Macbeth, written in 1606, is the
shortest of Shakespeare’s “Big Four.” In Macbeth, the theme of
discrepancy of appearance versus reality is evident in Macbeth’s feelings of
security. Macbeth’s security is first solidly established with the murders of
Duncan and Banquo and the three apparitions. They are then shaken by the
fulfillment of one of the three prophecies. Finally, they are toppled when
Macduff reveals the circumstances of his birth.
The beginning of Macbeth’s sense of
security starts with the results of the witches’ first prophecy. The witches
have recently called out to Macbeth:
All hail
Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
All hail
Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1.3.48-50).
Macbeth, already Thane of Glamis,
is then presented with the Thane of Cawdor’s robes
and told by Ross that he is the new Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth envisions how he
will become king and finally settles on Duncan, the present King of Scotland,
dying and the high council proclaiming as such. Unfortunately for Macbeth and
ultimately Duncan, the king has taken the time after the most recent battle to
proclaim his eldest son Malcolm his heir. Macbeth then begins to plot to take
the throne anyway. As if hearing Macbeth’s own inner wishes,
also run
off, making them appear guilty of plotting their father’s murder and making
Macbeth more secure that suspicion will be placed on someone other than him.
However, Macbeth still cannot be totally secure until Banquo and his son Fleance is dead. Macbeth then goes into detail on why each
must die. Banquo must die because Macbeth fears Banquo’s
“royalty of nature”(3.1.50). Fleance
must be killed because the witches “hailed him to be a father of kings”(3.1.60). Macbeth now has no problem in killing his former
best friend in exchange for his own comfort and piece of mind. He hails Banquo’s death with satisfaction because now he has no
enemies to overthrow him. Banquo’s ghost appears at
the banquet, startling Macbeth and making him insecure. He then seeks out the
witches, hoping for piece of mind. The witches then conjure up three
apparitions to tell Macbeth what he wants to know. The first apparition tells
him to “[B]eware the Thane of Fife” (4.1.72). The
second apparition then tells him that “none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth”(4.1.80-81). This makes Macbeth feel that no living man
could harm him, boosting his sense of security. Finally, the third apparition
tells Macbeth that he will not be overthrown until “Great Birnam
Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come against him”
(4.1.93-94). Since a forest cannot move, Macbeth’s security has now skyrocketed
leaps and bounds.
On the other hand, during Macbeth’s
quest for security, Lady Macbeth has steadily lost her mind from feeling guilt.
She sleepwalks around the castle, looking at her hands and crying out, “Out,
damned spot! Out, I say”(5.1.36). She has become so
filled with guilt that the doctor urges her nurse to hide “means of all
annoyance”(5.1.77), meaning that she may commit
suicide. But as the doctor comes to tell Macbeth his diagnosis, he finds
Macbeth preparing to do battle against the English and Scottish army. He then
tells the doctor that “I will not be afraid of death and bane/
His life has become an
insane farce, not because he no longer has any power or physical
security
(he has both and, as he remarks earlier, could easily withstand the siege), but
because
he has ceased to care about anything, even about his wife. (
A
messenger then appears with worse news:
As I did stand
my watch upon the hill,
I looked toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to
move. (5.5.33-35).
Macbeth
speaks again of the prophecy of Birnam Wood coming to
Dunsinane, and how “now a wood/Comes to Dunsinane” (5.5.45-46). Macbeth still has his security,
although diminished, still intact because “none of woman born/Shall harm
Macbeth”(4.1.80-81).
Macbeth goes out of his castle to fight
because he feels secure that no living man can hurt him. He first meets Young Siward who is searching for him, in order to kill him. They
fight and Young Siward dies while Macbeth calmly
speaks to him that “[T]hou wast
born of woman” (5.7.11). Macbeth is still on the field when Macduff spots him
and yells “Turn, hell-hound, turn”(5.8.3). Macduff
begins to fight Macbeth until Macbeth tells him that he “losest
labor” (5.8.8) because “I lead a charmed life, which must not yield/To one of
woman born”(5.8.12-13). Macbeth’s security crumbles
when Macduff tells him:
Despair
thy charm,
And let the angel whom
thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was
from his mother’s womb
Untimely
ripped. (5.8.13-16).
Macbeth
now knows that he has been deceived by the witches; Macduff’s
mother had died during childbirth and Macduff had come into the world by
caesarean section, not by natural childbirth which would have made him “of
woman born” (4.1.80). Still, Macbeth fights on and is slain.
In conclusion, Macbeth’s sense of
security parallels the theme of discrepancy of appearance versus reality in Macbeth.
Macbeth only feels secure when he misunderstands the prophecies of the three
apparitions. “Shakespeare takes considerable pains to build into the play some
concrete evidence that there is nothing inherently defective about the
protagonist at all,” James P. Hammersmith’s article “Shakespeare and the Tragic
Virtue” states. Macbeth just deceives
himself into believing the prophecies literally. This leads him to his death.
Works Cited
Bates, Albert. “Macbeth: An
analysis of the play by Shakespeare.”
<http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/macbeth001.html>. (22 Apr.2004).
Hammersmith, James P.
"Shakespeare and the Tragic Virtue." 1990.
<http://www.jsu.edu/depart/english/gates/shtragcv.htm>. (22 Apr.2004).
Johnston, Ian. “Introduction
to Macbeth.” 2001.
<http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/macbeth.htm>. (22 Apr.2004).
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth.
Literature: The British Tradition.
Prentice Hall: