GCSE Coursework Macbeth by William Shakespeare

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

In drama the audience is informed of each character’s personality by numerous ways, the most obvious being the character’s own actions and deeds. The use of a “second party” account, and finally the effective use of dramatic irony, where the audience knows something which the character is unaware of and then the audience can see his/her reaction to the “news”. The audience’s first impression of Macbeth comes from another character’s account. This character, a sergeant, whom had been injured in battle and had retreated to a camp, was asked by the king how Macbeth had fought in battle. The sergeant shows Macbeth in a courageous and noble light, “For brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name”. Macbeth is seen in this way as he came against a merciless rebel in battle. Even when Macbeth’s army were losing , he was brave enough to make his way through the opposition and slaughter every man in his way, until eventually getting to the rebel Macdonwald and killing him. It was very important to Macbeth that he’d made his King and country proud, his bravery reflected this and showed that he was loyal, “Like valour’s minion carved out his passage…. Till he faced the slave…. And fixed his head upon our battlements”.

Joined with his friend, Banquo, the audience first sees Macbeth whilst he was on his way home from battle, when they came across three witches. Instantly there’s a definite contrast of mixed feelings in the air between Macbeth’s reaction and Banquo’s reaction. The prophecy that Macbeth will become thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland gets the best of Macbeth. Macbeth seems to be very accepting and open minded to the prophecies of the three old hags and he doesn’t care to question them. The three witches had easily seduced him, “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more!” Macbeth is obviously intrigued.

However, Banquo seems to be much more disturbed and suspicious, he questions their motives more, “Were such things here as we do speak about?” As witches are a sign of evil, he feels threatened. He’s confused by how the prophecies could be possible due to the divine order, where the king is chosen by God, how then could it be Macbeth? Banquo is far more surprised than Macbeth when the prophecies come true yet he still questions the witches, “What, does the devil speak true?” The witches had successfully manipulated Macbeth to a state where he was almost entranced with the prophecies; he liked what he heard, “That he seems rapt withal”. With the prophecies fulfilling their purpose, Macbeth’s ambitious nature runs away with him and leads to regicide to obtain his wishes.

The audience in the Elizabethan era in the 16th century had different attitudes and beliefs about witchcraft than the one we share today. The audience would have been horror-struck as witches were seen as the devil’s agents and the viewers would have taken a great hatred and distrust to them, especially once the reactions to the witches from both the characters were seen. The audience would have now questioned their first impression of Macbeth and would have wondered whether their interpretation of Macbeth’s character was accurate.

Macbeth now being Thane of both, Glamis and Cawdor, started to rethink whether regicide ...

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Macbeth now being Thane of both, Glamis and Cawdor, started to rethink whether regicide was a good idea. He felt that killing Duncan may not be a necessary thing to do in order to achieve the final prophecy, as he had built a respectable reputation. Macbeth definitely experiences a heavy spell of doubt. Shakespeare uses a powerful soliloquy in order to convey Macbeth’s feeling of a divided and troubled mind, almost as if there’s an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. He weighs up the consequences of his actions and the antithesis in the line, “cannot be ill, cannot be good”, shows his doubt. Macbeth manages to come up with several excuses as to why not to go through with the plan, the first being the simple consequence of murdering the king, which is being put to death if caught. The second being that kingship and loyalty to Duncan would be broken, after all they are related! Thirdly, that king Duncan does not deserve to die because he has been a good king, “Besides this Duncan hath borne faculties so meek”. Macbeth even goes a step further and thinks how strong his arguments are and decides that they’re all very valid points, “Strong both against the deed”. Ultimately, Macbeth decides it’s in his best interest not to perform the task, but not if Lady Macbeth had anything to do with it!

Lady Macbeth has shown to have a great influence over Macbeth and proves to be very persuasive. She uses a number of different techniques to make him reconsider as she shares the same character flaw of empowering ambition. Firstly, Macbeth shares with her his new plan and explains that his reputation matters. “He hath honoured me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people.” However, Lady Macbeth thinks he’s crazy and she deploys phase one. She accuses him of breaking his promise to her, and that she can no longer trust his love.

Lady Macbeth tells how a promise made to her is important, just like their love for each other. She asks Macbeth who influenced him to break this promise to her, and tells that if it were her she would be selfless and committed of purpose, “What beast was’t then, that made you break this enterprise to me?” She then explains how she would have acted on the most grotesque and unnatural of promises. She would have killed her own baby if she promised to, “I had given suck the babe that milks me…. Smiling in my face…. Have plucked my nipple and dashed the brains out”. She makes Macbeth feel guilty. Then she deploys phase two: Macbeth as a man. She questions Macbeth’s masculinity by calling him a coward, which would have been a real threat, as for a man to be brave was very important, “And live a coward in thine own esteem, but screw your courage to a sticking plate and we will not fail!” Macbeth relies on Lady Macbeth’s confidence and agrees that killing Duncan will be a small price to pay for the greater good of, of course, himself!

Later that same evening, whilst Macbeth is waiting for the “go ahead” signal from Lady Macbeth, Banquo and Fleance meet him. The scene conveys the dark and evil nature of what was about to take place. Banquo certainly feels this, “The moon is down….. A heavy summons lies lead upon me….. Yet I dare not sleep”. Here Banquo explains how it’s night; connoting darkness and evil, and that even though he is very tired he wouldn’t dare to sleep because of the dark nightmares of the three witches. This scene also displays dramatic irony as Macbeth claims to not think about them when the audience knows that he is in fact obsessed, “I think not of them”. Macbeth then tries to lure Banquo into supporting him and if he does, he will be rewarded, “If you shall cleave my consent….It shall make honour for you”, Banquo replies in saying, “In seeking to argument it, and allegiance clear, I shall be counselled” meaning as long as my loyalty to the King can be maintained, I will join you, which clearly shows the conflicting feelings between both characters.

Banquo goes on to say how well the King has been received and that the King was so pleased he gave Lady Macbeth a crystal to ward off evil. Obviously another effect of dramatic irony to convey that the real evil will inevitably take place as the owner of the crystal is evil herself. Both characters, Macbeth and Banquo are now beginning to separate and have different views which are the start of a great divide and corruptness between them.

As Banquo leaves the scene, Macbeth is left alone to gather his present feelings about the regicide. A powerful soliloquy conveys this and shows what Macbeth is thinking. Macbeth starts to have an adrenalin rush which causes him to suddenly see the vision of a dagger. He suspects that it’s a manifestation of the mind so he questions his doubts, “Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle towards my hand?”

Macbeth feels that the appearance of the dagger is a “false creation… of a heat oppressed mind” He feels that the dagger isn’t real so he tries to touch it to qualify this, “Come let me clutch thee”, but he doesn’t hold it. There’s a conflict between sight and touch.

Shakespeare uses punctuation and short sentences to convey Macbeth’s emotions of panic. The punctuation interrupts the flow to make the actor appear to breathe heavily to empathise Macbeth’s dilemma, “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight.” Macbeth begins to trust the dagger and feels encouraged and confident in what he’s doing. He sees the dagger guiding him to Duncan’s room. He begins to see blood covering the blade. A modern audience would have believed that Macbeth was so “fired up” that this was purely a hallucination. However, and Elizabethan audience would have confidently believed it was a supernatural happening due to the work of witches and the devil.

The tone of the soliloquy changes from doubt and uncertainty to confidence and the transition made into evil. Macbeth loses his heroic identity and creates himself a new identity of murderer. He does this by welcoming all things evil. He now feels that he is performing a sacrifice of King Duncan to the goddess of the witches, Pale Hecate. Macbeth associates himself with dark creatures, “His sentinel the wolf”. Like a wolf, Macbeth hunts out Duncan like any other predator lurking in the night, and just like wolves are represented in folklore, Macbeth stalks the king with his “stealthy pace”.

Macbeth then mentions “Tarquin’s ravishing strides”. Tarquin, a Roman, raped his hostess, Lucrecia, in the dead of night. Again, just like Tarquin, Macbeth is out to commit a brutal and violent crime in the cowardly night, a perfect time to kill Duncan in his sleep.

Macbeth and Tarquin both victimised innocent people and committed a dishonorable act. Macbeth convinces himself that he is now an inhuman creature. Finally, Macbeth makes a reference to a ghost, “Moving like a ghost”. Macbeth uses this comparison as he would like to be as quiet as possible. However this comparison would have been far more powerful to an Elizabethan audience as it again refers to the “supernatural” and again an Elizabethan audience would have been freaked at his lust for satanic qualities!

Macbeth eventually proceeds to kill King Duncan. The dagger disappears and Macbeth can now go it alone and fulfill the evil deed. In a little over one act of the play, the audiences have witnessed Macbeth being influenced by several forces which have encouraged the transition from heroic nobleman to evil killer, for example, his overwhelming ambition, which makes Macbeth want a position he can’t have due to the system of the divine order. He is also influenced by the meddling, old witches who plant the idea of regicide into his head and finally his wife, who encourages and persuades him to kill the king. The murder of King Duncan results in chaos and anarchy all over Scotland and produces the destruction of Macbeth in the final battle between good and evil.

By Hadeel Maksoud