Shakespeare, William - Macbeth

Macbeth

Is Macbeth really guilty in the story of the famous tragedy by William Shakespeare? Does he even regret what he did? “Eventually you’ll end up where you need to be, with who you’re meant to be with, and doing what you should be doing.”: one of the best quotes about fate and destiny… maybe Macbeth was supposed his whole life to kill another king… “Macbeth” is a tragedy by William Shakespeare published in 1623, the story is set in Scotland and England. The brave Scottish general Macbeth received a prophecy from a trio of witches about him that one day he will become king of Scotland. He then starts being consumed by ambition and he is persuaded by his wife, so he ends up killing King Duncan and taking the Scottish throne for himself, but right after he’s overwhelmed by guilt and paranoia. He soon becomes a tyrannical ruler because he is forced to commit more and more crimes and murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, this and consequent civil war slowly takes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the deepest madness and death. I personally think that this huge tragedy poem by one of the main and most important writers of English literature of all the times has a lot of different themes that are treated and can be analyzed. Probably between all of these, we can definitely say that the concept of guilt is one of them; meaning by the fact of having committed a specified offense or crime. This is also very strictly related to the theme of remorse; the deep regret of guilt for a wrong committed. Lastly, another topic which has been treated since the very beginning when the trio of witches stated their prophecy is fate and destiny.

“Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt.” As Plautus said; one of the main and most important philosophers of all the times. The poem of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, has a lot of different themes. Between all these themes we can say that the concept of guilt is probably one of the main and the most important. Guilt is a huge and deep feeling that comes right after having committed a crime or just something that we feel is not alright or has hurt someone else. We can find this point in many scenes. First of all, in the famous soliloquy from the protagonist Macbeth, where he hallucinates a bloody dagger, one of many supernatural parts before and after he murders King Duncan. Macbeth is so consumed by guilt that he's not even sure what's real: “Is this a 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. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (act 2, scene 1, 33-39) Macbeth speaks this line when he encounters his wife right after murdering Duncan. He refers to both the literal blood on his hand but also to his sense of guilt. He uses dramatic language to imply that the consequences of his action will not be easily hidden, even though his wife implies that blood can be simply washed away. He will forever be a changed man as a result of what he has done. Then, we can see another example when the protagonist Macbeth speaks when Banquo’s ghost appears to him at the banquet. Macbeth’s vision of the ghost reveals his guilt over ordering the murder of Banquo and his young son. His sense of guilt is so powerful that he loses his sense of reality and cannot be sure whether he is having a vision or not. He speaks these lines in order to try and reassure himself that Banquo is truly dead. In doing so, Macbeth reveals that his tormented consciousness is leading him to start losing his control on his mental health and sanity. Then, of course, later in the play where Lady Macbeth tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands. Here, she will also hallucinate that she has blood on her hands and is unable to get them clean, symbolizing her sense of guilt.

As she laments her role in the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Lady Macduff. This is the beginning of the descent into madness that ultimately leads Lady Macbeth to take her own life, as she cannot recover from her feelings of guilt: “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 had so much blood in him?” (act 5, scene 1, 38-43) Lady Macbeth speaks these lines after she has gone mad. They are the final words she screams in the play, and they reveal how guilt has crashed and demolished her strong and brave personality. She now has to be cared for like a child, and has no plans for the future. No matter how much she repents, the violence and death cannot be undone. The guilt Macbeth feels softens the character, which allows him to appear at least slightly sympathetic to the audience. His exclamations of guilt before and after he murders Duncan stay with him throughout the play, and provide some of its most memorable scenes. They're ambitious, but it's their guilt and remorse which are the undoing of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At the start of the play, the character is described as a hero, and Shakespeare persuades us that the qualities which made Macbeth heroic are still present, even in the king's darkest moments. Very strictly related to the first theme of guilt, we have to say something about remorse as well. This concept is correlated to the theme of guilt because remorse is something that comes right after the feeling of guilt. We can find this point in many scenes. Macbeth feels a great deal of remorse after he has killed the king. He understands that he has committed a big crime and will be punished. He is so terrified that he hears voices telling him: “Macbeth does murder sleep, … , Macbeth shall sleep no more” (act 2, scene 2, 57). In this scene, Macbeth is very upset with himself and wishes that he never killed Duncan. “To know my deed it were best not to know myself.” When he hears strange knocking at the gate he wishes that it wakes up Duncan: “wake Duncan with thy knocking, however it is too late” (act 2, scene 3, 61).

After Macbeth was successfully crowned, his fear did not let go of him. Earlier in the play right before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth was afraid that if he would kill Duncan this sin would come back to haunt him: “This even handed justice commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice to our own lips” (act 1, scene 7, 39). So now when everything seemed fine, Macbeth was actually very afraid that something was wrong; and this means that he is probably starting to be affected by the feeling of remorse. Macbeth is visited by the ghost of Banquo, who he murdered to protect his secret. A close read of the play suggests that the apparition is the “reincarnation” of Macbeth’s guilt, which is why he nearly reveals the truth about King Duncan’s murder. Macbeth's sense of remorse is apparently not strong enough to prevent him from killing again, however, which spotlights another key theme of the play: a lack of morality in the two main characters. The last topic that I am going to analyze in the tragedy of Macbeth is the concept of fate or destiny. We can say that it may sound like something more religious but it is actually strictly and very correlated to the plot of our story. Firstly, let’s start with determining the difference between fate and destiny, because these two words may sound a little similar but they actually have an important difference. Fate is something more magical as it is meant as the development of events beyond a person’s control; regarded as determined by a supernatural power, meanwhile destiny is the total of events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future. This topic has been analyzed in the poem since the very beginning, since we can see it from the moment the witches or the weird sisters tell Macbeth and Banquo their prophecies, both the characters and the audience are forced to wonder about fate. Is it real? Is action necessary to make it come to pass, or will the prophecy come true no matter what one does? Different characters answer these questions in different ways at different times, and the final answers are ambiguous—as fate always is.

Unlike Banquo, Macbeth acts: he kills Duncan. Macbeth tries to master fate, to make fate conform to exactly what he wants. But, of course, fate doesn't work that way. By trying to master fate once, Macbeth puts himself in the position of having to master fate always. At every instant, he has to struggle against those parts of the witches' prophecies that do not favor him. Ultimately, Macbeth becomes so obsessed with his fate that he becomes delusional: he becomes unable to see the half-truths behind the witches' prophecies. By trying to master fate, he brings himself to ruin. Eventually, we can summarize by saying that the plot of the story of this tragedy is mainly run by the themes of guilt, remorse, morality and fate/destiny. We can easily find examples of these topics in the dialogues, acts and scenes between the characters of the tragedy. I personally think that it is important to have a look on these topics because we all have experienced at least once in our lives the feeling of guilt and remorse. No one is immune to those feelings even if we are good people in our depth. In my opinion I think it is something a lot of people do not talk about enough. I think analyzing themes from old poems can help everybody to grow mentally and change their opinion or also develop a new critical thinking skill as well. Then, if we talk about fate and destiny, this is something more abstract and something that people can believe in or not. Anyways, it is always good discussing that because different and multiple opinions can appear. Some people constantly think about their future also basing themselves on their astrology, zodiac signs ecc… others just really do not care and live carefree. This is actually what makes the world interesting with all its new things to discover more and more: the differences. We are all the same but also all so different.