        THEMES IN MACBETH                            
                                                             (1)  
                                                                  
                                                      
   Macbeth was written while when Scotland lacked a good 

Leader to defend it from a Norwasian invasion. During this 

dangerous situation, Macbeth stood out as the most commanding 

figure by defeating the rebel army. His thrill towards the witches'

prophecies all confirmed his hopes of becoming the King and 

replacing King Duncan, who lacked the power and courage to save his

country from this invasion. 

   In this essay, I will discuss Macbeth during the many 

experiences that he had faced and come across and I will show how 

these experiences and pressures that he faced helped with the 

conclusion and theme of the play which yet has to be understood.


   The first signs that tell us of Macbeth's thoughts of becoming 

King were found when the King proclaimed his son, Malcolm, the heir

to the Scottish throne, and Macbeth considered murder to overcome 

this obstacle that would prevent him from becoming the King.

     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.
                            (Act 1:Scene 4:ln.55)

   When Lady Macbeth heard of her husband's success and read the 

letter, we almost immediately feel that a new source of power had 

appared in the drama. Her words reflected a great knowledge of her 

husband and her practical approach to problems as seen in the 

following two verses.
                                                             (2)
                                                      
     Glacis thou art, and Cowdor, and shalt be           
     What thou are promised. 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 though wouldst highly,
     That wouldst though holily;wouldst not play false
     And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'ldst have, great
         Glacis
     That which cries"Thus though must do,"if though have it;
     And that which rather thou dost fear to do
     Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
     That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
     And chastise with the valor of my tongue
     All that impedes thee from the golden round
     Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
     To have thee crowned withal.       
                             (Act 1:Scene 5:ln.14

     O, never
     Shall sun that morrow see!
     Your face, my thane, is a book where men
     May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
     Look like the time;bear welcome in your eye,
     Your hand, your tongue, look like the innocent flower,
     But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
     Must he provide for; and you shall put
     This night's great business into my dispatches,
     Which shall to all our nights and days to come,
     Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
                              (Act 1:Scene 6:ln.68)

   Driven to murder King Duncan, Macbeth's conscience first 

appeared when he was not present to greet the King upon his arrival

at the castle. This showed the lack of courage that Macbeth had to 

face his victim.

     If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
     It were done quickly. If the assassination 
     Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
     With his surcease, success, that but this blow
     Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
     But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
     We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
     We still have judgment here, that we  but teach
     Bloody instructions, which being taught, return
     To plague the inventor..........................
                              (Act 1:Scene 7:ln 1)

                                                             (3)

   This verse stressed Macbeth's fears of punishment. He cleared 

out that he was prepared to suffer eternity if only this crime 

would go unpunished. He recognized certain obstacles in killing the

King, the first and most important being was that the King was his 

guest. He also saw some dangers of committing the crime and 

understood it consequences well.


   When Macbeth tried to resist the temptation, his wife was the 

one that insisted on him to consent the murder.

     What beast was't then 
     that made you brake this enterprise to me?
     When you drust do it, then you were a man;
     And to be more than what you were, you would
     Be so much more than man. Nor time nor place]
     Did then adhere, and yet you would make both.
     They have made themselves, and that their fitness know
     How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me.
     I would, while it was smiling in my face,
     Have plucked my nipples from his boneless  gums
     And  dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
     Have done to this.
                                    (Act 1:Scene 7:ln. 68)

She accused Macbeth of cowardness and later assures him that the 

crime will go undetected when she outlined it's details. In 

Act2:Scene 1:ln.72, we know that the crime will happen when Macbeth

says:

     I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.
     Hear it not Duncan, for it is a knell
     That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

   Following the crime, we get the impression that Macbeth was 

horrified by what he had done. It seems that he had gone through 

some sort of "mental collapse" due to the haunted visions of guilt 

and punishment that he experienced. 

"There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried
                                                             (4)

"Murder!"" (Act 2: Scene 2:ln.32)


                                                            
"Glacis hath murdered sleep, and therefor Cowdor
Shall sleep no more! Macbeth shall sleep no more!"
                          (Act 2:Scene 2:ln.57)

   Having begun a career of evil, Macbeth felt that the only way to

remain in power was by going on and committing other crimes. He had

started plotting his own course of murder. His behaviours are all 

based on fear which had arose from insecurity. It was not possible 

for him to turn back because he had reached the "point of no 

return."
(Coles Notes.)

   When Macbeth spoke of his fears from Bunquo, we immediately know

that the next murder will target on the later.

     To be thus is nothing
     But to be safely thus. Our fears in Bunquo
     Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
     Reigns that which would be feared. 'Tis much he dares,
     And to that dauntless temper of his mind
     He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor
     To act in safety. There is none but he
     Whose being I do fear.....................
                              (Act 3:Scene 1:Ln.52)

Macbeth next hired two murderers to murder Bunquo, and convinced 

them to commit the crime  saying that it was he who had prevented 

them from rising in this world. He attacked their courage and used 

his wife's philosophy to regain their confidence  assuring them 

that everything will go  fine.


     I will advice you were to plant yourselves,
     Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
     The moment on't;for't must be done tonight,
     And something from the palace(always thought
     That I require a clearness), and with him,
     To leave no rubs nor botches in the work,
                                                       (5)

     Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
     Whose absence is no less material to me
     Than his father's, must embrace the fate
     Of the dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart;
     I'll come to you anon.  (Act 3:Scene 1: Ln.144)

                                                          

   The murder had gone undetected but not for long. During the 

party that Macbeth made, the ghost of Bunquo appeared twice to him.

In the first time, it looked disapprovingly at him and allowed him 

to regain his confidence but finally made him speak of his terrors 

of the Assembled Lords which confirmed whatever suspense they had 

of him.

     Thanks for that!
     There the grown serpent lies;the worm that's fled
     Hath nature that in time will venom breed,
     No teeth for the present. Get thee gone. Tomorrow
     we'll hear ourselves again.
                                   (Act 3:Scene 3:Ln.35)

   The guilt of Macbeth is again revealed during this scene when he

spoke his last two verses.

     I hear it by the way;but I will send.
     There's not a one of them, but in this house
     I keep a servant feed. I will tomorrow
     (And betimes I will) to the weird Sisters
     More shall they speak; for know I am bent to know
     By the worst means the worst. For mine own good
     All causes shall give way. I am in blood
     Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
     Returning were as tedious as go o'er
     Strange things I have to head, that will to hand,
     Which must be acted ere they may be scanned.
                                   (Act 3:Scene 4:Ln.162)

     Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse
     Is the initiate fear that wants hard use.
     We are yet but young indeed.
                              (Act 3:Scene 4:Ln.174)

These two verses all reflected the suspense that Macbeth had forhis

noblemen and the suggestion of still worse crimes that would 
                                                             (6)

follow.

   When Macduff defied Macbeth and went to England, Macbeth's fears

drove him to give up himself to the forces of evil and demanded"to 

know,by the worst means,the worst." He knew that he had nothing to 

loose since everyone was suspicious of him. For this reason, when 

the armed head warned Macbeth of Macduff, he went and killed his 

family and servants one by one. The first two crimes were all 

carried out at night. In the third one, Macbeth made no effort to 

conceal it but boldly carried it out during the daylight.

   Macbeth's honest and heroic character had been replaced by a man

who's moods always changed, one who feared the hidden truth and one

who hardly knew his mind. We pity this man for the situation he had

brought on himself.



   "What makes a true man is a theme that runs throughout Macbeth"
                                             (Coles Notes.) 
According to his wife life, a true man is one who sets great goals 

for himself and will do anything to achieve them. "The true man 

towers above ordinary men," says Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is full of 
  (Coles Notes.)

ambition but has too much"o' the milk of human kindness." that 

makes up the ordinary man. He likes to achieve his goals " holily" 

like a saint unacquainted with  practical affairs. 


   It is by this appeal that Macbeth is driven to commit the 

murders and convince the murderers to kill Bunquo. "A true man will

respond to injuries by taking a bloody revenge!" says Macbeth.
                       (Coles Notes.)          
   The irony is that by doing what he had done, Macbeth's guilt 

                                                             (7)

followed him where ever he went and made him loose all his 

feelings. By the end of the play, Macbeth lost all his feelings . 

He reached the point where he had no taste of fear and the death of

his wife did not bother him which he dismisses by saying that she 

had to die someday and somehow.

     The time has been, my senses would have cooled
     To hear a night shriek, and my fell of hair
     Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
     As life were in't. I have supped full with horrors.
     Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
     Cannot once start me.
                                   (Act 5:Scene 5:Ln.11)

     She could have died hereafter;
     There would have been a time for such a word.
     Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
     Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
     To the last syllable of recorded time;
     And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
     The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
     Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player.
     That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
     And then is heard no more. It is a tale
     Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
     Signifying nothing.
                              (Act 5:Scene 5:Ln.19)

   All in all, I think that by  using the characteristics of 

Macbeth, Shakespeare succeeded in relating him to many people today 

because his qualities are naturally part of human nature. Macbeth 

had lived a life full of ups and downs, just like many of us, but 

in his opinion, he had not accomplished anything.

     Seyton-I am sick at heart,
     When I behold-Seyton, I say!-This push
     Will cheer me ever, or disseat me know.
     I have lived long enough. My way of life
     Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf;
     And that which should accompany old age,
     As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
     I must not look to have;but, in their stead,
     Curses not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
     Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
                                                             (8)

     Seyton!        
                         (Act 5: Scene 4:Ln.48)

                                                            
 All men are born good but just like Macbeth, people have the 

power to become evil, only when they become aware of it.It was and 

is always not easy to see a great man turn from good to evil. We 

admire Macbeth's courage, as he, with his wife dead and world 

collapsing, resolved to fight to the end and "die with harness on 

his back."

   Not all men are as heroic, after all !
   
























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