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The forces
of evil are always ready to ensnare man, but they have their limitations. They
do not, indeed cannot, force man into evil; they can merely tempt man to choose
to follow evil ways. Experiencing temptation is not sinful, but deliberately
choosing to give in to temptation is an evil.
[“Have I not reason, beldams as you are,
Saucy and over-bold? How did you
dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death?”] (HECATE
SCENE, Act 3, SCENE 5)
Macbeth deliberately
chooses-not once but several times in the play-the evil path. In the portrayal of Macbeth we witness the
destructive power of evil in the inner life of a man. It is not a simple,
smooth downward progress; but involves turmoil and conflict between conscience
and other desires, between good and evil impulses that work within man. At
every stage of Macbeth’s degeneration we witness the choice being made deliberately;
at the same time there is a sense of inevitability about Macbeth’s choices. The
Witches merely prophecy certain things for Macbeth. They do not influence him
in any concert manner. It is a fact that his ambition impels him towards “the
swelling act of the imperial theme” but his conscience fills him with horror at
the idea that has come to him about how to gain the throne.
The
deterioration of Macbeth’s character illustrates the theme of conscience and
its decline. From a brave soldier and noble person, Macbeth reaches a state
when he is a soulless man, a beast chained to a stake and finally slaughtered
like a beast. A fever in his blood keeps him away from conscience and urges him
on to ceaseless action and to desperation. Love of power and the will to live
are so powerful in him that he goes to the extent of challenging Fate...
TheWitches’predictions
and their partial fulfillment at once engross him in the thought of
kingship. His ambition makes him unscrupulous and the thought of murdering
Duncan occurs instantly in his mind.
“And
you all know, security
Is
mortals’ chiefest enemy.” (HECATE SCENE, Act 3, SCENE 5)
Act-I
Scene-I, a short scene introduces the readers to the theme of evil. As a scene
of exposition, it creates the atmosphere and hints at a battle being fought and
the keenness of the Witches to meet the protagonist. Even before human beings have been
introduced, the witches and tumultuous, hostile weather suggest the part to be
played by the supernatural. The two ambiguous lines, “When the battle’s lost
and won” and “Fair is foul and foul is fair” are only a beginning to many more
of such paradoxical and enigmatic statements. It may be noted that in the whole
play there are nineteen scenes of darkness as against only seven of dusk and
daylight. The atmosphere of darkness and terror continues through the play
until in the last scene Macduff enters with Macbeth’s head indicating the
ultimate end of the nightmare.
Macbeth’s
ambition, aided by his wife’s instigation, is too strong for his conscience,
which is ignored. As soon as he commits the murder he can again hear the
disturbing protest of his deeper self. Conscience now gnaws at him and makes
itself articulate in the form of unforgettable sighs and haunting sounds.
Macbeth is now overwhelmed with a sense of futility of the crime and an equally
strong sense of remorse.
“So foul and
fair a day I have not seen.”
Macbeth is
guilty of committing the most heinous crimes. Lady Macbeth, as if she were a
fourth witch, encourages and influences him with valour of her tongue and the crime,
which might otherwise have remained undone, is committed. Lady Macbeth, too,
soon realizes the futility of the crown that they have obtained through crime
and soliloquies. She suffers like her husband, the tortures of Hell, a glimpse
of which we get in the sleep-walking scene.
‘Macbeth:
“How now,you secret,black, and midnight hags!
What is’t
you do?
All the
Witches: A deed without a name.”’
Evil always
works through deception. The evil within Macbeth responds to the evil outside when
he believes the words of the Witches. The Witches offer Macbeth worldly prosperity,
as evil must, in order to be attractive enough to tempt man, but the promises
of evil are false; they are seeming or half-truths. Evil always create an
atmosphere of uncertainty and false belief. Macbeth’ himself does not know how
far the Witches’ prophecies are good or evil!
“Stay, you
imperfect speakers. Tell me more.
By Sinel’s
death, I know I am Thane of Glamis.
But how of
Cawdor?”
Evil must
deceive in order to prosper, if only temporarily, for deception ultimately is
found out. While it is in sway it sets in motion ripples of ambiguity in which
the innocent are perforce also caught.
Thus Duncan calls, Macbeth as “noble”, “worthy” and so on, little
knowing the reality beneath the appearance…the reality is given expression to
by the porter’s macabre humorous quibbles on hell-gate!
‘“ I had
thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to th’
everlasting bonfire. [Knock] Anon, anon. I pray you, remember the porter.”
[Opens door]’
Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth’s ‘voice what appear to be the most hospitable epithets while
committing the most heinous of crimes against hospitality- the murder of a
guest under their own roof. Thus before he commits the murder of Duncan he is
troubled by the vision of the blood-stained dagger. He is later troubled by the
hallucination of Banquo’s Ghost. Once again there is confusion between
appearance and reality.
“Fair is
foul, and foul is fair,
Hover
through the fog and filthy air.”
Like all
tragic heroes, Macbeth too is blind to reality. He believes implicitly in what
the Witches say, it is on the basis of his belief in their words that he takes
action and goes deeper into the quagmire till he reaches the point of no
return. His belief in the Witches…The atmosphere of uncertainty let loose by
one act of evil permeates everything and colours the vision of even the
innocent and good characters. Thus Malcolm in his cautiousness puts on an
appearance of vileness to test the reality of Macduff’s integrity. In case of
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth when they welcome Duncan, we have evil masquerading as
good to hide the truth.
“Come, we’ll
to sleep. My strange and self-abuse
Is the
initiate fear that wants hard use;
We are yet
but young in deed.”
Gradually
Macbeth discovers the unshakable truth of evil’s deception, but not before it
has wrought deterioration of character in him. To him appearance is reality,
but he has lost touch with the benevolent spirit, which gives meaning to life.
The theme of false appearance is embodied in the very action of the play, so
that Macbeth’s despairing recognition of mere ‘mouth-honour’ among his
remaining followers echoes ironically his wife’s advice to be a serpent under
the welcoming of Duncan. It is reinforced by the cloud of uncertainty that
settles on Scotland during Macbeths’ despotism.
After the murder of Duncan, the darkness that envelops the earth in
daytime reinforces the disorder and equivocation in nature as aptly implied in
the words of Rosse,Act II,SceneIV.
Evil works
out its own destruction. It may create terrible disorder at first but Nature is
able to restore harmony. The birth of good is heralded by the perversion of
Nature itself. Birnam Wood moves and Macduff turns out to be a man “unborn” of
a woman-these are symbolic devices to indicate that the very perversion of mature
can herald the doom and destruction of one who initially caused that
perversion. True honour and bravery are opposed to false honour and rashness.
The repetition of words such as ‘duty’, and ‘service’ create a sense of an
orderly social and political fabric which has been disrupted by Macbeth’s crime. Images of planting and seeing,
of sleep, and of milk stand in contrast to the images of disorder implied by
words like fear and blood and by contrast between appearance and reality. Evil
is deceptive and seeks to lead astray.
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Reference’, Words and Sentences
from Critical Evaluations of Dr. Sen and Sraboni Ghosh, except setting, ideas
and contextualized.
(RituparnaRayChaudhuri)
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Its oft I
had been asked by students and many of others of the given topic. What I
personally felt be its answer, referring obviously to standard books, I
answered my seekers including also analyzing myself just twelve lines of the
opening scene, which is in fact, later I thought, is containing a very ‘partial
fulfillment’ of the conversation among the witches- perhaps that figures out the
destiny of a mortal being, destiny of the tragic hero, full of “profound-
mature -complexity of human materialistic nature’’-----
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