At the start of the play, Macbeth is exhibited as being a brutal yet ruthless warrior, who is highly respected. The captains report announcing Macbeth and Banquo’s honorable, single-handed defeat of the Norwegian army is highly celebrated through the animalistic simile “as sparrows, eagles, or the hare, the “lion”, highlighting the courage and ruthlessness of Macbeth and Banquo as well as their unidentifiable fear towards the opposing army. The symbolism of the ‘lion’ displays the dominant prowess Macbeth produces on the battlefield reinforcing Macbeth’s level of power and capability of leadership. Additionally, being portrayed as ‘the king of the jungle’ conveys Macbeth as a character of high prestige and nobility, presenting him as a worthy leader from the very beginning of the play. Both the rabbit and sparrow are animals of prey, overtaken by the superior: Macbeth and Banquo with the lion and eagle. animals of hostile superiority introduces the idea of natural order, similar to the Great Chain of Being of the Jacobean era. Macbeth’s prestige on the battlefield is further complemented by the metaphor “Bellona’s bridegroom”, directly comparing Macbeth to the husband of the Goddess of War or the God of War itself. This enhances Macbeth’s military prowess and ruthlessness on the field. The repetitive plosive of the ‘B’ consonant suggests Macbeth’s agile movements on the battlefield, further reinforcing his ruthlessness and agility as well as his heroic figure. As Macbeth and Banquo courageously defeat the Norwegian army, Macbeth’s sword “smoked with bloody execution”, is a metaphor that displays that Macbeth was slaying opponents at such a rapid rate that his sword began to ‘smoke’ as if his ‘brandished steel’ itself was exhausted, and thus unable to keep up with Macbeth’s gory killing pace. The adjective ‘bloody’ symbolizes destruction and pain- this exaggerates Macbeth’s intense ruthlessness and high military prowess on the battlefield, that ultimately led him to the glorious victory that is greatly honored. Furthermore, the noun ‘execution’ further connotes punishment, implying that Macbeth carried about his spree with no mercy, acting fearlessly towards his opposition. Although Macbeth is presented as a courageous character, the audience is yet to find out about his Crescendo.
During Act 2, Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as being an increasingly mentally unstable character caused by the trauma and guilt of the crime he was manipulated into. Immediately following Macbeth’s regicide, Macbeth displays his guilt and remorse. Throughout macbeth guilt is symbolised as Blood as bloods stains, the same way as guilt stays in one’s head. Specifically duncan’s blood serves as the symbol of macbeth’s immense guilt proceeding the murder of king duncan. Macbeth questions, “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hands?”. This metaphor expresses that all of Neptune’s oceans water is unable to cleanse him, further reinforcing that macbeth is now plagued with a lifetime of immense guilt and that his conscience is now stained. The fact that macbeth is so distraught and distressed hints that he is still humane enough to endure rational and compassionate thoughts, demonstrating a declining character change. On the note of character change, Macbeth’s ironic statement, “this is a sorry sight,” immediately demonstrates macbeth’s false identity, which is later shown in act 5. This statement tricks the audience into believing Macbeth is becoming all the more sympathetic although he disguises his cruel and violent nature. Moreover, the alliteration of ‘s’ allows us to hear a snake like sound. Snakes are symbolically usually associated with slyness as well as danger and death, which perfectly fits how macbeth blamed the guards when he had executed duncan. In Act scene 2, Macbeth announces that he in most need of blessing although he can’t pronounce ‘Amen’. Not being able to say amen is inexplicable and an uncommon problem which not many people would have had, almost as if the witches or a supernatural force have plagued him. It could also present the idea of god watching. The killing of a father or king meant that directly going against god’s will which macbeth has done. Since God does not grant such acts it indicates that he has personally put the inability to speak on Macbeth.
Later on in act 3 and 4 Macbeth’s inner turmoil is publicly displayed through his violent outbursts ultimately leading to his downfall into tyranny and apathy.
This is best presented through the brutal murder of macduff’s and banquo’s family. Macbeth seems to be paranoid over the deeds he has committed. This is shown through his statement, “we have scorched the snake, not killed it.” This presents the idea that Macbeth is still being tormented by his guilt and causing him to lose faith in himself. This highlights that although the king is dead, Macbeth still feels as though there is a threat opposing his beloved crown, and that further action is required to eliminate all threats. Serpents represent the idea of slyness as well as poison and supernatural, further revealing that the witches may have been involved which causes the audience discomfort as witches were deeply condemned during shakespeare’s era. This could also be perceived as though the witches may be taking advantage of macbeth or tricking him, leading him towards his downfall. During act 3.4 macbeth publicly confronts his guests through the question, “which one of you have done this?” The fact that macbeth even questions his guest indicates that he certainly doesn’t believe that Banquo himself brought the ghost and neither did macbeth. This leaves macbeth with one option..the guests. This also connotes the idea of macbeth’s paranoia and trust issues with everyone. He feels as though everyone has a bad perception of him and that he is a target although the audience know Macbeth has brought this upon himself. Following the confrontation, it is clear that the guests, as well as lady macbeth, are all deeply uncomfortable. Lady macbeth questions macbeth’s masculinity and asks whether he is a man. By questioning his masculinity- “Are you a man?” Lady Macbeth reminds the audience of her words in Act 1 Scene 7, after Macbeth says “I dare do all that may become a man.” This belittles Macbeth even more, as femininity within a man and a masculine dominance within a woman is something that would’ve been looked down upon by an audience of the day. Shakespeare questions and undercuts gender stereotypes like this throughout the play, particularly since Macbeth is the less logical, more emotional, and dominant partner of the two, despite his privilege and status as a man, warrior, and leader.
In act 5, Shakespeare depicts Macbeth as a troubled character, suffering from anguish and despair. This is presented through Macbeth’s last soliloquy where he stated the three famous words… “tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow” the repetition of the word tomorrow begins to sound as if i child were repeating it without meaning thus linking to macbeth’s life where there is no meaning or reasoning behind his actions besides his own greed and ambition overwhelming him. Moreover, the whole soliloquy does mention the whole complex of time ie. today, yesterday, now etc. this could demonstrate how macbeth is reminiscing over the horrible deeds he has committed, this may be his last sign of remorse before he dies. On the note of hopelessness, Macbeth allows the audience to picture a sight of a hopeless actor on stage. The theatrical metaphor, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player…” reminds us of how macbeth is the actor and how the spotlight has shifted away from him. The word shadow could represent how macbeth was once in the bright light although he has now shifted away. Shadows are basiaclly a product of the light and object – this links to how the light may be the bad choices and the object being macbeths ambition. When these two items of destruction collide, it forms a shadow ie. macbeth. Finally, Macbeth states that life is a tale told by an idiot. We would think that after all Macbeth has gone through, he would have some hope left for god, as every other person has left him. Told by an idiot’ here could be a direct rejection of God. Normally, when all is lost and nothing has meaning, one would turn to God. Here, however, Macbeth is rejecting God also and even blaming him for all the misfortune to fall upon