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Mr. Steen

AP Literature & Composition

8 November 2005

Macbeth’s Metamorphosis from Savior to Despot

            As William Shakespeare develops the plot of The Tragedy of Macbeth throughout five acts, the sequence of events triggers the personalities of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to undergo complete transformations. Macbeth’s persona, in reference to his dispositions in Act I and Act V, changes to such a degree that the final version of Macbeth would be nearly unrecognizable if the storyline were foregone. According to the logic of Shakespeare, as illustrated by the development of Macbeth, it is possible for a man to regress from decency to absolute evil within the phase of several scenes. As for Lady Macbeth, she begins as a wicked virago who calls upon the aid of evil spirits in order to conjure a treacherous plan, yet later her formerly assertive personality disintegrates and she becomes a weak-willed paranoiac. With each additional crime we also see the exchange of roles between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, as Macbeth slowly moves from being an obsequious, domesticated husband to an “abhorred tyrant” who mercilessly murders women and children.

            Macbeth begins as a brave soldier, fighting for justice “with his brandished steel, which smoke[s] with bloody execution.” Even King Duncan refers to Macbeth as a “valiant cousin” and a “worthy gentleman” after discovering Macbeth’s heroism on the battlefield against the intruding force, as Macbeth “doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.” Before his meeting with the witches, Macbeth lived the life of a dignified military officer and was satisfied with his military victories and titles of honor. However, after hearing the witches’ felicitous prophecy, Macbeth finds the power of the throne so enticing that he must “yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix [his] hair and make [his] seated heart knock at [his] ribs.” Although Macbeth believes that, in reference to King Duncan, he is “his kinsman and his subject” as well as “his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife [himself],” Macbeth cannot restrain his “black and deep desires” of regicide. Hence, because of his unruly ambition and flawed human nature, Macbeth’s greed overpowers his morality and initiates his transformation into the despot.

While Macbeth is testing his capacity for wickedness, Lady Macbeth -- upon reading her husband’s letter that announces their fortune -- is “transported beyond this ignorant present” and already “[feels] now the future in the instant.” Lady Macbeth’s unequivocal caprice and manipulative nature has a strong emotional foundation, implying that even in the past she had been considering seizing the throne “which shall to all [their] nights and days to come give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.” In other words, Lady Macbeth has been criminal from the very beginning. Because of Lady Macbeth’s strong belief that her husband is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness,” she feels that it is necessary to “pour [her] spirits in [Macbeth’s] ear, and chastise with the valor of [her] tongue all that impedes [him] from the golden round.” Also, Lady Macbeth reveals her sinister character when she calls on the evil spirits to “take [her] milk for gall” and “unsex [her] here, and fill [her], from the crown to the toe, topfull of direst cruelty.” Lady Macbeth has a corrupting effect on Macbeth, bringing about his horrid malevolence.

After the murder of King Duncan, the reaction of Macbeth is different from that of Lady Macbeth, demonstrating the contrast of their characters. Because of Macbeth’s powerful sense of guilt, he questions whether even “all great Neptune’s ocean [would] wash this blood clean from [his] hand.” On the contrary, Lady Macbeth nonchalantly believes that “a little water clears [them] of this deed.” Regicide has been unimaginable to Macbeth, who says, “I am afraid to think what I have done, look on’t again I dare not,” which shows his innocence when coming into this affair. In the end it is Lady Macbeth, the feminine character, who must assure Macbeth -- originally the fearless soldier -- that “these deeds must not be thought after these ways.” Here Lady Macbeth assumes the masculine role of providing reassurance while Macbeth speaks and acts without confidence or certainty.

However, beginning in Act III, Macbeth regains his self-confidence and Lady Macbeth becomes the one who doubts her security; the two characters exchange their respective personalities of authority and feebleness. Whereas in the beginning Lady Macbeth was the one who requested that they “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” in order to hide their malice, after King Duncan’s murder Macbeth now reminds Lady Macbeth to “make [their] faces vizards to [their] hearts, disguising what they are.” Macbeth, stating that “things bad begun make strong themselves by ill,” becomes more vicious and murderous while Lady Macbeth begins to despair because she feels vulnerable with shame. Feeling unsatisfied, Lady Macbeth regrets the fact that “naught’s had, all’s spent” and would rather “be that which [they] destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.”

Macbeth knows that his past actions are horrid and irreversible, and he justifies it for himself when he says, “I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” Also, his second meeting with the witches further boosts his ego and confidence, so much that he believes himself immortal since “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” Therefore, Macbeth begins to eliminate -- without his earlier discretion -- everything which threatens him. At this point Macbeth is accused with a list of indictments: “bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin that has a name.” Macbeth’s reign of tyranny is fully apparent when he decides to massacre the castle of Macduff and mercilessly kill “[Macduff’s] wife, his babies, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” while remaining “before this purpose cool.”

Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth has lost her sanity due to her inability to deal with the committed crimes. We realize her extreme state of anxiety when, during her sleepwalking scene, Lady Macbeth states that “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten [her] little hand,” showing that redemption from her sins is impossible. Her having called on the “murdering ministers” and having prayed that “no compunctious visitings of nature [will] shake [her] fell purpose” in Act I seems to have been ultimately ineffective. Although she too believes that “what’s done cannot be undone,” Lady Macbeth does not have enough resolve to live with the culpability and, consequently, it leads to her suicide.

The outcomes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are surprising when considering their personalities in the opening of the play. The play begins with Macbeth as a noble warrior and Lady Macbeth as Macbeth’s supportive, caring wife. But, due largely to the mediation of his wife, in the end we see Macbeth turned into a “dead butcher” and “an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptered”; the character Macduff claims, “Not in the legions of horrid Hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth.” On the other hand, Lady Macbeth is not occupied with plotting atrocities as she had been in the beginning but “is troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep her from rest.” Yet, still, Malcolm has good reason to christen her a “fiendlike queen” because she is encumbered with the responsibility of causing both the murder of King Duncan and the rise of the tyrant Macbeth. By weaving into the plot the reversal of the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, William Shakespeare successfully demonstrates how one’s manipulative, conniving nature may produce unintended consequences from another.