Having submitted to his ambition to gain the Crown by whatever means, Macbeth murders Duncan, a guest in his castle, and thus relentlessly commits him to a career of Evil that leads him to ruin. He can never turn back and seek redemption. Once set upon his course, he moves from one act of violence to another in an effort to protect himself from inevitable disaster. Fear and hatred provoke him to plot the murder of Banquo and his son, for Banquo cannot help suspecting Macbeth's complicity in Duncan's death, and Banquo's offspring instead of Macbeth's are destined to rule. Enraged at Macduff's failure to support him, he sends assassins to wipe out his family and by this act of cruelty makes certain of Macduff's merciless revenge. In the vain endeavor to ensure the security of the throne that he has obtained through violence, Macbeth adds evil to evil until his name is a cliche for tyranny and iniquity.
Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.
English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...
The sleepwalking Lady MacbethYet Shakespeare does not make a monster out of Macbeth. To have done so would have robbed him of any sympathy and removed him the area of tragic interest. When the play opens he is a hero returning from the victorious defense of his country. Undoubtedly he has thought about his chances of gaining the throne, for the witched echo things in the dark recesses of his mind, but he shrinks from the violence required to seize the Crown. He is willing to show patience and wait, "If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir" 25. He is near of kin to the King and under the laws of Scotland he may be chosen to succeed Duncan. It is only when Duncan creates his son Malcom Prince of Cumberland and nominates his...