Themes


capacity for evil. In Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth outlines a number of reasons not to kill Duncan: 


Macbeth is his subject and his kinsman (‘He’s here in double trust: / First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, / Strong both against the deed’).





Macbeth is his host (‘as his host, / Who should against his murderer shut the door, / Not bear the knife myself’).





Duncan is a good king (‘Duncan /…hath been / So clear in his great office, that his virtues /Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against / The deep damnation of his taking-off’).





All of Scotland shall mourn Duncan’s loss (‘And pity, …/ Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, / That tears shall drown the wind’).


Despite these moral objections Macbeth still carries out the murder, knowing that it is wrong.


What is most disquieting about his behaviour is that he consciously commits evil. The rest of Macbeth’s crimes (the murders of Banquo and Macduff’s family) all evolve from this evil decision. Shakespeare distinguishes between supernatural evil and humanity’s capacity for evil. Thewitches


are evil for evil’s sake. They gain nothing from their actions bar the sinister satisfaction of watching Macbeth’s life destroyed. This separates themfromthe human characters in the play who perpetrate evil. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are motivated by the power they hope to personally gain from their evil deeds. This distinction is furthered in that the human characters suffer severe psychological


consequences for their evil actions. Lady Macbeth privately expresses her doubts about killing Duncan: ‘‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy / Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy’ (Act 3, Sc 2). This is explored more fully in the sleepwalking scene where we see her trying to wash imaginary blood from her hand: ‘Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little / hand’ (Act 5, Sc 1). Her eventual suicide tragically illustrates the depth of her remorse. Macbeth too is burdened with the guilt of his evil actions. Immediately after killing Duncan, he


wishes that the knocking at the gate could revive the king: ‘Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!’ (Act 2, Sc 2). Macbeth’s guilt is dramatically presented by the spectacle of Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth is forced to physically confront the results of his evil actions and is appalled at what he sees: ‘Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes / Which thou dost glare with!’ (Act 3, Sc 4). Macbeth’s guilt eventually gives way to world-weariness. By the end of the play, life has lost all meaning for him. In a memorable soliloquy he compares life to a candle that will inevitably burn out and to a poor actor whose words are ultimately meaningless: ‘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, Sc 5)


Shakespeare’s rich psychological development of Macbeth’s central characters reveals the inevitable outcome of evil. LadyMacbeth’s prophetic statement: ‘These deedsmust not be thought / After these ways; so, it will make us mad’ (Act 2, Sc 2) seems fitting here. Macbeth concludeswith the triumph of good over evil. The celebration ofMalcolm’s impending


coronation and the vision ofMacbeth’s severed head all point to the predominance of good. Through his characters, Shakespeare reveals howhumanity has the capacity for both good and evil.Although evil is tempting, the burden of guilt and evil’s inability to defeat the forces of good affirm the moralising ending of Macbeth.


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Macbeth


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