The
audience learns in act 1, scene 2 of 's tragic play thatis a decisive,
courageous, strong-willed, and ruthless warrior of heroic stature.
SERGEANT. For brave Macbethwell he deserves that name
Disdaining fortune, with
his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valor's minion
carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave,
Which ne'er shook hands, nor
bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And
fix'd his head upon our battlements. (1.2.18€“25)
Macbeth
has almost single-handedly won a battle against an overwhelming invading force from Norway, and
he's secured a victory for Kingand for Scotland.
In act 1, scene 3, the
audience gets a glimpse of another aspect of Macbeth's character. Three witches prophesize that
Macbeth will be made Thane of Cawdor, and that Macbeth will soon be king.
FIRST WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of
Glamis!SECOND WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of
Cawdor!THIRD WITCH. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!
(1.3.50€“53)
Angus andcome to tell Macbeth that King
Duncan has awarded him the title and property of the Thane of Cawdor. This seems to give
credibility to the prophecies and stirs up some suppressed ambitions in Macbeth.
Until now, Macbeth has appeared absolutely loyal to Duncan. The audience realizes,
however, that Macbeth has thought about being king before. Perhaps he's even thought about
killing Duncan and usurping his throne.
MACBETH. This
supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it
given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
If
good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my
hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature?
Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet
is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is
smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not. (1.3.141€“153)
Macbeth's ambitions towards the throne become even more apparent
when Duncan names his son, , Prince of Cumberland and selects him as his successor.
MACBETH. The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which
I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your
fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand;
yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. (1.4.55€“60)
In act 1, scene 5, Macbeth appears to agree withto kill Duncan, but
after further consideration, he changes his mind.
MACBETH.
We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honor'd me of late, and I have
bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in
their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon. (1.7.34€“38)
His reasoning is rational and understandable, but his vacillation seems
uncharacteristic of the decisive warrior Macbeth appeared to be.
Macbeth's
further conversations with Lady Macbeth reveal other unexpected aspects of his
character.
Macbeth allows himself to be cajoled, insulted, and bullied by
Lady Macbeth.
LADY MACBETH. Was the hope
drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself?...Art thou afeard
To
be the same in thine own act and valor
As thou art in desire?...
What beast was't then
That made you break this enterprise to me?
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. (1.7.39€“57)
Macbeth is indecisive and fearful.
MACBETH. I
dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
[...]
If we should fail? (1.7.51€“52, 66)
Lady Macbeth told the audience long ago, however, that this was
Macbeth's true nature.
LADY MACBETH. Yet do I fear thy
nature;
It is too full o the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.
Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness
should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play
false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. (1.5.14€“20)
In time, all of Macbeth's strengths dissipate, are squandered, or transform into
weaknesses. His decisiveness fails him when he's faced with Lady Macbeth's constant manipulation
of his vulnerabilities and emotions. His ambition negates his courage and his valor. His murder
of Duncan unnerves him.
His ruthlessness still exists, but he uses it solely
for evil in killing Duncan and ordering the deaths of , , and 's family to maintain his wrongful
place on the throne.
Guilt and despair ultimately overwhelm him. After Lady
Macbeth's death he doesn't really care what happens to him.
Macbeth's
fearlessness abandons him in the presence of Banquo's ghost, and his strength of will vanishes
entirely when Birnam Wood moves toward Dunsinane and he comes face to face with Macduff, a man
who is "none of woman born."
MACBETH. Accursed
be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And
be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double
sense,
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope.
I'll not fight with thee. (5.8.21€“26)
For a brief
moment, however, Macbeth gives the audience a brief reminder of his former heroic
self.
MACBETH. I will not yield,
To kiss the
ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's
curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no
woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield!
Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough!
(5.8.32€“39)
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