Macbeth

Towards the end of the play Shakespeare manages to lift him up so it ends up as a tragedy because we feel in time Macbeth would become the honourable knight from the beginning of the play again.

In the first lines of the play shadows of doubt are cast into our mind about Macbeth because we hear the witches talking about meeting him. We know they want to meet Macbeth because they say, “There to meet with Macbeth”, we wonder why he is meeting with the witches because they are supposed to be evil. An Elizabethan would have a stronger point of view then us as they saw witchcraft as very evil and it was punishable by death. The reason we would wonder why Macbeth was doing this is because it’s a tragedy and it wouldn’t be a tragedy if Macbeth was an evil character.

Any doubts a bout Macbeth go as the play unfolds because of the way people talk about him. The sergeant calls him …’brave Macbeth’… and Duncan talks of him as …’valiant cousin’… .

We would be happy at his bravery and an Elizabethan would be thinking on him very well because of the divine right of kings. The divine right of kings is a belief of the Elizabethans who believed that kings were like gods and that they were appointed by god so doing anything against a king would make god angry because it was like going against him. Duncan saying he was honourable was almost as though god had said it because of the right.

In this scene you could say it’s the beginning of the end because Macbeth is promised he will be Thane of Glamis which he already is, Thane of Cawdor which we found out the scene before and most importantly king. At first Macbeth is shocked and says that it “stands not in the prospect of belief”. The Elizabethans would feel relief at this because for Macbeth to even consider being king would be bad enough to anger God. As the scene unfolds Macbeth begins to get curious and goes on to say “would they had stayed” which shows he wants to know more. While we find this perfectly normal in human nature an Elizabethan audience would be angry and annoyed because they would think I was none of his business unless he didn’t have to do anything to gain the titles. Near the end of the scene Shakespeare gives Macbeth his first aside in which he says he wouldn’t consider murder. The Elizabethans would probably breathe a sigh of relief at this point as it appears their fears have been banished and Macbeth then seems to confirm this as he says

‘If chance will have me king,
Why chance can crown me,
Without my stir’

As the play goes on Macbeth meets Duncan and it is the first meeting we see. The king congratulates and thanks him saying “o worthiest cousin,” …

‘Wouldst thou hadst less deserv’d
That the proportion both of thanks, and payment’ …

More than all can pay’ an Elizabethan audience and a modern day would both be happy Macbeth had gained the praise he deserved but an Elizabethan audience would feel it more because of Macbeth’s honour and chivalry. Another key point is the naming of Malcolm as heir to the throne and Macbeth’s reaction. The reason this is so important is that we see Macbeth’s swift reaction from saying he wouldn’t get involved without chance making him to saying …’that is a step at,

On which I must fall down or else o’erleap’ an Elizabethan audience would find this awful as he is willing to destroy the whole chain and kill the heir and king while we would find the massive change startling. Another thing to note is the fact he is only considering doing something and is uncertain we know this because he says “let not light see my black and deep desires” which means he doesn’t want others to know his desires and he himself doesn’t want to face them.

When we move to Macbeth’s castle we see Lady Macbeth on her own with a letter from Macbeth. The letter tells her of the witches promises that he would be Thane of Cawdor and king, it also said he was already the new thane of Cawdor and that he didn’t know what to do. The reaction Shakespeare gives Lady Macbeth is very interesting. She seems to be the stronger of the two and instantly makes the decision that he will be king as promised. She also seems to know Macbeth too well and says that he is “too full o” th’ milk of humane kindness’ and will not want to interfere with natures way to become king. A modern day audience would find it strange how such a brave man is weaker than his “more evil” wife. An Elizabethan audience would have an issue with the fact that an honourable and brave warrior was weaker than his wife was.

The next day at Macbeth’s castle Duncan arrives and we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deceiving Duncan as they have already decided to kill him and are acting like they are his best friends. We know this because at the end of the scene before Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are talking about killing Duncan and now they are being nice to him. A modern day audience would dislike the fact that they are openly lying to the king while an Elizabethan audience would despise them for it, wondering where Macbeth’s honour had gone because now he is lying to his king.

As the play develops further we get the first soliloquy from Macbeth where he states he doesn’t want to face the consequences, with that he decides not to murder Duncan. Later in the scene he decides he will kill Duncan after some persuasion from lady Macbeth even though he says “I have no spur

to prick the sides of my intent but only

vaulting ambition…”. Here Shakespeare is showing that Macbeth is very indecisive about what to do. We would feel that Macbeth is a coward because he has no real reason for the murder and he is unwilling to face the consequences while an Elizabethan audience would find it terrible knowing that the murder would anger god and disrupt nature.

In this scene when the dagger appears to Macbeth we would find it strange because it is impossible a dagger couldn’t really be floating in the air in front of him we would also think it was a bad excuse for murdering the king. An Elizabethan audience would be quite scared because it is unnatural and they would probably think it had something to do with the witches they would feel Macbeth was strange and was thinking with a guilty mind using the dagger as an excuse to kill Duncan.

The next day we know that Macbeth wishes he hadn’t killed Duncan because he is inconsolable we know this because he says ” this is a sorry night” and he says that the word “amen stuck in my throat”. We would feel it served him right but at the back of our minds we would think he might not have done it if Lady Macbeth hadn’t been there. An Elizabethan audience would feel he got what he deserved in that he felt sad and wouldn’t have any sympathy for him at all.

As other people find out about the murder Macbeth kills the guards when he goes to see Duncan claiming he did it because he was so angry he couldn’t control himself. We would find this clever yet we would still be angry at the fact he killed Duncan, an Elizabethan audience would feel even worse after this because the guards didn’t do anything at all and Macbeth was being cowardly hiding from the truth.

Macbeth is starting to get paranoid after killing Duncan and we know this because he hires murderers to kill Banquo, his best friend, to make sure they kill him he makes sure they think he is there enemy and insults them. We would find this awful that he betrays his friend and lies about him to the murderers. An Elizabethan audience would find it worse because he was Macbeth’s partner in war as well as his friend.

As the play unfolds Macbeth is worried that he hasn’t solved the problem we know this because he says “we have scorch”d the snake, not kill’d it’ we would be happy it is worrying him and he is paying for his actions and an Elizabethan audience would also be happy.

When Macbeth is having a banquet the ghost of Banquo appears his chair but only Macbeth can see him, Lady Macbeth thinks quickly and manages to reassure the guests but is worried about Macbeth, she still appears to be the stronger of the two. We would be thinking this was strange and an Elizabethan audience would be very suspicious thinking that maybe the witches had something to do with it.

After the ghost has haunted him Macbeth decides to go to see the witches and demands answers to his question they tell him twisted versions of the truth so he thinks he is invincible we would find it foolish as they never tell the truth. An Elizabethan audience would find it bad that Macbeth was going back to the witches after all that’s happened because of them. They may also bear in mind the witches call him wicked and the witches are evil themselves so for them to find Macbeth wicked would be worse than a normal person saying it.

Macbeth does his first “evil” act of the play on his own because you see Macduff’s wife and son are talking and joking until Macbeth’s murderers come in and kill them. At this point he is the lowest of the low to everybody and Shakespeare would find it very hard to make him seem any better after he had done such awful things. To an Elizabethan audience this is the point were they really despise Macbeth and would not be able to see him as any better at all unless Shakespeare managed to make Macbeth do something very honourable.

Meanwhile Malcolm tests Macduff to see whether it is a trap or not. Macduff lies and when Malcolm says they are better without him he tells the truth.

Also in this scene Macduff finds out about his wife and son so Malcolm and Ross help him to convert the sadness to anger against Macbeth.

We suddenly realise how weak minded Lady Macbeth has become because a doctor sees her sleep walking and having nightmares about blood on her hands. We feel that she isn’t as strong and that it serves her right and an Elizabethan audience feels she shouldn’t have made Macbeth murder Duncan.

Macduff gets the soldiers cut boughs from Birnam wood to hold in front of themselves, this creates the appearance of Birnam wood moving, we now know the end is near

Now we are nearing the end of the play we see a hint of the old Macbeth because he starts off being defiant until he learns of Lady Macbeth’s death. When this happens he gives a speech on how he felt for her this makes him feel worse and he loses some defiance. As he is upset a messenger comes in and says “as I did stand my watch upon the hill,

I look”d toward Birnam, and anon methought,

The wood began to move’ this is the news that Macbeth dreads as he is told that this is one of the signs that he will lose. We think it is good that he is starting to act the same again now his wife is gone but still feel he shouldn’t have done the bad things. An Elizabethan audience would feel a little better but not much. This is the point were Shakespeare starts to lift Macbeth in our opinions again.

In the last scene the old Macbeth is back and he is ready to put up a fight instead of running and even when Macbeth learns Macduff is the man the witches told him would beat him he still fights. This would lift Macbeth up quite a bit in the opinions of an Elizabethan audience because he is being honorable again instead of cowardly. Fighting even when he is very likely to lose would be honorable to an Elizabethan audience.

In conclusion Macbeth stars the play as a great hero but as the play unravels he lowers in the opinion of both a modern day and an Elizabethan audience until he is the lowest of the low when he kills Macduff’s wife and son. Gradually Shakespeare manages to lift him up until at the end he is in the middle because of some of the honorable things he does near the end. He would find this so hard to do with an Elizabethan audience because they have much more of an issue with honour than we do and would find it absolutely awful some of the things he did.