Macbeth

MACBETH In the tragic drama Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the personality of Macbeth, a troubled Scottish king, transforms dramatically during the extent of the sixteenth century play. Macbeth’s attitude towards his friends, his wife and his actions drastically change as the play unravels and his thirst for domination grows. Each of the transformations will be analysed in the following paragraphs. Throughout the duration of the text, Macbeth’s love towards his wife slowly but steadily dissolves as he becomes more intent on having control over his country. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth’s affection for his wife is clearly apparent as he is very submissive towards her. Macbeth’s submissiveness towards Lady Macbeth plays a big role in the evaluation of this play, especially in the opening acts, when his love for her is so strong that she is able to persuade him to carry out the murder of King Duncan. The text furthermore refers to his love for Lady Macbeth as he addresses her as “My dearest love”[1] and “My dearest partner in greatness”. [2]However, as the drama progresses Macbeth’s love for Lady Macbeth begins to fade away. As soon as Macbeth becomes the king of Scotland he no longer asks for Lady Macbeth’s advice about the deeds he plans to assign, and with growing boldness believes that Lady Macbeth should be “innocent of the knowledge”.[3]He instructs the murder of Banquo as well as the murders of the Macduff family without consulting Lady Macbeth, gradually making it clearer that he does not really need her anymore. Eventually, Lady Macbeth becomes mentally unwell after absorbing the news of all of Macbeth’s assigned murders. Unsurprisingly Macbeth does not rush to her aid deciding that “(Macbeth will have) none of it”[4] and tells the doctors to “use some drug” [5]to cure her. Amazingly, after being informed of his wife’s death, Macbeth blatantly utters “there would have been a time for such thought”, expressing absolutely no concern for his dear loss. So, it is clear that Macbeth’s attitude towards his wife changes, his once strong love for her shrinks to a zero. Another transformation that occurred within Macbeth was in the attitudes towards his actions and deeds, mainly being the murders he was involved with. Macbeth starts out as an honourable man and the very thought of murdering innocent people “doth unfix [his] hair and make [his] seated heart knock at [his] ribs”.[6]However, still with plenty hesitation, Macbeth goes through with the murder of King Duncan. After completing this murder, Macbeth instantly regrets slaying his King and would “wake Duncan with thy knocking” [7]if only he could. Macbeth’s conscience tortures him, constantly informing him of the terrible deed he had committed. Nevertheless, as soon as Macbeth rises to power all his emotions and care regarding his actions change. Without hesitation, Macbeth terminates anyone who threatens him, even his own friends. Banquo and the Macduff family became unfortunate innocent victims of Macbeth’s careless slaughter, as Macbeth decides that “the very firstlings of (Macbeth’s) heart shall be the firstlings of (Macbeth’s) hand”. [8]So yet again the changes in Macbeth’s attitude are apparent, as his reactions change from anxious to careless regarding his murders. Finally, the last main change in Macbeth’s personality is his attitude towards his friends. Before Macbeth rises to power he gets along well with everyone, is respected and also is referred to as the king’s “worthiest cousin”.[9]Nonetheless, as Macbeth inherits the crown, he feels threatened by his once good friends, especially Banquo, for “[his] fear in Banquo sticks”. [10]Banquo had been alongside Macbeth when the witches proclaimed the prophecies of Macbeth becoming king, so he “fears (Macbeth) played most foully for‘t”.[11]Macduff, another of Macbeth’s friends, also does not trust the new king of Scotland, and states that “of horrid hell can come a devil more dammed in evil to top Macbeth”. [12]Macbeth however, interprets the views of his once named friends and kindly repays the favour by assassinating Banquo and butchering the family of Macduff. Undoubtedly, the evidence suggests that there was a negative and aggressive altering in the attitude Macbeth conducted towards his fellow comrades and the actions that Macbeth responds with clearly illustrate this change. So in conclusion, after observing the evidence displayed in the play, it is easy to identify the clear negative changes in Macbeth’s persona after he inherits the crown of Scotland. The transformations mainly involve the changes in his attitude towards Lady Macbeth, his friends and the reactions before and after his actions. ----------------------- [1] (Act 1, Scene 5) [2] (Act 1, scene 5) [3] (Act 3, scene 2)”. [4] (Act 5, scene 3) [5] (Acts 5, scene 3) (Act 5, scene 5)”, [6] (Act 1, scene3) [7] (Act 2, scene2) [8] (Act 4, scene 1) [9] (Act 1, scene 4) [10] deep (Act 3, scene 1)”. [11] (Act 3, scene 1)”. [12] (Act 4, scene 3)”.