Macbeth's Decent Into Evil example essay topic

GCSE English Coursework Macbeth At the beginning of the play, before Macbeth is introduced, the impression given is that he is a very good man indeed. It is as if he was a local hero and could do no wrong. The sergeant refers to him as 'brave Macbeth' and Duncan says "O' valiant cousin!" Worthy gentleman!" Duncan, the king, rewards Macbeth with the title, thane of Cawder, the previous, treacherous thane having been sentenced to death. People speak of Macbeth's brilliance in comparison with the treachery that he was to replace. Scene 2 is very different and contrasting to Scene 1. The witches in the scene would have immediately triggered an atmosphere of interest and fright in the crowd of Shakespeare time because the people would have believed it.

During the period in which this play was actually performed the people watching would have believed the superstitions. The witches would have meant something to the crowd instead of, how a modern day audience would precept them, as just some easy characters. This atmosphere is made when the witches say "Fair is foul, and foul is fair", this alerts the audience to the fact that all is not what it seems, and Macbeth's apparently kindness and valour may be hiding something more sinister about him. The reaction Macbeth gives to this is not what they would expect from a hero. The reaction is that of fright and interest, maybe he is disturbed by what the witches say, but he doesn't ignore it and shrug it off like a hero. The statements made of Macbeth's future stick to him, gradually whittling away his strong character.

In scene 3 when he first meets the witches he is told of his future. Macbeth and Banquo were on their journey to Forres, after capturing Cawder, and they came across three evil witches. The witches greet Macbeth as the Thane of Cawder and then the king of Scotland; of course Macbeth is inquisitive, asking why they address him as they do. Macbeth listens to the predictions and is deeply interested in their prophesies, however, takes them with a pinch of salt and doesn't regard them as serious suggestions. Banquo, standing by, is interested to what the witches say but stands by and is more cynical than Macbeth as to what the witches actually have to say. As the two draw away from the witches Ross approaches them.

Ross then pronounces Macbeth as the Thane of Cawder. The encounter with the witches now turns from being something a bit sinister to an incident, which could possibly have some element of truth. Although the witches were simply three hags throwing wild and initially quite unbelievable statements, what they said was now something, which would be niggling at Macbeth's mind. Macbeth appears to be a person that is in control and was in control of what he thought of the witches until Ross told him he was Thane of Cawder.

This control which seems to be so strong is quite obviously pierced by this suggestion of truth. In the film his reaction to being given, the title, Thane of Cawder shows the audience he is shocked and is obviously thinking about what the witches had said instead of the fact he has someone in front of him giving him a new title. Shakespeare creates quite a superstitious feel to the play, not only with the witches, also with Macbeth having a feeling that evil is directly related to the situation. Macbeth's line, "The devil wins our confidence with small snippets of the truth", meaning that evil tries to convince you it is right by rightly predicting small things, and tempting you towards bigger things, tells us he is clearly in thought. Possibly he is confused as whether and what to do about the things the witches had said.

Eventually he admits to his wife, Lady Macbeth, that he is tempted to kill Duncan. Killing Duncan would leave him a route to the throne, after having been told it is his destiny. Lady Macbeth had previously wanted to be queen but is now presented with something else, a husband that could be king. This is the reason I believe that Lady Macbeth is who really initiates Macbeth's decent into evil. Macbeth has gone from being a hero who was respected by the king to being rewarded by the king with a new title, Thane of Cawder, to now considering murder of the king.

The Witches have created such an evil in his head, that has conjured this will for the throne, which has grown and grown to this point where he considers murder. However I think that lady Macbeth plays a vital role at this point, she wills Macbeth to kill Duncan, showing her own evil side. Macbeth is in an uneasy state and Lady Macbeth takes advantage of it; eventually the consequences are inevitable. The thing that is bugging Macbeth is the fact he has been told that the crown is his destiny but cannot wait.

He has such a great desire for the crown and would prefer his route legitimate. However, Lady Macbeth is spurring on the evil side of him that makes him king sooner rather than later but by murder. When Lady Macbeth hears of what the witches had said to Macbeth she asks him to take her assets and strip her of all her goodness. Overcome by the temptation to be queen, she plays on Macbeth's in-composure. When it comes to the point where Macbeth is confronted with the real possibility of being able to successfully kill Duncan while he sleeps, he suffers a hallucination. He sees a knife floating in front of him.

As he is committing the murder, he hears one of the guards say "God bless us", and yet Macbeth is unable to reply with "Amen", "I needed the blessing most, but 'Amen's tuck in my throat". This shows us that Macbeth knows what he is doing is wrong and evil. Throughout the murder and the leading up to it he truly doesn't want to kill Duncan. His Desire for the crown and the evil from lady Macbeth and the witches just over powers him. Terrified of the thought of actually killing someone he presses on and kills Duncan.

This is a clear sign of his decent into evil, the way he consciously knows that he is doing wrong but evil takes control. Macbeth kills Duncan and take the crown but the gap in his life which he expected to be filled once he got the crown is still there and haunted by his own evil. Macbeth finds himself as king but is still, he has reached the goal, which he had so desperately yearned for but he doesn't feel right. Apart from the feeling that maybe he shouldn't be king and that killing Duncan wasn't the right thing to do; he still felt that there was work left to be done.

His initial motive to kill Duncan was the evil given to him by the witches, a false destiny, all together, concocted to make an ill judgement on Macbeth's course to the throne; killing Duncan. Now as he looks at the Blood on his hands he feels remorse for Duncan and shear shame and guilt over what he has done. Although at the time Macbeth decided that is was best to kill him now he had killed he had crossed the line as it were and now anything that threatens him or threatens exposure of the truth could now be killed. It would be easy for him to kill now, after killing once another wouldn't affect him in his current state of mind. Lady Macbeth then says, "My hands are the same colour as yours - but I'd be ashamed to have a heart as white as yours!" This is, in effect, making fun of Macbeth's remorse for Duncan.

The gap in relationship between the two is continuously growing and this comment makes Macbeth feel in adequate and silly. Of course this make his evil grow, remorse was a sign of some sanity and to shrug it off means he is left with more evil on a weaker conscience. Macbeth is now in a state of panic and is very uneasy. Due to this he is very sensitive and senses that Banquo, once a good friend of his, is coming to close to the truth and poses danger to his claim on the crown. Banquo gives suggestions that he suspects foul play in Macbeth's achievement of the crown. In his state, with the darkness of evil ever growing and shrouding his sanity, he thinks of killing Banquo.

This time there is no intervention from Lady Macbeth and on his own he decides to kill Banquo. This is a man who is king and sensitive to the way he presents himself because of the way he got to be king. He cannot bear the thought of Banquo's children becoming future kings. It is almost a fear; a fear that is fuelled by the confusing thoughts and opinions on what has been said and done. The order is given for Banquo's death.

Even though Macbeth isn't physically murdering Banquo is still petrified with the thought of getting caught. After killing Duncan he has no fear of killing someone, the remorse for such an action has gone. At this stage the evil has bypassed trivial things like this which plaque him in the build up to Duncan's death. There is then a second encounter with the witches, this time he sees apparition that tells him he is immortal and that only someone of caesarean birth can possibly kill him.

Of course, not knowing of anyone born by cesarean section, Macbeth believes he is invincible and this gives his evil a boost. Now the fear of being caught is vanished and there is no need to hide his dark thoughts and intentions. The witches have a big impact in the play, especially during the times of Shakespeare because of the commonly believed superstitions. The witches are aspects of the play that would stay in the audience's minds and frighten them. Macduff is now seen as the next threat to his position and he goes to attack the castle and to kill Macduff.

Now he is invincible he goes over the top, to make his point he decides to kill the whole family and the servants. Of course this is a dreadful thought and would be an evil loss of life. Here there is the most dramatic part of the play. Everything before this has boiled up and the feelings in Macbeth's brain are all coming out at once in a frantic rage. He is shouting weird things at people for no reason. He sees only the worst in everything's and believes it should be eliminated for its faults.

Evil controls him as he walks around thrusting his sword into all that lives; anything with a pulse in his way was slaked with no remorse. He doesn't show a care in the world for anyone. Everyone becomes a victim of this once hero who has descended into evil. I do not feel sorry for him because he becomes something that is totally wrong and evil. Nothing could be respected of him.

However if it wasn't for Lady Macbeth getting him to kill Duncan I thick that he wouldn't have fallen into the evil and he would have go to the throne a different way. At the end, however, he has no respect for his country or the people; not a king.