Macbeth s rule as King brings tyranny and brutality to Scotland,
Each new morn New Widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows Strike heaven on the face
Under Macbeth s rule fair is foul and foul is fair, in other words to do good is bad and to do bad is good. Ironically, Macbeth echoed this at the beginning of the play and it has now come back to haunt him and his country. Scotland is described as being diseased under Macbeth s rule and the country in chaos,
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds
This personification of Scotland also represents the bloodshed that Macbeth has caused in Scotland. Chaos spreads its way through nature as well, King Duncan s horses fight against their training and hawks are killed by their prey. The shriek of women is an all too familiar sound by the end of the play, so much so that they no longer shake Macbeth. He has brought cruelty to Scotland which is a country Almost afraid to know itself . Shakespeare introduced a new philosophy of kingship in the play that culminated when Malcolm announced,
What I am truly, is thine and my poor country s to command
Shakespeare s new concept of the Old World and New World could have caused a furore but were imbedded so subtly that it would be hard to imagine James I noticing. In the Old World the King had a divine right because God placed him on the throne; being disloyal to the King was the worst possible offence and beheading was the punishment for it. In the New World, if the King rules tyrannically and ineffectively then the state is allowed to be disloyal because the stability of the country is more important than being loyal to the King. The concepts of the New World and Old World are relevant to Macbeth. In the Old World, under Duncan s rule, Macbeth was disloyal to Duncan and committed treason. But under Macbeth s rule, in the New World, his ineffective and brutal reign has led to the downfall of the state. The New World allows people, like Malcolm and Macduff, to commit treason because the state is more important than being loyal to an ineffective King. Macbeth s kingly qualities are lost as he becomes king. He had all the qualities necessary for a king before his ambition set in; his wasted qualities makes his downfall tragic and also ironic because as he becomes king he looses his kingly qualities. Macbeth shows a lack of temperance that is essential for a good king; his ambition always overcomes his conscience. In Shakespeare s time Kings were believed to have been put on the throne by God; they had a divine right to be there. Lady Macbeth s incurable illness reinforces the idea of Scotland being diseased under Macbeth s reign and because he was not put there by God he has no divine right so he cannot cure her. This is in contrast to the good noble English King who, with a touch of his hand, can cure wretched souls . God has given him this healing benediction , heavenly gift of prophecy . This gift for healing was thought to be hereditary and it reinforces the idea that the King is placed on the throne by God to preserve good in the world. This is in contract to Macbeth who is plagued by bad dreams and cannot rid himself of them, thus again implying that Macbeth is not the rightful King. Macbeth s bad dreams are ironic because at the start of the play Lady Macbeth she revealed her husband s character,
Thou wouldst be great, Art thou without ambition, but without The illness should attend it.
Lady Macbeth says that Macbeth catches evil, as someone might catch a disease. The play shows how his symptoms develop, until there is no cure but death. It is also ironic for Lady Macbeth because she succumbs to the same illness which doctors could not even cure and eventually led her to death.
Macbeth has no justifiable reasons for killing Duncan when he hears why the murderers have helped him. The murderers are driven to kill for Macbeth because of their circumstances. They have both fallen on bad times and need money to survive. Macbeth s reason is simply ambition and this is nothing like the troubles that the murderers were forced into killing for. This would seem to make Malcolm s comment justifiable in some respects because it appears that ambition is no reason for killing someone, but the fact that he had guilty feelings impedes Macbeth from being a butcher in a literal sense. The murderers take a nihilistic approach to life and are bitter with the world. Macbeth by comparison still has the belief that he can control fate and is optimistic that all he needs to do is eliminate opposition to achieve a fruitful future. By the end of the play Macbeth finally accepts that he cannot control fate, this leads to nihilistic tendencies which stems from his belief in the prophecies. Macbeth feels lonely at the end of the play; he has realised that his time is up,
I have liv d long enough: my way of life Is fall n into the sere, the yellow leaf; And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have
Macbeth realises that his actions have denied himself the good things that come with old age, and only curses are in store for him. This makes the audience feel some sorrow for Macbeth. He then feels that there is no point in life if you cannot control it, he realises his efforts have been worthless and life is only a fleeting thing,
Life s but a walking shadow
Throughout this speech Macbeth makes nihilistic references to life being pointless and irrelevant, he even feels that life is as meaningless as a idiot s tale,
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing
His final realisation of not being able to control fate leads to complete nihilistic thoughts, this is revealed as he insensitively reacts to the news that his wife is dead,
She would have died hereafter
At the end of this scene Macbeth realises that his nemesis, none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth , is almost upon him. When he puts on his armour to go and die like an honourable warrior it signifies a return of the old honourable, noble warrior that we saw and heard of at the start of the play and the dramatic unity of the play is complete.
Nothing motivates Macbeth like ambition. His ambition is not strong enough on its own so he must be evil to fulfil it, but does this make him a butcher? In the literal sense Macbeth is not a butcher. This is proved by the simple fact that he has feelings of guilt and remorse for the murders he committed. But I believe that at times he is a butcher because of his brutal and savage decisions to murder Banquo, his dear friend, and Macduff s family. Macbeth commits these murders simply to eliminate any possible threats to his crown in order to prolong his time as king and therefore fulfil his ambition, this is ignorant and na ve. He is ignorant due to his continued belief that he could control fate, which is ultimately his tragic flaw. Macbeth s lack of morality, and child-like naivety, led him to believe that divorcing himself from the murders would prevent him from guilt, this is what makes him a moral coward. Macbeth knew that the deeds he committed were evil but it is his ambition that urged him on. Macbeth, up to the point where he hears or realises the murders, is a butcher in every sense in my opinion. His resolute feelings of murder, with no second thoughts whilst committing it, make him a butcher. The judgement by Malcolm came at a time when he was installed as the new king and I imagine his comment of Macbeth would have been influenced by memories of his father, Duncan. In the end Macbeth s good points far outweigh his bad and his true goodness shines through at the end of the play when he leaves the stage as he entered it, as a noble warrior. The times when Macbeth was a butcher , in every aspect, is such a small percentage that I believe this dead butcher would be an inaccurate and unfair epitaph for someone who spent most of his life fighting loyally and as and valiant, noble warrior for the king and whose only character flaw was to respond to his ambition.