Macbeth's Unrelenting Evil

Macbeth realizes that the prophecy that the three witches told him is coming true, which blew his mind. Macduff fights for honor and Macbeth fights to kill and to stay alive even though he knows that he is destined to perish.

As works of literature mature, the line between good and bad begins to become unclear. With Shakespeare’s works especially, things are usually not what they initially seem; a character may reveal to be the protagonist, antagonist, or even an anti-hero. A character may take actions that border on the antagonistic side, but still be the protagonist in which the audience is emotionally, though not always ethically, invested in. An anti-hero can be viewed simply as a protagonist who lies somewhere on the spectrum of villain and hero; never quite touching each end. In his play, Macbeth, Shakespeare makes it clear that Macbeth is really an anti-hero through his changing public appearance, his encounters with the witches, and his feelings concerning his own actions.

After this Macbeth kills Macduff whole family and servants to send Macduff a message for being disloyal and he thinks that Macduff suspects him of something as well. This is shown when Macbeth says “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

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth evil is conveyed in many ways through characters, themes and settings. Many themes are explored in detail contributing hugely to the sense of evil with characters being used along with these themes to create evil within the characters. These themes and characters are shown in different settings at different times consequently affecting the mood and atmosphere of the play.

Lady Macbeth seems confident that they will not be caught nor feel any guilt because they will be lavished as king and queen. At first, she stated that water would wash the blood off of their hands, yet her guilt over the murder of one man was enough to drive her to insanity. Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and the doctor overhears her muttering to herself, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! What, will these hands ne'er be clean? (Act 5, Scene 1, Line 25, 31).” This quote shows that she never could escape the guilt of murdering sleep and it troubled her even during her slumber. After many sleepless nights, Lady Macbeth eventually commits suicide before the fall of Macbeth from power. Because of her tortuous last days and obvious regret, it is believed that Lady Macbeth was adequately punished for her actions.

The witches then proceed to tell him “Beware Macduff” among other things. Macbeth then worries so much he sends assassins to kill him and his family, luck for Macduff he wasn’t there. The assassins end up killing his wife and son which Macduff hears about and goes after Macbeth for revenge leading to Macbeth’s

As the English forces approach, Macbeth grows sick at heart, for he knows that he receives only mou honor from his followers. With the approach of Birnham Wood he “gins” to be aweary of the sun and finally the report concerning the nature of Macduff’s birth brings climax of cowardliness; it cows the better part of his nature: he will not fight then comes the turning point. When the soul discovers that yielding to Macduff it must take part in an infamous evil-that living to be exhibited as “our rarer monsters are”- despair lends strength. Although the prophecies of the witches have fallen away Macbeth tries the last. Before his body he throws his warlike shield and urges, “Lay on Macduff, and damn’d be him that first cries,”Hold, enought!”

In this essay I shall be looking at the way evil is portrayed in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. I will be concentrating on the characters in the play that contribute to the evil themes of the play. It is clear from the start of the play that the witches are the main source of evil.

Macbeth enters, Banquo’s surprised that he is up so late. Banquo says the kings asleep and says he had a dream about the witches’. Banquo suggests that the witches’ have revealed truth to Macbeth, Macbeth says he has not thought about them (which was most likely a lie) he and Banquo come to an agreement to talk later. Banquo and his son exit, unexpectedly, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in front him with the handle pointing toward him and the tip pointing toward Duncan. Macbeth

Macbeth is a man whose progressive external misfortunes seem to produce, and at the same time seem to be produced by, the parallel progression from greatness to great wickedness. This reaffirmation that Macbeth is not a true son of evil comes, interestingly enough, immediately after the murder of Banquo, at a time when the audience needs a reminder that Macbeth is not fundamentally evil. Macbeth is visited by a vision of Banquo’s ghost, visible only to him. His fading mental condition becomes apparent to all he cries out to the guests, inquiring who has played the cruel trick and then in terror, yells to the ghost, "Thou canst say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me" (III.4.65-66).

First off, Macbeth’s ambition leads him to fall into paranoia. It drives him mad, and makes him hallucinate. Macbeth kills so many men seamlessly but after the murder of Banquo he begins to go crazy. “Macbeth does murder sleep…Macbeth shall sleep no more.”(II.II). When he sleeps he sees Banquo and he cannot deal with the guilt. He even began to have visions of Banquo’s ghost “If thou canst nod, speak too. /if charnel-houses and our graves must send/those that we bury back, our monuments/shall be the maws of kites.”(III.IV) Not only does he ask the murderers twice if Banquo is dead but he also becomes paranoid because Fleance got away. In Act 3 scene 4, Macbeth as king holds a feast with all his friends. During this feast he begins to hallucinate, he sees Banquo’s ghost. Lady

Upon reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth, I was struck by the importance of the theme ‘evil’ that was continually evident throughout the play. Researching this topic enabled me to form conclusions, which aided in bettering my understanding of the main character Macbeth as well as the text as a whole. The conclusion I formed was: ‘When people commit immoral or evil deeds, there are certain circumstances which cause them to commit these deeds’. Using this conclusion, I was able to form three key questions: ‘To what extent is evil as a theme in Macbeth affect the main character and the overall plot?’, ‘How is evil portrayed as a problem in society in regards to evil deeds people commit?’ and ‘To what extent are immoral acts of evil or one being evil the fault of one person?’.

Macduff's intelligence leans towards irresponsibility when he abandons his family without realising the danger his actions will cause them. When Macduff goes to England for help in freeing Scotland from the tyrant Macbeth, and informs Malcolm of the terrible things that have been happening in Scotland, he says; "Let us rather / Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men / Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom" (4, 3, 2-4). There is a great sense of urgency in Macduff's words because his thoughts become obsessive with eliminating Scotland of its evil tyrant rather than focusing on his family. His suspicion grows after Macbeth’s killing of the guards and so he refuses to attend Macbeth’s coronation which leads to the murder of his family.

They dance around the cauldron and add in the poisoned entrails, chanting: “double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”(Shakespeare, 1996). Macbeth enters and insists that they answer to his questions. The witches call upon the apparition’s: “come, high or low; Thyself and office deftly show!”(Shakespeare, 1996) The three apparitions all have different forewarnings for him, the first being that he must “Beware Macduff”, the is that “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” and the last warning is that he hasn’t to fear because “Macbeth shall never vanquished until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill” (Shakespeare, 1996), All these being impossible in the eyes of Macbeth.

Meanwhile in England, Macduff defends the moral integrity of Malcolm's lineage - a beacon of hope for the good people and a contrasting image to that of the Macbeths.