Monthly Archives: November 2011

This last act of Macbeth is a particularly devastating one, considering the type of person he was at the very beginning of the play, and what kind of person he turns into after the pressures of being in power overtake him. One particular scene in this act I found to be quite striking was when in scene five, Macbeth seems to become immune to human feelings and emotions. At line 9, he states, “I have almost forgot the taste of fears: The time has been my senses would have cooled to hear a night-shriek and my fell of hair would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir.” He even cannot feel fear as he realizes they are about to be invaded.

He further shows how he is immune to human emotion in the following moment, when he is told that Lady Macbeth has died. Macbeth reacts coldly, by saying “She should have died hereafter,” and continues to say how life itself seems to have no meaning. This is especially seen when he says “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” I think these brief, yet profound moments shows how Macbeth has been dehumanized. He no longer has any room to feel, and react to anything around him, and only holds disdain for life, a view that seems to be irreversible for him

I know I’ve made quite a few arguments against Macbeth in class and I hope to use another character to further drive home my point as to why I see Macbeth as such a villain.

We know that he has some issues regarding his sanity, but we see this even from the beginning. In 1.3 towards the end of the Act we begin to see Macbeth has a tendency to drift off into his own head. Banquo comments, “Look, how our partner’s rapt” (1.3.142). And Macbeth continues on throughout the play to slip in and out of fits of insanity. I would argue that this is simply Macbeth’s true character, and not a misfortune of war.

I solidify this opinion by bringing in the contrasting character of Macduff. His family is brutally murdered by Macbeth’s command and when he finds out he has to take a few moments. He is affected, even in unfamiliar company. The previous son’s king commands him, “Dispute it like a man.” (4.3.219) To which Macduff says, “I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.220-221).

Granted, Macbeth has begun to delve further into his delusions (ones I believe he has always had, just presented in different ways), but that is no excuse for how he responds to his wife’s death. He says, “She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word” (5.517-18). The fact that he shows no emotion is one thing, but saying his wife should have died anyway shows, to me, that Macbeth’s true villainous character has come out. I don’t believe any character is fully evil, they all have some sort of heart at one point in their lives. I believe that after the murder of the King, Macbeth came in to the fullness of his instability. I believe the contrast of Macduff and Macbeth proves that Macbeth became a true villain by the end of the play.

Although Macbeth’s downfall becomes somewhat evident in Act III (when he is being taunted by Banquo’s ghost), I think Act IV represents the breaking point for Macbeth, as well as his rule over Scotland.  Scene I opens up with the witches concocting an elaborate recipe and later telling Macbeth of his future – they give him news that (at the time) seems to be positive, as usual, for the King.  However in Scene II, it is clear that Macbeth, as well as the entire world around him has been brought to total devastation.  Out of fear, Macduff has left his wife and children without notice just to get away from the “abhorred tyrant.”  It seems that Macduff and Malcolm have some hostility between them (I actually thought they were going to fight in Act IV, Scene III), yet they team up in order to overtake the diminishing Macbeth.

Unrelated observation: In Scene II, Macduff’s son seems extremely thoughtful and well-versed for a child.  He participates in a very peculiar exchange with his mother.