How does Macbeth change over the course of the play?
'Macbeth' was written by William Shakespeare, between the years of 1604 and 1606. Macbeth had to be written as result of a command to be one of the plays that would be performed in front of King James I and the King of Denmark. The play was also performed to gain approval from the new king. This genre appealed to the king and was really popular at that time. In fact, King James wrote a book on the supernatural called Demonology. Shakespeare based his play on the actual king in the Eleventh Century, Mac Bethad Mac Findlaich, which translated into English as Macbeth. Macbeth was one of the generals in the army of Duncan I .In August 1040 Macbeth killed Duncan to become king. In real life, Duncan wasn't actually a good king, which made him and the Duncan from Macbeth very different as the Duncan in Macbeth is a great king and very successful. When Macbeth became king he was in reign for 17 years, even though in the play his reign is very short. He was then killed by Malcolm, who was Duncan's son. Macbeth is taken from the book 'Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland' which was written in 1587 by Raphael Holinshed. Shakespeare's version of Macbeth doesn't have many similarities as the story from the Chronicles by Holinshed and its very likely that the real Macbeth was completely different to the one from the play.
By examining William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" I will show how Macbeth changes over the course of the play. To do this I will investigate how William Shakespeare uses characters, stagecraft and Language and how he incorporates them in "Macbeth".
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, throughout the course of the play Macbeth is portrayed in various different ways. The playwright makes Macbeth go through every high and low. We first meet Macbeth with Banquo when they have just come from battle fighting against the Norwegians for Duncan. In (Act 1.3) this is the pivotal moment when Macbeth meets the witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he shall be Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland and that Banquo won't be king but his descendants will be. When Macbeth finds out that he becomes Thane of Cawdor he actually starts believing in the witches' prophecies and thinks that it will all be true, this is when his mind set changes and starts getting the hunger for more power. Also, Macbeth is portrayed as an honourable person by most of his friends. Duncan regards him as being an excellent warrior and even better man. Macbeth is also a general for Duncan, "The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself." (Act 1.4) In that quotation it demonstrates nobility and it shows he's a great hero. "For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name" (Act 1.3). In that piece of text its shows how Macbeth is perceived by other characters, in this case the Sergeant and he says how brave Macbeth is so it shows that most people had a lot of respect for him.
Lady Macbeth, the wife of Macbeth, receives a letter sent from Macbeth telling her all about his new title of Thane of Cawdor and the prophecies of the witches. When Lady Macbeth hears about this and that Duncan will be visiting their castle she thinks this is a great time to seize the opportunity to kill Duncan. When Macbeth comes back Lady Macbeth tells him that he has to kill Duncan, however she thinks Macbeth hasn't got the will power to do it and is too kind: "you are too full of the milk of human kindness" (Act 1.5) this .When Duncan arrives at the castle, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plot how they should murder Duncan. When they finally agreed that they should kill Duncan Macbeth starts to get cold feet and he is not sure whether he should follow out the plans because of the consequences that this could lead to and if he was found guilty. "We will proceed no further in this business: He hath honoured me of late" (Act1.6).This quotation shows that he didn't want to do this as Duncan was good friend to him. Macbeth then plucks up the courage due to the strong words from Lady Macbeth. "I have no spur to prick the sides of intent, but only Vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself". At this point he's talking to Banquo about one of the witches' predictions coming true. In Roman Polanski's screenplay Macbeth starts hallucinating and sees a dagger covered in blood leading the way to Duncan's room. The dagger symbolises the journey that he is about to embark on, full of murder and deceit. When he sees the dagger in front of him he follows it all the way to a chamber. At this moment he is in a strange mindset as he is hallucinating, this is when he changes into a murderer when he grabs the dagger and then kills Duncan. After this Macbeth is fairly anxious and starts getting a guilty conscious: "Methought I heard a voice cry, sleep no more Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep". In that quotation Macbeth shows that his conscious has changed from before when he was honourable hero to a guilty killer and has lost his grip on reality. Also, after he has killed Duncan the atmosphere changes as the horses start eating each other and the weather changes and lightning strikes, which is a sign that there is going to be a storm coming which could symbolise Macbeth's insanity.
Macbeth had become king because Malcolm and Donaldbain fleeing the country who were Duncan's sons. Macbeth had realised that all of the prophecies have come true so far and one of the prophecies predicted that all the descendants of Banquo shall be king so Macbeth has to kill him and doesn't mind as long as he will be king "with barefaced power sweep him from my sights" (Act3.1). So he plots the murder of Banquo, who was one of his best friends and his son Fleance with the murders. Macbeth tells the murderers that Banquo was their enemy. After the deed is done the murderers tell Macbeth that Banquo is dead but Fleance isn't. But at the Banquet he starts hallucinating again and sees Banquos ghost who is sitting in Macbeths seat and goes hysterical and nearly gives away that he killed Banquo as he starts talking to the ghost. He meets the witches again and they tell him beware of Macduff, that no man born from a woman can harm him and until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsaine Hill he can't be beaten. Here Macbeth has turned into a deranged killer and is power thirsty as he also kills Macduff's family as they went to England without telling Macbeth and because of the three Apparitions from the witches which said to beware of Macduff and kills all of his family except for Macduff because he escapes.
At the end of the play he turns into a lonely man as his wife has died and Macbeth talks about how life isn't worth living "There would have been time for such a word. To-morrow, and To-morrow, and To-morrow" (Act5.5) .In this scene Macbeth shows he is a lonely man as doesn't know what he will do without his wife as in the text it Macbeth says "To-morrow" in a repetition as he doesn't know how can survive a day without his queen .
Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare, however many directors created it into a film, for example Roman Polanski who changed a few scenes for effect like showing the death of Duncan. In Polanski's version of Macbeth he decided to put the murder of Duncan in and the dagger scene. During the dagger scene every time Macbeth tries to touch the dagger it disappears, when Duncan is murdered the way it is done it shows the bloodlust in Macbeth and helps you to understand the character a lot better as you tell at that moment he is on the verge of turning into a derailed killer . Polanski also decides to show us the ghost of Banquo but includes the decapitation of him which is very effective as it shows the audience the reaction from Macbeth.
Performance and Language also plays a big part in Macbeth as it has a big effect on the audience or the reader. A soliloquy is used to enhance the performance and involve the reader and gives them an insight in the character. For example, when Macbeth is about to kill Duncan "Is this dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee: - I have thee not, and yet I see thee still". Macbeth is thinking this but Shakespeare makes his thoughts heard. Also in the play Shakespeare uses mainly blank verses and changes the pace and the rhythm and word order of Macbeth so when it is performed it flows. Dramatic irony is also used in Macbeth. This is when the audience knows more than the characters which makes the audience more engaged .An example of this is "clamour'd the livelong night some say, the earth was feverous and did shake." "Twas a rough night" (Act 2.3) this is an example of dramatic irony because Lennox is talking about the weather. However, this is the day after Duncan is dead so Macbeth is talking about the fact that he killed Macbeth but as Lennox doesn't know that and the crowd does that is an great example of dramatic irony."This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses". This also uses dramatic irony as Duncan says the air is nimbly and sweet but the audience know that Macbeth is going to kill Duncan.
Shakespeare uses language and Imagery very well in Macbeth and is effective. In Macbeth he changes around the word order "Was the hope drunk Wherein you dressed yourself?"(Act 1.7) in this quotation he puts the emphasis on drunk which makes it much more noticeable as it's an important word in context and varies the lengths of sentences .
In Macbeth William Shakespeare uses various devices to improve the performance like the use of dramatic irony and soliloquies and stagecraft. In my opinion I disagree that Macbeth is truly evil because he was driven to be truly evil, at first he was honourable man whose hunger for power was just too much, but it wasn't just his desire he fulfilled as he had to fulfil the ambition of Lady Macbeth. In Macbeth there are many themes like things that are unnatural are seen as bad like when the horses were eating each other and are, and some things are bad because of religious reasons a example of this is when Macbeth Kills Duncan who is a good man. During Elizabethan times, people blamed the unexplainable events on the work of witches. During this era there was a limited medical knowledge or facilities so tragedies were often blamed on women.
To conclude, throughout the play Macbeth changes first from a respectable general to a guilty conscious murder the into a derailed killer then to lonely man without a purpose in life. Stage craft and performance also contributes to a clearer understanding of Macbeth.
Kurandeep Sidhu
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