Thoughts on Macbeth

As I’ve lectured on Macbeth, I hope that I’ve been able to communicate some of its concerns or themes—at least those that I think are important. (There are at least as many interpretations of the play as there are lines in it.)

Near the top of my list is the human capacity for deception. We repeatedly witness Macbeth’s concerns with secret assassinations and his desire for no one (aside from Lady Macbeth) to know about the Weird Sisters’ prophecies. But Macbeth & Lady Macbeth both fall into the trap of self-deception, as well. Recall Lady Macbeth’s flippant response to Macbeth after he has murdered Duncan:

Macbeth. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your color, but I shame
to wear a heart so white. I hear a knocking
At the south entry. Retire we to our chamber.
A little water clears us of this deed.
How easy is it, then! (2.2.64-72)

Lady Macbeth asserts that one can wash away the guilt of murder as easily as one washes one’s hands. When we see her again near the play’s conclusion, however, the falsehood of her initial claim becomes apparent:

Doctor. What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands.

Gentlewoman. It is an accustomed action with her to seem thus washing her hands. I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.

Lady Macbeth. Yet here’s a spot.

D. Hark, she speaks. I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

LM. 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?

D. Do you mark that?

LM. The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?—What, will these hands ne’er be clean?—No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that; you mar all with this starting. […] Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, o, o! (5.1.22-36, 40-41)

Lady Macbeth can’t cleanse herself of her guilt. In despair she kills herself.

Macbeth is in no better shape. He has deluded himself into believing everything the Weird Sisters tell him. When Malcolm orders his followers to hide their numbers under branches from Brinam Wood, we know that Macbeth’s end is near. The Seyton reports Lady Macbeth’s death, to which Macbeth responds:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Live’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (5.5.19-28)

As the forest advances toward the castle, Macbeth himself recognizes his doom. As is tradition in Shakespeare’s tragedies, the most important character still alive delivers the closing speech; in this case, it’s Malcolm.

In terms of “nature,” it’s important to note the various ways in which nature responds to the horrors of Macbeth’s actions. I’ve made note of these in class. There are a couple things worth pointing out in Act 5, though. The first is the march of Birnam Wood: although in “reality” we have soldiers employing camouflage, we also see nature acting out directly against Macbeth. Scotland itself—not only its people—has taken up arms with Malcolm, to depose Macbeth. Our villain acknowledges this inevitability. Note especially his reference to bearbaiting, a “sport” popular in early modern England: “They have tied me to a stake. I cannot fly, / But bearlike I must fight the course” (5.7.1-2).

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