Macbeth Essay, Research Paper

Show how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to go against their own natures in order

to kill Duncan. Each character in Macbeth has to either fight or give in to the

evil. Because evil is contrary to human nature, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to

go against their own conscience in order to murder Duncan. When the witches

predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and later, King of Scotland, he

is stunned to silence by their prophecies. When murder enters Macbeths mind he

is frightened by his thoughts. He tries to reject his impulse, declaring that he

will leave everything to chance: ? If chance will have me King, why, chance

may crown me Without my stir.? Very soon he begins to confess a

?suggestion? of ?horrible imaginings?. Soon after, he admits to

possessing ?black and deep desires? but he is afraid to speak about them

openly, even to himself. Later on he indites a letter to Lady Macbeth containing

conjecture about the prophecies of the three witches. She immediately wants to

take fate into her own hands. She begs the evil spirits to tear all human

feelings from her, for she knows that she will have to urge her husband, Macbeth,

to become King by murdering Duncan. She will have to give up all the gentle,

tender qualities of a woman, so that she can become a sexless, pitiless demon.

She has to make her husband ignore his own conscience. She declares: ? Thou

wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should

attend it.? By ?illness? she means ?evil?. Macbeth seizes evil, as one

might catch a disease. When Macbeth has the opportunity to think about his

wife?s suggestions and about his desires to become King, he becomes aware of

the duty that he owes to Duncan, his loyal King. Following a great battle with

himself, Macbeth decides not to go through with the murder. He states to Lady

Macbeth: ? We will proceed no further in this business.? Macbeth is not

prepared for all her wrath and abuse. She calls him a coward. When in reality it

is not cowardice that restrains Macbeth, it is his conscience. She also insults

his masculinity, and declares that she would have murdered her child while it

was feeding at her breast, rather than break such a promise as Macbeth had done.

Persuaded by her conviction, he yields to her, and in order to prove himself a

man in her eyes, goes against his own nature and agrees to the murder of King

Duncan.. The night of the murder Macbeth is very troubled; he is living a

nightmare. Lady Macbeth is as tense as he husband, and she has been drinking to

give herself courage. As Macbeth walks to Duncan?s chambers, his imagination

creates a dagger floating in the air. At first he is alarmed by the dagger,

later he seems to enjoy the horror of the moment. After the murder of Duncan,

Macbeth is horrified to think of what he has done. Lady Macbeth, on the other

hand, is bold and confident, because she does not understand that the deed is

morally wrong; her only concern at the time is to destroy the evidence. Macbeth

awakens to a consciousness of guilt that will remain with him until his death.

Trace the effect the betrayal of human nature has on each of them. Following the

murder of Duncan the Macbeths appear to have achieved their hearts desire; in

reality, they only gain torment and dismay. When Macbeth takes the crown by

murder he upsets the natural order of his life. He becomes a cruel and unjust

ruler and is always conscious of guilt. Macbeth brings chaos to Scotland,

breaking up the balance of a well-ordered country, just as he breaks up the

state banquet ?with most admir?d disorder?, claiming to have seen the

Ghost of Banquo. Soon after the murder of Banquo, Macbeth begins to grasp an

unreality about his life, but that does not seem to change his conduct.

Macbeth?s cruelty in action is shown when Lady Macduff and her son are

brutally slaughtered. When he planned to kill Banquo?s son, Fleance, he could

acquit the murder to himself by referring to the prophecy that Banquo?s

children should be kings. But he is in no danger from Lady Macduff or her son;

the crime is more loathsome because it is motiveless. At the beginning of the

play Lady Macbeth prayed that she should know ?no compunctious visitings of

nature? that might prevent her from murdering Duncan. Now she walks in her

sleep, and her mind constantly re-lives the night of the murder. On that night

she declared confidently that ?a little water clears us of this deed?, but

now she knows that ?all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little

hand?. Fear and guilt drive her mad, soon she kills herself. By the end of the

play Macbeth sees life as an empty, meaningless sham. He feels old and lonely:

? My way of life Is fall?n 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.? When he finds out that Lady Macbeth killed herself ?by

self and violent hands? he states: ? She should have died hereafter; There

would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this pretty 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.? At the end of the play,

as the soldiers move closer to Dunsinane, Macbeth does not respond with

excitement. He has lost the ability to feel fear or, as we see when he hears of

his wife?s death, grief. Macbeth chooses to die in battle. Macduff challenges

him, but he is reluctant to fight: ? Of all men else I have avoided thee: But

get thee back, my soul is too much charg?d With blood of thine already.?

Macduff has a vengence against him for the brutal murder of his family, so he

has no choice but to kill him. How does the play portray evil as a perversion of

human nature? In Macbeth, Shakespeare tries to show us that human nature cannot

be avoided, for evil is a perversion of human nature. Before Duncans murder,

things in the Macbeth household seemed very ?normal? and good-natured.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seemed to have a blissful and healthy marriage, they

were very happy together, trusting each other with their intimate thoughts and

feelings. Lady Macbeth was a very strong woman. She was very loyal to her

husband and would do anything to make him happy. Lady Macbeth was also very

manipulative and persuasive at times. It was because of her encouragement that

Macbeth decides to murder Duncan, his good-hearted King. Because of her ambition

for her husband, she used all her strength and intelligence for evil purposes.

Macbeth was a mighty and ambitious leader of Duncan?s army. Things were going

well for him, especially after the battle against Macdonwald and his band of

rebels; and then against the Norwegians and the Scottish traitor. He was later

named Thane of Cawdor for his bravery and loyalty to Duncan. When he hears the

witches? predictions that he will be King, they sound like great news;

actually they lead to death and destruction. For, his desire to become King, he

is willing to turn his back on what he knows to be right. Macbeth and Lady

Macbeth truly believe that by killing Duncan they would attain their hearts

desire, but once Macbeth kills Duncan, he is committed to a course of lying and

killing. He will do anything to keep his title as King of Scotland. His sense of

right and wrong has disintegrated and he seems to be living a nightmare. Macbeth

throws all ideas of honor out the window. Once he has done that, nobody knows in

whom they can trust. His entire alliance with Lady Macbeth is shattered. He does

not tell her about the murder of Banquo or ask her for her notion on the matter.

Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is suffering from nightmares. In her

sleepwalking she refers to incidents that happened during the night of the

murder: ? Out damned spot! Out, I say! One; two. Why then ?tis time to do

?t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear

who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have

thought the old man to have so much blood in him?? It is as if she is

re-living that horrible night over, and over again. After the night of the

murder she ?slept no more?. Because of her lack of rest and her guilty

conscience she decided that she could no longer go on living, she kills herself.

Macbeth does not go down without a fight. Edward the Confessor?s army is

attacking him, yet he puts on his armour and goes out to join in the battle.

Macbeth is at last forced to confront Macduff, who cuts off his head and brings

it to the rightful King, Malcolm. At last order has been reinstated to Scotland,

and affairs will once again be controlled ?in measure, time, and place?. In

Shakespeare?s Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?s downfalls are caused by

their betrayal of human nature. They both try to ignore their own consciences,

which leads to unfortunate mishaps on both of their parts. After the brutal

murder of Duncan, everything changes. Lady Macbeth feels guilty, and suffers

from nightmares relating to the incident, which lead to her suicide. Macbeth, on

the other hand, is forced to a course of killing and lying. His sense of right

and wrong ceases to exist. He does not give up easily, though. He fights just

until his death, which is brought on by Macduff. Even before he is killed,

Macbeth is dying of a diseased spirit.