William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is a tragedy about a Scottish lord who becomes consumed by his own ambition and through murder and betrayal, conquers the Throne of Scotland. Shakespeare incorporates significant historical events from the Elizabethan era into the play, which was performed in 1606. While the play begins with “brave Macbeth” as a war hero who is in the king’s favour, Macbeth goes down a dark path which leads him to convert to a “villainous tyrant”. While Macbeth takes a fatalistic attitude towards his ‘destiny’, in reality it is through his own sinful ambitions as well as the actions and manipulations of Lady Macbeth and the Witches that transform him into the paranoid and murderous man he becomes.
It is Macbeths “vaulting ambition” and arrogance that allows him to be deceived by the witch’s prophecy. Macbeth is introduced to the audience as the loyal Thane of Glamis and leader of King Duncan’s army, a “brave” man who won a bloody battle that prompted the King to promote him to Thane of Cawdor. This foreshadows his treachery, as the last Thane of Cawdor that first betrayed the king. It is Macbeths response to the Witches prophecy “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis! … All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! … All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.50) that betray his ambitious tendencies. Macbeth is taken in by the “fantastical” foretelling, asking the Witches to “stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (1.3.72) and begins to wonder if he will be king, saying to himself “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir”. While Macbeth may not have murdered Duncan without the manipulations of Lady Macbeth and the Witches, there is no doubt that he acted of his own free will, and all of the subsequent killings were due to his own suspicions and obsession with keeping his power. After becoming king, Macbeth cannot put his mind to rest until all ‘threats’ to his throne are killed, causing him to spiral. His guilt consumes him and brings a great toll on his sanity, causing him to see hallucinations of Banquo after Macbeth has him killed. It is these fears of his that caused his downfall, as it is out of fear of Macduff and rebellion that he had Macduff’s family killed, which then coerced Macduff to kill him. Banquo, although also getting a great prophecy of his children’s succuss, believes the Witches to be deceitful, “oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence.” (1.3.132). His scepticism and content with his status is contrasted with Macbeths rash decision to put his fate into his own hands and kill King Duncan. Banquo foreshadows Macbeths death, which is caused by the witches half-truths, and Macbeths arrogance. Furthermore, Macbeths ambition stems from wanting power and status, and he will have the most power as king. However, he does not want to be a good and just king as Duncan was which leads to his kingdom quickly falling apart when he takes reign. He is unstable and not able to properly run his kingdom during a very hard time, “give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights, free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives” is spoken by a lord, implying that Scotland is going through a famine. The plot to kill King Duncan is highly suggestive of the ‘gunpowder plot’, a failed assignation attempt on King James. The Witches convincing Macbeth to commit regicide was closely tied to King James’ fear and belief of witchcraft.
The Witches have a large role in Macbeths turn of character. Macbeth was written in a highly religious time where supernatural events and witchcraft were regarded as real. Witches were considered mistresses of the Devil and believed to do his bidding whereas royalty was considered to be a representative of god, so to act against the King is to act against God. This is in part why regicide was considered the highest crime you can commit. This implies to the audience of the time that Macbeth is being manipulated by the ‘devil’ to kill ‘god’, and will therefore go to hell. This is indicated through the play after killing Duncan Macbeth fears he can no longer say ‘amen’ or talk to god “I had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen! ‘ / Stuck in my throat” (2.2.60). Lady Macbeth is also afraid of being condemned by God because of the sins she has committed, calling for “thick night” and the “smoke of hell,” to cover her evil deeds. In this day and age, audiences consider Banquo’s ghost to be a manifestation of Macbeths guilt, but during the era of the play ghosts were considered real, therefore it was seen that Banquo truly was back to haunt Macbeth as a consequence of his evil actions. The menacing vision of his once dearest friend pushes Macbeth over the edge, making him turn once again to the Witches. Every ‘fortune’ told by the “hags’ has a second truth to it, a constant theme throughout the play. The Witches first say “fair is foul, and foul is fair”, meaning not all is what it seems, and everything is a double-edged sword. The first prophecy of Macbeths future kingship is what sparks his “black and deep desires”, although it seems like a blessing at the time. The Witches constantly tempt and trick Macbeth, using his ambitions against him to influence him to create the chaos they desire. When told by the Witches “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.” Macbeth quickly assumes he is invincible and beyond human fatalities. This arrogance leads him to not see death or defeat coming.
While the Witches first put the idea into Macbeths mind, it is his wife Lady Macbeth who convinces him to take matters into his own hands and kill the King. Lady Macbeths ambitions surpass her husbands, and while he has great ambitions, she believes he “Thou wouldst be great / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it” (1.5). When Macbeth doubts his plan to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth manipulates him by insulting his manhood “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” (1.7.49-51). Towards the start of the play, they are shown as equals and in a strong partnership, a novelty in this time, with him referring to her as “my dearest partner in greatness”. As the play goes on, Lady Macbeth seems to be the more ruthless of the two, pressuring him into her plan. She asks spirits to “Unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’ effect and it!”. She wishes to go against her nature as a woman and take on the cruelty and brutality that men were supposed to possess. Macbeth is told to “Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.” by his wife. Lady Macbeth even claims “I have given suck, and know / How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me / I would, while it was smiling in my face / Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out / against a wall if I had sworn to do that the same way you have sworn to do this.” (1.7). She tells Macbeth that she is more of a man than he is, a great insult to him. However for all of Lady Macbeths talk of mercilessness and viciousness when given the opportunity to kill Duncan she refrains because “had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done ‘t” (2.2.11-14)., a weak excuse seeing as she declared she would kill her own baby in the right circumstances. She is also driven to madness by the guilt sleepwalking and ‘washing’ her hands muttering to herself “Out, damned spot”. The ‘blood on her hands’ does not wash away, representing her guilt from her part in the murder not remaining unaffected as she thought she would. This causes the relationship dynamic between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to shift. Macbeth no longer tells his wife of his plans, and Lady Macbeth is forced to be alone with her guilt, eventually leading to her taking her own life.
Macbeths transformation from honourable war hero to murderous, power-hungry king is a result of his fatal flaw, his grand ambitions, manipulations from his determined wife and the cunning lies of the Witches. Both the Witches and Lady Macbeth push Macbeth to be the villainous man he turns into. By the end of the story, Macbeth is no longer the hero and his death is not tragic, it is poetic justice.