Macbeth's Interior Deterioration in William Shakespeare's Macbeth
"Your own soul is destroyed when you are cruel"(King Solomon). Macbeth destroyed his soul over the course of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" through his presumptuous ambitions and he murders he committed in order to become and remain king of Scotland. His downfall can be seen through Macbeth's actions, his statements, physical descriptions of Macbeth, and other character's statements. Macbeth's internal deterioration is seen in three distinct stages: the desire to become king, the murders of Duncan and Banquo, and Macbeth's acceptance of the fact that all of his actions have led him nowhere.
The play begins with Macbeth being praised and honored for his valiant efforts in the military. The Captain calls him"brave Macbeth" because he has slain the evil Macdonwald. Macbeth receives the title Thane of Cawdor for his accomplishment. Later, the three witches predict that Macbeth will become King. Lady Macbeth receives word of the prediction and develops a plan to kill Duncan. However, she is fearful that Macbeth, who is "full o' th' milk of human kindness", will not support her and the plan. This statement reveals Macbeth's sweet nature and his affection for all people. It is this characteristic that Lady Macbeth fears will prevent him from becoming King. After Macbeth has agreed to complete Lady Macbeth's plan, he begins to have doubts. He develops reasons as to why he should not kill Duncan. He contemplates that he is Duncan's:
kinsman as well as subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife [himself].
Act I, Scene 7, Lns. 14-16
Through this soliloquy, Macbeth reveals that he is hesitant to kill Duncan and that it is not in his nature to impose harm to others.
The deterioration of Macbeth's conscious begins with the murder of Duncan. Through his actions, he begins to torment his mind. The murder of Duncan and the greed and paranoia that he gains from becoming King, lead him to murder Banquo and attempt to murder Fleance in an attempt to prevent them from seizing the throne. His mental decimation is seen when he believes that he is seeing the ghost of Banquo at the banquet. Ross describes Macbeth's mental and physical condition when he comments to the other people who are present at the Banquet that "his highness is not well.
Macbeth is the remaining contributor to turning himself into the power-hungry animal he is before he is finally taken down. Macbeth let himself get talked into killing Duncan; he rationalizes with himself to kill Banquo. He is too ambitious. As soon as the witches cast the prophecy that he would be King, Macbeth lets himself be jealous. Once it is an option, he realizes how divine it would be to be King. Now, Macbeth will do what is necessary to get there, even if he suffers terrible consequences. After killing Duncan, Macbeth suffers by not being able to speak. “As they seen me with these hangman’s hands,/List’ning their fear. I could not say ‘Amen’/When they did say ‘God bless us’” (2.2.38-40). Macbeth cannot utter the sacred words of God; moreover, this illustrates to the reader how terrible the consequences are psychologically for this murder. Macbeth is also jealous of the prophecy Banquo gets, which also drives him to kill Banquo. Soon after he kills Banquo, Macbeth hosts a banquet, where Banquo’s seat is left empty. Only Macbeth truly knows what has happened to Banquo. However, he hallucinates that Banquo is at the table with all the guests when Macbeth says, “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee./Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold;/Thou hast no speculation in those eyes/Which thou dost glare with” (3.4.113-116). Macbeth is seeing Banquo at his banquet even after he ordered murders to kill Banquo and Fleance, Banquo’s son. Macbeth cannot believe his eyes, he is shocked at the sight of Banquo and he is losing his mind. Macbeth endures horrific hallucinations, falling into the depths of insanity. These two quotations in the play are very important because they emphasize how Macbeth has turned into a mon...
...n is a great man and he did not want to kill him. He even mentions this to Lady Macbeth later. Once Macbeth kills Duncan the greed from his ambition overwhelms him. He is only worried about his well being and does not love his wife anymore. “She should have died hereafter” (Shakespeare, Macbeth 5.5 line 17). In this line he shows no emotion to his wife having died. He even said that he forgot his sense of fear. “I have almost forgot the taste of fears…my senses would have cooled to hear a night-shriek, and fell my hair would at dismal treatise rouse and stir as life were in ‘t”(Shakespeare Macbeth 5.5 9-13). Macbeth explains how he would react when he used to be scarred in certain situations. Overall at the start of the drama readers see Macbeth as a hero and someone they could look up to. Towards the end of the drama Macbeth is a tyrant and has antihero qualities.
After Macbeth committed a dreadful crime at the start of the play, he realizes that by killing even more people he can get what he wants whenever he wants. Macbeth reaches a point where he is too busy fulfilling his own ambitions that he was not fulfilling his obligations as king. “Those he command move only in command, / Nothing in love…” (5.2.22-23). His obsession with power caused him to murder his good friend Banquo, and Banquo’s son. Macbeth’s out of control ambition has caused him to lose his emotion. He progressively sta...
Macbeth begins to defer from his original character when he learns of the witches’ prophecies, which leads him to believe he is fated to be king and to pursue that “destiny.” After the witches make the prophecies, he merely views the thought of himself becoming king as something that “Stands not within the prospect of belief” (I. iii. 77). Macbeth’s disbelief of their claim of him obtaining the crown reveals how Macbeth does not trust the witches’ words and has no true ambition to become king. However soon after Banquo’s and Macbeth’s encounter with the witches, a messenger of the King greets him with the title of Thane of Cawdor as well as the title of Thane of Glamis as the witches had also done. These two titles are seen from Macbeth as “Two truths [that] are told/ As happy prologues to the swelling act/ Of the imperial theme” (I. iii. 140-142). Having one of the two prophecies become reality validates the witches’ words and makes Macbeth take their words seriously to be the truth, sparking his desire for power to fulfill the last prophecy. He now believes that what the witches have made it his destiny to become king, and it is his duty to fulfill it. Through Duncan and Macbeth’s dialogue, Macbeth hears about Malcolm b...
Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a play about an honest and brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that he will be made Thane of Cawdor and one day King of Scotland. As the first prophecy comes true, Macbeth becomes consumed by ambition and greed leading him to murder King Duncan and taking over the throne. Afterwards he is filled with regretted and guilt yet continues on killing as a means to protect himself, losing sight of the honourable man he once was. Throughout the play Shakespeare uses many stylistic features and language techniques such as imagery, paradoxes and soliloquies to engage his readers, both those of his time and today, as well as highlighting important issues.
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare starts off with a noble warrior Named Macbeth that is titled thane of Glamis by his own uncle, King Duncan. Macbeth is awarded thane of Cawdor due to the switching sides of the original title holder who is hanged for treason. Macbeth who is deceived by his wife kills the king in a plot for power and they put the blame on the guards by laying bloody daggers next to them. Macbeth begins to lose himself as the play goes on. He kills his best friend Banquo and Macduff’s wife and kids. Lady Macbeth kills herself as she goes crazy from all the killings and then that is when Macbeth completely loses himself. Macbeth is told by the witches that he cannot be killed by any one of women born. Macduff and Malcolm, heir to the throne who fled Scotland think of a plan to kill Macbeth. Macbeth faces Macduff and Malcolm’s army alone as he is labeled a tyrant and is abandoned by everyone. He faces the army fearlessly as he cannot killed by any one of woman born but fails to realize that Macduff was born of C-section leading to his downfall and Macbeth is Beheaded. Malcolm becomes the new king. Lady Macbeth's deception had a dramatic effect on the play leading to a dramatic change in many lives. The three main points that will be discussed are how Lady Macbeth becomes deceived; how Lady Macbeth deceives others and the results from Lady Macbeth deceiving others. Lady Macbeth, was simply minded and became easily deceived.
Macbeth feeling this way convinces a pair of men to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. By having Banquo and Fleance murdered, Macbeth believes that it will prevent Banquo's sons from becoming king. Macbeth also hires the murderers to kill Macduff's family. This demonstrates Macbeth's obsession because it indicates that Macbeth values his power over his friends. His obsession with power causes Macbeth to feel guilty and lose his sanity. Macbeth's guilt and loss of sanity is indicated in the hallucinations he experiences. His first hallucination occurs just before killing King Duncan. Macbeth sees "A dagger of the mind, a false creation" (act II, scene I, line 38).
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
After a long and hard battle, the Sergeant says to King Duncan, “For brave Macbeth,-well he deserves that name,- disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution , like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage till he fac’d the slave;” (1.2.16) . This quote shows that Macbeth is viewed as a valiant soldier and a capable leader. However, it does not take long for the real Macbeth to be revealed- a blindly ambitious man, easily manipulated by the prospect of a higher status. His quest for power is what drives his insanity, and after having been deemed the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth’s ambition can immediately be seen. In a soliloquy, Macbeth says, “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings; my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastica, shakes so my single state of man that function is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.140). Macbeth has just gained more power, and his immediate thought is of how to gain an even higher status as king. He imagines how to kill Duncan, and then is troubled by his thoughts, telling himself it is wrong. This inner struggle between Macbeth’s ambition and his hesitation to kill Duncan is the first sure sign of his mental deterioration. Although Macbeth does kill Duncan, he questions whether or not he should to do so, which is far different from how Macbeth feels about murder later in the play. Macbeth becomes king, and this power leads
(Well he deserves that name)/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish steel/. (1.2.17) The rest of the scene consists of other recounts of Macbeth’s success; the thane of Ross informs the king that Macbeth has successfully suppressed the joint efforts of the thane of Cawdor, and the king of Norway. Furthermore, in this scene the king announces that Macbeth is to be promoted as the new thane of Cawdor. In this scene, Macbeth is portrayed as a mighty, patriotic, warrior and a loyal subject to the king. However, as the play progresses, Macbeth deviates from these traits. Macbeth’s encounter with the three witches confuses him.
Macbeth’s provocative or violent actions on the challenges placed before him cause him to build an effect of downfall and dismay throughout the play. Originally, Macbeth handles his challenges in different ways and manners and is constantly changing his procedure. From handling situations carefully to not caring, Macbeth and his violence resulted in guilt and selfishness which he had to overcome. By the end of the play, Macbeth had become a selfish, greedy king and the challenges as well as experiences he encountered shaped him into who he is. He was shaped by the guilt of killing Banquo and Duncan, just to become powerful and a king. For example, in Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth faces adversity when his mind creates a ghost of Banquo, who he just found out was killed. In Macbeth, the uprising of adversity was often handled in various manners. By dealing with his own challenges, Macbeth transforms his handling of adversity from being cautious to thoughtless, which reflected his character and the transformation he portrayed throughout the
King Duncan trusts Macbeth too much. Macbeth appears as a superhero and faithful to King Duncan. He fights against the traitor Macdonwald, and he helps the king to solve a great problem that wins the war. Duncan trusts Macbeth very much because of Macbeth’s heroic efforts and he gives Macbeth the title “Thane of Cawdor”. In actuality, Macbeth is not as faithful to the king as he appears. He has the ambition to become king after hearing the prophecies from the three witches. After Macbeth returns to his castle, he makes plans with Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan when he comes to visit. As soon as Duncan arrives, he says something very important. Duncan says, “This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air/ Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself/ Unto our gentle senses” (I.vi.1-3). This quote shows that Duncan, like Macbeth, even feels that Macbeth’s place is comfortable for him. Duncan never suspects the trustworthiness of Macbeth and never does anything to guard himself. Macbeth kills Duncan easily. Therefore MacBeth’s appearance deceives Duncan.
Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is morally wrong as demonstrated in (I, vii, 31-32) where he states, “.we will proceed no further in this business: he hath honour’d me of late”. Yet it is his vaulting ambition that gets the better of him as he shows signs of wanting to kill Duncan. Macbeth says, “The Prince of Cumberland”. – That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
Macbeth shifts from being loyal and courageous to a murderer executing a treacherous plan to kill the current king due to supernatural suggestions that he would be king himself. Macbeth is discussed as a man worthy of recognition by other characters in act one scene two. In this scene, the Captain states: “For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)” (1. 2. 18). Macbeth is being praised for his courage and loyalty to Scotland and the king. This first impression is hastily contrasted after hearing the prophecy of the witches stating he will be “king hereafter” (1. 3. 53). Immediately after hearing this, Macbet...