Uma Breve Reflexão sobre Macbeth

SHAKESPEARE AND THE GROWTH OF EVIL
IN THE PLAY MACBETH

Marco Túlio de Urzêda Freitas

One of the most distinguished aspects of a work of Art is its capacity to imitate reality. In this perspective, when we go to a painter’s exhibition or simply stop to read a book we are somehow invited to reflect on our own existence and how it goes on in a world full of beauty and contradictions. It happens because as human beings we have lots of conflicts which come from our most intrinsic feelings. Regarding the case of Literature, besides all these characteristics, we have something else to consider, that is to say, its power to make its content be always in progress and as such likely to be recognized both as an intimate and collective truth. Naturally, it could not be different with Willian Shakespeare in his play Macbeth, defined by many readers as a deep analysis of the human dark side. Despite the several examples that could be pointed out to illustrate this assumption, this essay aims at discussing the growth of evil in the character Macbeth. In order to do so, it will concentrate on four moments of the story: Macbeth before meeting the three witches in the forest, his thoughts after having met these creatures, the way he is influenced by his wife (Lady Macbeth), and, finally, the way he becomes responsible for his own actions.

As it is stated by Elaine Pilkington, the character Macbeth is a range of contradictions, which, in turn, implies the ambiguity of human nature. For instance, referring to the first and second moments of the play suggested above, it can be seen that he is initially presented as a brave and honest soldier and then as a false and deceitful man. Before his meeting with the witches, people regarded him as a fighter who would do everything to defend his country from any kind of evil. However, the irony of this recognition relies on the fact that after he is told about his future Macbeth begins to gradually cultivate a kind ruthlessness inside himself. In other words, after finding out that he would become the Thane of Cawdor, he is turned into a person whose objectives are mostly focused on his own achievements. Opposed to what we might imagine, Macbeth firstly thinks of murdering Duncan sooner than meeting his wife, as we can see in following excerpt:

“[Macbeth] This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill; cannot be good. If ill? Why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. If good? Why do I yield to that suggestion, whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of Nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical shakes so my single state of man […]” (Act 1, Scene 3).

Although Macbeth begins to cultivate some thoughts totally divergent from his image at the very first moment of the play, he tries to avoid the decision to murder Duncan due to the difficulties imposed on someone who intends to break a taboo. The following passage can be quoted to illustrate this conjecture: “[Macbeth] But in these cases, we still have judgment here, that we but teach bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague th’ inventor” (Act 1, Scene 7). That is why his wife, to be precise, Lady Macbeth becomes an important character in this part of the story. After all, she will be the one to guide Macbeth to commit his first crime and for this reason to fail both as a fighter and a human being. As readers, what we can see is that little by little Lady Macbeth helps her husband accomplish his needs. Thus, unlike many people state, she does not make Macbeth execute Duncan simply because he was already conscious of the things he would have to do to get the crown. In a different way, she strongly influences Macbeth’s actions by giving him some support to put his plans into practice (let’s not forget that he thought of killing Duncan for the first time before meeting his wife): “[Lady Macbeth] What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were, you would be so much more than man” (Act 1, Scene 7).

In contrast to his wife, who sees Duncan’s murder as a step toward the accomplishment of their plans, Macbeth feels a deep remorse for having killed a man of great virtue. However, by means of Elaine Pilkington, despite this profound remorse, “he does nothing to right the wrong. His fear of earthly justice compels him to make more inhuman choices”. Actually, one of the most notable consequences of this episode is the fact that after having committed the crime against Duncan Macbeth seems to assume his ambition and as such his role of agent of evil. For instance, he tells some other murderers to execute Banquo and Fleance without thinking of ethics and morality only because he feels somehow threatened by them:

“[Macbeth] O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife: thou know’st, that Banquo and his Fleance lives. […] There shall be done a deed of dreadful note. […] Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful Day, and with thy bloody and invisible hand cancel and tear to pieces that great bond, which keeps me pale” (Act 3, Scene 2).

Another example of the growth of evil in the character Macbeth can be seen in his plans toward Macduff’s wife and children. Just like he did with Banquo and Fleance, he tells some people of his own to kill them without compassion: “The Castle of Macduff, I will surprise, Seize upon Fife: give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (Act 4, Scene 1).

To put it briefly, one of the greatest aspects of the play Macbeth is the growth of evil inside the title character. As it could be seen throughout this essay, firstly Macbeth is defined as a noble man given that he seems to fight for the good of his country. A short time later, after meeting the three witches in the forest, he begins to cultivate a huge feeling of ambition for they told him that he would become the Thane of Cawdor and soon the king of Scotland. Thus, with the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth starts to accept his own nature. Moreover, as a result of this acceptance, he assumes the consequences of everything he planned to succeed in life. According to Edilene Ferreira Ramos, this happens with the process of becoming a creature, to be precise, a kind of devil. In a few words, after having heard the predictions set by the witches, Macbeth turns himself into a being like them: a person (or creature) without feelings and eternally rooted in darkness.