‘Macbeth’, written by William Shakespeare in 1606 explores the ideas of the corrupting power of ambition as it follows the path of courageous Macbeth attempting to conquer Scotland, due to the influence of three witches. Driven by desire for leadership, the once honourable Macbeth and his wife embark on a murderous journey which sees their unequal relationship deteriorate. This decline is demonstrated through the themes of ambition, power and guilt. By the conclusion of the play, Shakespeare’s message to the audience is a caution about people that take the leap to glory must do so with care.
Shakespeare highlights the way in which ambition can lead individuals to act immorally and irrationally. Upon Macbeth hearing his future path prophesied by the witches, ‘all hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.’ (1.3.48), he informs his wife, who is quickly transformed by this opportunity, without hesitation. They, especially Lady Macbeth, are blood thirsty and have no fear of the concluding affect. Lady Macbeths blind desire for power is confirmed as she is eager to convince her husband return home to murder his King, and gain his crown, ‘Hie thee hither / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear.’ (1.5.24-25). Macbeth, a honoured soldier, who is admired by King Duncan is not accepting of his wife’s plan, ‘we will speak further – ‘ (1.6.70) The reward of becoming king has made the pairs vision quite narrow, openly accepting a path of destruction towards the Scottish Monarchy with the feeling of being invincible. Due to their narrow visions, it causes them to gradually lose grip and treat each other poorly. If instead of clashing, a solution to claiming the king’s crown would be to do everything right by the king and wait for his time to come. A point to make is that as stated before, the witches prophesied ‘all hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.’ (1.3.48), there was no time period mentioned with this statement so there was no need for the onslaught because his dream would have become true. He was already known as a precious soldier to Scotland and a dedicated leader and the people of Scotland would have valued his characteristics enough for him to fulfill the role following King Duncan.
The theme of power demonstrated throughout the play by Shakespeare provides evidence that it can overtake one’s emotions and affect their decisions. Lady Macbeth has a lot of control over Macbeth; the influence she has over Macbeth is that she has more “manly” qualities than Macbeth does. This is shown when Lady Macbeth uses her femininity to overrule her husband. ‘Come, you spirits. That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.’ (1.5.30), she indicates to him that she is female, yet acts more like a man than him despite the fact that she doesn’t want these female characteristics. She wants him to toughen up and start acting harder. Instead of combining their power, Lady Macbeth decides to control her husband. The key to her control is manipulation, on numerous occasions she uses manipulation to affect different situations causing negativity between the two. The main situation involving manipulation is referring back to the killing of Duncan. As she finds out in a letter from Macbeth about the prophecies of the witches, the controlling aspect becomes powerful. She is adamant that Macbeth will kill Duncan and make arrangements for this case immediately. Therefore the situation makes it difficult for Macbeth to take responsibility for this case.
Guilt was a concluding theme implemented by Shakespeare showing the reflection on specific events that could have been approached differently to secure the relationship between Macbeth and his wife. Guilt is shown by a repeated image of blood. The blood on Macbeth’s palms following Duncan’s murder is indeed true and a sign for his guilt: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood, clean from my hand?”(2.2.58–59). Another form of blood is represented when Lady Macbeth says, “Here’s the smell of the blood, still, all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”(5.1.44-45). It indicates that the hands of Lady Macbeth have blood traces on both of them and just the greatest fragrances won’t cure her of the smell. This bleeding is also from the murders she’s been involved in, so it reveals guilt can’t be easily gotten rid of, yet it will remain on her for a long time.
“Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is a story that demonstrates the change of relationship between Macbeth and his wife through the themes of ambition, power and guilt. There is a key moral to this story regarding relationships. Stick by the people you are surrounded by because they will help make your path, not break it.