Introduction
One of the darkest plays of William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” is a poem that holds a significant artistic and symbolic power, striking by the brutality and violence of the murdering acts committed by Macbeth and his wife, which are, in the end, the results of uttered prophecies. The poem imposes a note of dark mystery and an estate of anxiousness, because of the murderers committed by Macbeth, which indicate the force of evil taking over the human nature through rage, despair, thirst for power, violence and agony. Likewise, the presence of the unnatural elements (the three witches and their prophecies, the ghosts of Banquo, which only Macbeth can see) that mingle among the reality is also a significant element that engages the reader into the poem. Moreover, the symbolic representation of blood, which dominates the entire play, is another exciting element, which engaged me in a suspenseful reading. Therefore, the mysterious force of evil that generates the violent acts, the unnatural elements and the presence of the blood throughout the poem as a symbol of death and aggression are the three main elements that stroked me while reading William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”.
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The source of evil in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” has been seen as the absence of good by philosophers such as Aquinas, who considers that individuals’ nature and human condition was conducted towards “nothingness” by Macbeth, when he murdered King Duncan (in Tufts, 1998).
Discussing about the energy and even passion with which the murderers have been committed by Macbeth and sustained by his wife, Lady Macbeth, Tufts perceives the desire to kill and the connection to evil – doing as coming from the sexual desires of the couple. The author considers that Macbeth was aroused by his wife who convinced him that killing King Duncan would demonstrate his manhood. In other words, the idea of manhood is related to the notion of sexuality or masculine potency.
“When you durst do it, then you were a man. / And to be more than what you were, you would/Be so much more the man” (Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth”, Shakespeare, 1997, p. 135).
Lady Macbeth tempts her husband into committing a murder, the murder of Duncan, as a vehicle for accomplishing both the excitement of their relationship, built upon evilness, and the feeling of fulfilling, because through sexual excitement the couple intended to bring a new life on earth, making Lady Macbeth a mother. Instead of achieving the “ornament of life” (Shakespeare, 1997, p. 134), the couple received the urge for committing more murderers, engaging one another into violent acts.
Macbeth seems to develop a pleasure for killing, as being a murderer becomes his second nature, taking control of his senses, determining him to hide each murder with another, transforming Scotland into a bloodbath. After killing Duncan he finds comfort in murdering his two guards, who were supposed to take the blame for killing their King. Murders at the hand of Macbeth continue, when he kills Banquo and then goes after Macduff, Thane of Fife, and kills his entire family and everybody living at his court. More than the thirst for power, these slaughters indicated me that Macbeth was dominated by evil, killing in the name of the darkness that captured him through a magical force.
The presence of the three witches in the beginning of the play affects the entire course of the action in “Macbeth”. In the medieval eve witches were considered sources of the evil and they were banned to exist in society and even killed for heresy. However, in the case of Macbeth the witches had a similar influence upon the hero as the Oracle from Delphi had upon Oedipus the King. As the Oracle from Delphi foreseen the future tragedy that was to happen to Oedipus, the witches predicted the future ruling of Macbeth, as well as his killing by a person who was not born of a woman. Contrary to Oedipus, who did everything he could to predict his fate to come true, Macbeth embraced it, because the idea of becoming a King pleased him and he was not worried by the fact that he could have been murdered, as he did not believe that there could be such a thing not born by a woman. Moreover, he forced his destiny, as he murdered the King Duncan, although the witches did not predict that he was to murder anybody for becoming King. This indicates that, in fact, Macbeth’s evilness was entrenched in his nature; it was not predicted by fate (Tufts, 1998).
The predictions about future are inhuman communications, which makes the witches’ prophecies unnatural elements inserted into the poem. As such, the presence of a Ghost among the living, which only Macbeth can see, might be considered an unnatural element that Shakespeare creates for emphasizing the drama and the complexity of the play, but also Macbeth’s subconscious feelings of guilt.
A totally natural element is blood. It indicates life and the existence. It is an element that links together the anatomical components of human body. Entrenched into the existence of humanity, it is a symbol of life or of death. In “Macbeth”, blood is everywhere (Tufts, 1998), as a symbol of never ending conflict between right and wrong: it is present in the beginning of the poem, when King Duncan and Macbeth discuss about the rebels, whom they defeated in a bloody combat. They are covered in blood and the persistence of blood carries on throughout the play because of the continuous chain of murders.
Blood becomes a symbol of the guilt, because Lady Macbeth sees herself covered I blood, and as she was sleep – walking she violently wanted to wash the blood of her hands, conscientious by the fact that she determined Macbeth to kill. The poem ends in blood, when Macbeth himself is being murdered, letting the scene open for the blood to keep on floating.
Blood becomes both the element of hope and ambition (Macbeth’s hope and ambition for becoming King) that turn into frustration and disappointment (Macbeth’s frustration of being threatened to be exposed as the killer of King Duncan that determines him to continue covering himself with blood, and his disappointment when Lady Macbeth takes her life) (Iannone, 2005).
Conclusion
A complex poem, “Macbeth” imposes in literature through its brute vitality and dark energy, but also through its themes and symbols. The sense of natural evilness, the supernatural forces (witches that predict the fate and the ghost) and the presence of blood throughout the poem are the elements that determined me to perceive Macbeth’s character as cruel and conducted by malicious forces. These elements also influenced my perception upon the overall scene, creating a cold and dark environment where mischievous things and betrayal are at every step.
References
Iannone, C. Reading literature: decline and fall? Academic Questions. Pp. 6 – 15.
Shakespeare, W. (1997) Macbeth. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Tufts, C. (1998). Shakespeare's conception of moral order in Macbeth. Renascence, 50(3), 168-182.
