth’s downfall.
The most obvious reason for Macbeth’s degeneration is the witches as they have the most visible and direct impact on Macbeth’s actions that make him go down his road to hell.
The first thing to note about Macbeth’s relationship with the witches is that it starts straight away in Macbeth’s first sentence;
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”
Macbeth says this as he’s travelling with Banquo after his battle. He’s commenting on all the praises he’s getting from friends, that is why it is such a ‘fair a day’. The weather though must be cloudy or raining explaining why it is also such a ‘foul’ day. This coincides with the witches as they planned to meet with Macbeth in horrid conditions and this is the time when the meeting takes place. The witches also said earlier on in the scene, ‘fair is foul and foul is fair…’ This is very similar to this quote of Macbeth, suggesting that there maybe already be some link between the witches and himself.
So already before any contact with the witches we can see that the witches may already be affecting Macbeth. The next point is how Macbeth reacts to their meeting with witches;
“…he seems rapt withal…Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.”
The first part of this quote is part of Banquo’s description of Macbeth. He is describing Macbeth as spellbound by the witches. This shows their control over him, telling us that they could at this point easily manipulate Macbeth into any direction they want. It is unlucky for Macbeth that they choose a nasty direction for him to go. The second part of this quote describes Macbeth’s interest in the witches. His language shows his desperation, as it is phrased like an order. Again this shows that the witch’s already have control over Macbeth. It also shows that Macbeth has succumbed to the witches, knowing that they are evil, starting his road to degeneration.
As a result of meeting the witches he knows his future. To get this future though at the present he has to murder Duncan and remove his sons. He does this, but the promises of the witches to Banquo make him a threat. Macbeth therefore decides to remove Banquo and his son with hired assassins. Banquo is killed but his son escapes. After these acts, Macbeth’s mind is troubled by Duncan’s and Banquo’s deaths and the failure of his murderer’s mission and so makes Macbeth act strange, which creates suspicion in his fellow lords. Although you can clearly see that Macbeth has started his downfall into those negative images already, it is important to note that the witches weren’t there to make Macbeth commit these crimes, suggesting that there is another influence. I think that it is worth noting the irony here that although Macbeth wishes to keep his own prophesy by the witches true, he wants to destroy that wish by trying to make false Banquo’s prediction by the witches. If he had succeeded in killing Banquo’s son then Banquo’s prediction couldn’t become true, but at the same time any security Macbeth found in his prediction from the witches would also disappear. Macbeth therefore inadvertently tried to destroy any safety he found in the witch’s all seeing eyes. This suggests that Macbeth is a bit ignorant of the consequences and that he is starting to lose control of clear thinking. This is one more step of his degeneration process.
When analysing whether or not the witches did reflect contemporary ideas at Shakespeare’s time I decided that witches conjured up the ghost of Banquo;
“…meeting were bare without it.
Enter the GHOST OF BANQUO and sits in Macbeth’s place”
The reason that I mention this is that if the witches did conjure up Banquo’s ghost then it was their fault that Macbeth acted in a strange way to his lords. As a result it started suspicion in the lords and this suspicion generated the first of the negative images. The witches therefore were responsible for the start of Macbeth’s negative image.
In Macbeth’s second meeting with the witches the situation has changed considerably;
“Something wicked this way comes…”
A witch says this quote before Macbeth enters their lair. She is talking about Macbeth, which reflects how degenerate he has become as even something as immoral as a witch calls him ‘wicked’.
“I conjure you…answer me.”
This is part of Macbeth’s speech as he talks to the witches. You can see that from this small quote he is now much more confident in his orders. This means that he is more comfortable around the witches, suggesting integration. Macbeth maybe becoming one of the witches. Along with his ordering tone is the phrase; ‘I conjure you’ implies that Macbeth created the witches. This strengthens the idea Macbeth has control over the witches. With further analysis you could say that this control implies that Macbeth is a higher ‘demonic class’ than the witches because he can control them. This makes him even more terrible.
“Say, if thou’dst…hear it from our mouthes,
Or from our masters’?
Call ‘em, let me see ‘em”
The first two lines is the witch asking if Macbeth would rather hear his future from the witches or from their masters’. Macbeth invites these masters in. This describes Macbeth’s comfort in this underworld. Normal people would run away at the thought of meeting a witch’s master but Macbeth invites it in, perhaps even excited by the concept. This suggests that Macbeth is becoming more like a demon and is therefore following his downfall.
In the rest of this scene the witches predict further knowledge of Macbeth’s future. ‘None of woman born shall harm Macbeth’ and ‘Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him’. These predictions of what seems the impossible to occur make Macbeth confident of his protection. Later on Macbeth realises that the witches deceived him with false images. On first thought you would think it impossible for woods to move but when the English army that comes to destroy Macbeth’s reign moves the trees with their march so as to hide themselves Macbeth sees that this is possible. Macbeth’s first prediction; ‘none of woman born shall harm Macbeth’, is also proved to be deceiving as Macduff, the person he was warned to fear, reveals that he was of caesarean birth and so he can, by the witches prediction, kill Macbeth, which he does. I think that it is ironic how Macbeth is destroyed by something that showed so much promise and pleasure. The witches, through their predictions, destroyed Macbeth, and it is ironic how Macbeth started to become a demon himself, like the witches, and yet was degenerated and destroyed by the same thing that he became. In this way you could say that Macbeth destroyed himself: he was his own demon.
So the witches in ‘Macbeth’ was responsible for Macbeth’s downfall by creating prophecies that persuaded him to do evil deeds and made him over confident, leading to ignorance of consequences and loss of control over his mind as his deeds troubled him. It was these factors that led to his downfall. There were though other factors involved in Macbeth’s ruin, one of these being Macbeth’s own wife, Lady Macbeth.
It is obvious upon Lady Macbeth’s first scene that she is already corrupted. On hearing Macbeth’s predicted future she immediately has evil intentions;
“…yet I do fear thy nature,
It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.”
This is an extract from Lady Macbeth’s speech about Macbeth’s letter that concerns the witches. This scene occurs quite soon after Macbeth’s encounter with the witches and so shows that Macbeth’s first reaction is to write to his wife. This shows how much he values Lady Macbeth opinion, and perhaps signifies his love for her as well. Lady Macbeth however feels quite the opposite; instead of seeing love for Macbeth she sees an opportunity to take advantage of Macbeth’s luck. Instead of loving Macbeth for who he is she points out his bad points, ‘full o’th’milk of human kindness’ and starts to consider how to overcome them to get her goal, this goal being gaining kingship as fast as possible. This shows us that Lady Macbeth merely thinks of her husband as an object that she can manipulate to get her way. The word ‘milk’ is associated with children and babies. Because this word is describing Macbeth it implies that Lady Macbeth thinks her husband as weak and child-like, which is strange as we have seen Macbeth only to be a ruthless general up until now. With further thought Lady Macbeth can easily be seen as the maternal dominant role to Macbeth’s childlike personality. This signifies her control over Macbeth.
Later on in the same scene Lady Macbeth is clearly shown as evil;
“…Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts…And fill me…topfull
Of direst cruelty…”
After realising the challenge of persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan and take his crown, though this is not said it is hinted quite extensively, Lady Macbeth calls on demon spirits to help her. Without much thought she sells her soul to hell to get her way. This shows her dangerous efficiency and it means that, with this much evil intent in mind and control over her husband, we can already guess that Lady Macbeth will be a great influence to Macbeth’s downfall. We could also say that Lady Macbeth has become another witch, as she is now another demon. We already now the effect of the witches on Macbeth, now he may have one on his side constantly. This would have disastrous affects on Macbeth.
When Macbeth enters his castle to meet his wife their salutations are quite different;
“Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor…
My dearest love…”
Lady Macbeth’s greeting is the first line of the quote while Macbeth’s greeting is the second line. Lady Macbeth’s welcome only contains status and titles for Macbeth showing that she has no love for him. Macbeth’s salutation however has ‘dearest’ and ‘love’ in it telling us that he cares for her on a deep level. This puts Macbeth in a dangerous position as he can now easily be manipulated by his wife’s corrupted thoughts.
Soon into the conversation Lady Macbeth starts to manipulate Macbeth;
“…look like th’innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t…”
This is an extract from one of Lady Macbeth’s replies. She is saying look normal on Duncan’s visit but be treacherous underneath, in this way you can murder him easily. Already you can see how Lady Macbeth is controlling Macbeth to her advantage. Arguably this is nothing on its own but we can see in the play that this is the start of Macbeth’s downfall.
I think that it is ironic how although Lady Macbeth is the dominant and more confident partner she still needs help from the spirits to corrupt Macbeth. This would either mean that Macbeth is too strong-minded or Lady Macbeth doubts her own power. If either of these is the case then contradiction occurs because Lady Macbeth mentions how weak Macbeth is, ‘full o’th’milk of human kindness’ and yet she needs help to corrupt him, so Macbeth can’t be too strong minded. But if Lady Macbeth doubts her own power then why does she come across as so confident in her speech? To explain this contradiction I must first point this out: if you look through the play Lady Macbeth’s character seems to only consist of her confidence, therefore without her confidence she is nothing. I can explain the contradictions in her speech therefore that although Lady Macbeth comes across as confident she actually isn’t, suggesting that she is not a completed character. This is why she calls the spirits, so that they ‘fill her up’ and complete her. This follows nicely to my next point. With this theory in mind you can say that Lady Macbeth is just a vessel for transporting these evil spirits into Macbeth. At the beginning of the play she is an empty person, so the spirits go into her willing body to complete her. From there they travel into Macbeth’s body, explaining his degeneration in spiritual terms. This theory, although has little proof, does explain why Lady Macbeth is the first to lose her mind. As I said before Lady Macbeth filled herself up with these spirits to complete herself. You could then say that she became attached to this completeness so when the spirits went into Macbeth to corrupt him Lady Macbeth lost part of herself and she couldn’t cope, explaining why she went mad first.
So from this first scene with Lady Macbeth in you can see that she has started to manipulate Macbeth to a negative effect, signifying the start of his downfall.
Later on in Macbeth’s castle, while Duncan is taking residence there, Lady Macbeth manages to disintegrate most of Macbeth’s reluctance at killing Duncan to point where he is reliable enough to commit the crime;
“We will proceed no further in this business
He hath honoured me…I have bought
Golden opinions… Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.”
This is Macbeth stating that he doesn’t wish to kill Duncan. His reasons afterwards are short and straight to the point, suggesting that he has made up his mind and will not be moved form his opinion. Lady Macbeth deals with this view in a very efficient way;
“Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself?…Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire?…live in a coward in thine own esteem…”
This quote is taken from Lady Macbeth’s first argument after Macbeth’s decision against killing Duncan. Although Macbeth had quite a firm view, Lady Macbeth responds with a strong response, repeating several times in the same speech that Macbeth is a coward, but dressing it up in different words. This repetition of a point makes it stand out, perhaps forcing Macbeth to think that he is a coward and must kill Duncan to redeem himself.
Macbeth replies with a response that is defensive and does not defy Lady Macbeth’s opinions;
“I dare do all that may become a man”
Macbeth is saying that he only does actions that make someone a man. This implies that killing Duncan is something that is dishonourable. This argument though doesn’t challenge any of Lady Macbeth’s opinions and so it shows that Macbeth is shying away from confronting her.
To respond to Macbeth’s view she twists the theme of being a man against Macbeth;
“When you durst do it, then you were a man.
And to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man.”
Since Lady Macbeth is using Macbeth’s argument against him it will prove more effective because, as well as creating a stronger argument, she makes Macbeth’s opinion false. By the end of her argument she manages to make killing Duncan sound like an action that would be worthy of doing, which persuades Macbeth to do it.
There is one interesting point that shows Lady Macbeth’s treacherous side to her husband;
“I have given suck and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would…Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn…”
As well as being another powerful image that is used effectively to persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan, it also has another message. Earlier on in the play Lady Macbeth describes Macbeth as a baby by linking him up with the word ‘milk’. In this quote Lady Macbeth describes that she would kill a baby that she is breast-feeding if she sworn on, even though might love it. This baby could easily be linked up with Macbeth, so Lady Macbeth may slyly be saying that I would have no quarrel over killing you if it got me to my goal.
In the next scene Macbeth has killed Duncan. The first noticeable thing is that Macbeth cannot say ‘Amen’;
“List’ning their fear, I could not say ‘Amen’… I had most need of blessing and ‘Amen’
Stuck in my throat.”
This implies that God has denied Macbeth after killing Duncan. His following sentences suggest that he can’t handle this denial as he sounds mad but it does propose that Macbeth has started to become a demon. I found this fact to be developed later on when Macbeth meets the witches the second time, as he is comfortable in hell’s surroundings suggesting that he is an inhabitant, or, in other words, a demon.
After that Macbeth loses control of his speech and starts to ramble away. Within his words is the first mention of the negative descriptions of himself. It is ironic how Macbeth is the first to recognise his own downfall and is the first to describe himself in negative images;
“…Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath… Macbeth shall sleep no more.”
Here Macbeth states that he has murdered sleep, which suggests that he is some sort of supernatural monster as only those types of beings could kill sleep. Then he mentions how sleep heals the human being, which after he states that he can no longer sleep. This implies two things: he is no longer a human and so sleep can’t apply to him, it also foretells that Macbeth will no longer be healed by sleep and so will gradually degenerate. With this image in mind you can now think Macbeth to be some sort of never sleeping, night walking monster. Both of my above points show part of Macbeth’s downfall and strengthen the image of Macbeth being a demon.
Throughout Macbeth’s ramblings Lady Macbeth replies calmly with a hint of shame towards her husband;
“A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight… Consider it not so deeply…These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so it will make us mad.”
While Macbeth has long sentences in his replies or statements to represent loss of control of his speech, Lady Macbeth’s sentences are short and to the point. This shows us that she is still the dominant and controlling partner. It is this calm efficiency that keeps Macbeth from completely losing his mind and so helps him have more time to adjust to his crime. Unfortunately Macbeth adjusts to well to this crime and it becomes so normal for him that, by the end of the play, he is no longer affected by it.
I can see though that there is a hole in Lady Macbeth’s apparent coldness to the horrific crime just taken place;
“Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.
This quote is Lady Macbeth stating that she would have killed Duncan herself, but his resemblance to her father prevented her from doing it. This shows us that Lady Macbeth has a weakness. It may even signify that, beneath her calm surface, she is already starting to mentally break. This, in one way, makes Macbeth the stronger person because it was him that killed Duncan, Lady Macbeth couldn’t.
After this point Lady Macbeth contributes little to the rest of Macbeth’s downfall. Soon after Macbeth is crowned King, Lady Macbeth goes insane and can mentally no longer persuade Macbeth to do evil deeds. This makes little difference as Macbeth continues to do horrific acts anyway. So from the scenes where she does influence Macbeth I can say that she contributed to his downfall by being impatient and enforcing the witch’s prediction onto Macbeth in the quickest way. The quickest way, sadly, included killing Duncan. This was a big component in the start of Macbeth’s downfall but Lady Macbeth also helped Macbeth by keeping his sanity with her calm words. In this way they were not caught for their crimes, which would have otherwise prevented Macbeth from being king and continuing his deterioration. Similarly if Lady Macbeth was not their to keep Macbeth from completely losing his sanity then he would he wouldn’t have had the mind to continue his downfall, instead he would have degenerated into a maniac unlike the actual outcome for him at the end of the play. So Lady Macbeth, along with the promise of the witch’s prophecy and her natural evil intentions, started Macbeth on his downfall and helped him, for a brief amount of time, to cope with his murders. This means that if neither the witches or Lady Macbeth was there to make Macbeth to do his further crimes then there must have been another influence.
This influence is the last of the three and it is how Macbeth’s own personality and character destroys himself. Already I can recognise some irony, as, although not the most apparent, Macbeth’s own character is, I think, the biggest influence on his downfall. It is ironic how although he blames the witches, it is Macbeth that is to blame for his own degeneration because in the end only he that can allow himself to go so far into destruction.
The first thing to note is the situation in Macbeth’s Scotland at the time. By the description’s the lords and king gives Macbeth he is obviously a general commanding a battle. This means Scotland is at war. The fact that Macbeth is commended for his acts in battle means that he could be a natural war leader. His naturalness for war means that we can safely assume that he has a natural tendency for violence and a general coldness towards other people’s lives;
“…with brandished steel
which smoked bloody execution… he unseamed him from the nave to th’chaps
And fixed his head upon our battlements.”
Within these descriptions of Macbeth and his skill in sword you can see that to earn such titles he must have a natural talent in fighting. From the gruesome images that these descriptions give us we can already tell that Macbeth is a violent person in battle. It doesn’t though tell us whether he’s a violent person normally though. This is made noticeable later on.
So at the beginning of the play we know that Scotland is in a state of war, suggesting that Macbeth may have adapted to this environment and become naturally violent.
Later on in the play you can see that Macbeth has a natural tendency for violence. This tendency for violence is so perverse that you could describe it as his artistic side as he explores fear and thinks up extreme images, usually including blood or other negative things. Among all this violence though is Macbeth’s normal side. This is the part of Macbeth’s personality that suffers and creates his torment and it is this same side that we pity. It is this character that would probably rule Macbeth if Scotland was in a state of peace and not war. It also explains why Lady Macbeth can see a weaker side to Macbeth and why she uses images of violence a lot in her arguments to persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan. She probably thinks that to overcome Macbeth’s good side, or ‘milky’ side as Lady Macbeth calls it, she calls upon his more violent side by using images such as smashing a baby’s head as it is this side that would dominate his reluctance to kill Duncan. By the end of the play this end of Macbeth’s personality has disappeared leaving him as a fearless and uncaring demon. I think that it would be plausible to say that Macbeth is type of schizophrenic because the two sides of his personality contrast greatly enough to gain him this title. It is also worth noting that there are three points where Macbeth is alike the witches. This likeness may mean that the witches’ job to degenerate him may be easier. It is this violent side, along with the war, Lady Macbeth, his likeness to witches and the witches influencing it and bringing this side out, that consumes Macbeth’s good side, which leads to his degeneration.
Macbeth’s tendency to violence is shown in several ways throughout the play. One of the ways is how Macbeth repeats or uses the word blood many times, wither on its own or in an image. The most noticeable use of this is after Macbeth has killed Duncan he is discussing with his wife how he’ll get the blood of his hands. Macbeth, in a state of fear, describes that he’ll never get it of in an artistic way.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand?”
It is this image of blood and many other references to blood throughout the play that give us the idea that Macbeth has a natural tendency to violence as blood id associated with death. This quote shows more than just a reference to blood though, it shows that Macbeth has imagination, it also shows that Macbeth feels fear because with imagination you can think of various outcomes to things, including outcomes that you fear.
My other reference to show Macbeth’s tendency to violence is implied through this quote;
“Stars, hide your fires,
Let not light see my black and deep desires…”
This is an extract from one of Macbeth’s sentences before Lady Macbeth has had any influence on him yet. This suggests that Macbeth already has the evil intentions that Lady Macbeth forces onto him.
So, the many references to blood by Macbeth, his gruesome acts in battle and his apparent evil intentions before he meets with Lady Macbeth’s influence shows that he has a natural tendency to violence. This natural tendency to violence allows him to kill Duncan, which is the start of his degeneration and leads on to his complete downfall.
There are three points where Macbeth can be compared to the witches;
“So foul and fair a day…”
These words that Macbeth say imitates the witches chant. This suggests a link between him and the witches.
“look like th’innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.”
This Lady Macbeth saying to her husband ‘be deceiving to Duncan and he won’t catch on to our plot’. It is the deceiving part I’m interested in. The witches were deceiving to Macbeth in their prophecies by making it sound promising and pleasurable and yet it destroyed him. The witches used the technique of deceiving to get their goal, which is destroying Macbeth, and Macbeth get his goal of killing Duncan by deceiving Duncan into thinking that he was his friend. This similarity suggests, again, a link between Macbeth and the witches.
There is no real quote that I can extract from the play to describe my third and last point. My point is that Macbeth can be described as a demon by the end of the play by his comfort in the underworld and meeting the witch’s masters and also by his lack of emotions by the end of the play. The witches are also demons. So Macbeth can be linked to witches again in this way as well.
The reason I’m trying to prove that Macbeth may be linked to the witches is so that I can say that Macbeth has the same qualities as the witches. If this is the case then Macbeth will have personality traits such as was described above in the first part of my essay; a natural hatred and a want to do harm. It is these traits that could have also contributed to his downfall as it may have allowed Macbeth to do things that normal people can’t, like killing Macduff’s family.
Macbeth’s fascination for violence not only makes him explore things like fear and develop an artistic imagination about it, it also allows him to deal with it mentally. This is because he understands it and so doesn’t necessarily fear it.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me…”
This is part of Macbeth’s speech where he explores his fear about killing Duncan. He doesn’t have to develop how he feels, he could just feel it and control it, but the fact is that he does explore it. This suggests that Macbeth enjoys feeling fear or exploring it, he thinks it’s suitable. With such knowledge of the fear during the act this makes Macbeth a stronger person as he’s almost embracing the fear and yet still coping with it. This may explain why Macbeth fell to pieces after Duncan’s murder as he had given himself as much fear as possible while Lady Macbeth most likely tried to brush it away. It may this comfort in fear that let Macbeth last longer mentally than Lady Macbeth.
In the banquet after Macbeth has despatched of Banquo Macbeth mentions how he would of liked Banquo to have been present;
“Were the graced person of our Banquo present…”
On first sight the audience thinks that he is saying that to cover himself up from Banquo’s murder and deny any suspicion. But, with the knowledge that Macbeth likes to explore fear, I think that Macbeth may truly be calling not for Banquo, but for Banquo’s ghost. Perhaps he would like to see how he reacts to seeing his ghost. Considering though that he reacts quite badly upon seeing the ghost this theory is quite unlikely.
Until the end of the play Macbeth never admits this exploration of fear;
“The time has been, my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek…”
This statement from Macbeth tells us that he admits that he liked the ‘taste’ of fear.
This strange exploration for fear may reflect upon how he wishes to get into situations where he can feel fear. To get into these situations it usually includes murdering someone for Macbeth so this incorporates into his downfall.
This exploration of fear leads on to why he has such an artistic imagination for violence. To have fear you must have imagination, otherwise you could never think of an outcome to fear. Since Macbeth goes one step further and explores fear it safe to assume that he has lots of imagination in that area;
“I am in blood
Stepped in so far that should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.”
Like the quote above of the sea of Neptune’s inability to wash Macbeth’s hands this quote describes how Macbeth has gone too far for him to redeem himself. Both the quotes are gruesome, like many others in the play. Again this image is quite powerful and shows how he can make most things into a grim image.
This artistic imagination implies that Macbeth may use murder as an art. Art is supposed to be something you enjoy and so perhaps Macbeth enjoys this ‘art’ of murder. This art may be part of Macbeth’s natural want for violence, which we know leads to his downfall.