Macbeth

What is definitely clear is that during the opening of the play Macbeth is presented as a loyal soldier who supports Duncan in his fight against the Norwegians. At this point in the play, he's presented as an almost perfect Jacobean male: strong and "brave"; he "carves his passage" while "disdaining fortune;" and he has no problem with cutting people in half and sticking their heads on the battlements!

Being strong and brave was incredibly important for men in times gone by, as so many of them would have been called into war. The truth is that, whatever we may think from our cosy seats at the local cinema, the reality of being in battle was nothing like it is in The Avengers, and people like Macbeth - who lived without fear - were celebrated by men who wanted nothing more than to have that kind of bravery on the big day, or be fighting alongside someone who could show it.

One of the things that always gets me about the traditional reading of the play - in which we are to believe that Macbeth was ambitious for the throne - is why Shakespeare opened the play making it so clear that Macbeth was loyal to Duncan. It's worth remembering that although the play is loosely based on real people, the war against the Norwegians didn't actually happen and so there was no reason to open the play by making it so clear that Macbeth was loyal to Duncan. If Shakespeare had wanted to explore ambition, why opening it by establishing that Macbeth was loyal?

In fact, it seems far more likely that this scene establishes Macbeth's character as being loyal in order that Shakespeare can show someone going through a change - which means that something must happen to change Macbeth's desires. And in this play, that change comes about when he meets the witches...

This question lies at the heart of any attempt to understand Macbeth. Duncan's murder sets the drama in motion, and understanding the motivation behind it is essential to understanding the play itself. During the opening of the play it is clear that Macbeth is loyal to Duncan, so what changed his mind?

His first lines on stage are "So fair and foul a day I have not seen," which mirrors the lines the witches repeated in Act 1 Scene 1. Here, it seems to me, Shakespeare is establishing that Macbeth is already under the control of at least influenced by the witches - bear in mind Macbeth enters just after the witches have completed their magic spell. So, at this point in the play, Macbeth is a good man who seems to be under the control of dark forces.

Immediately afterwards the witches proclaim him "king hereafter." The traditional reading of the play has this as a prophecy that awakens Macbeth's own ambition for the throne. However, because there have been no previous indications that Macbeth was interested in the throne, it seems far more likely that he's just been the victim of a magic spell that has planted the idea in his head - and bear in mind that this was something Medieval people absolutely believed that witches could do. The fear of witchcraft was partially the fear of the power that women could hold over men, and this play shows the power that the witches have over Macbeth.

From the moment he sees the witches Macbeth begins referring to a desire to kill Duncan, though he constantly talks about it negatively - it's his "black and deep desire;" the thought of it "makes his seated heart knock at his ribs" and is "against the use of nature;" and eventually he decides that "if chance will have me crowned why then chance can crown me, without my stir." Which is his way of saying that he won't do anything about it.

Regardless of what the websites say, I just can't see that as being the response of an ambitious man.

In so many ways this is a play that warns men about the dangerous influence of women, and Lady Macbeth is the embodiment of that warning. Macbeth finished his encounter with the witches by deciding that he wouldn't do anything in particular about becoming king, though his wife is happy about it.

There's a really telling moment as well when Macbeth and his wife first meet. She heralds him by his titles: Thanes of Cawdor and Glamis, and "greater than both by the all hail hereafter." He simply calls her "my dearest love." It seems that Macbeth loves his wife, while she loves his titles. He's worked hard for her and achieved all he reasonably can, but she wants more and this play is a warning against men listening to demanding women like that.

Lady Macbeth's control over her husband is pretty clear throughout the play: she suggests and plans the murder of Duncan - and fixes it when it goes wrong; she pulverises him when he suggests backing out; she supports him when he's feeling depressed before he kills Banquo, but tells him off when he says he sees the ghost over dinner. She completely dominates him in a way that would have been humiliating for any Jacobean or Elizabethan man.

Bearing this in mind, it's no surprise that when he is having his doubts about killing Duncan the witches send a vision of dagger to guild Macbeth to Duncan's room. Here, the dagger represents Macbeth's lost masculinity - it's called a phallic symbol - and he pursues this idea in the hopes of regaining the masculinity he has lost by being bullied around by his wife and the witches. However, the dagger is a trick - or a misunderstanding - because, by killing Duncan, Macbeth is actually betraying his masculinity yet further: men should remain loyal to their brotherhood, choosing their loyalty to state and job before loyalty to their wives. (It's worth remembering that Macduff is the hero of this play, and this is what he does - he chooses his loyalty to Malcolm over his loyalty to his wife.)

Macbeth is a terrible king. He was a great follower, but he's a lousy leader.

One of the key questions about his time on the throne is why he decided to make his guilt over killing Duncan even worse by killing Banquo, and then go all out for Macduff's wife and child as well. Friends, women and children made up the top three 'people real men aren't supposed to kill' and by the end, Macbeth has collected the set.

The main reason he killed Banquo was anger at the fact that although Macbeth had killed Duncan and suffered all the punishments that would come from that it would be Banquo's children who inherited the throne. But there's more to it than this: he says he "fears" Banquo's "royalty of nature," which suggests that Macbeth sees him as someone who is perhaps even more naturally suited to the throne than Macbeth feels. He also recognises that Banquo has "wisdom to guide his valour," which is something Macbeth doesn't have.

When thinking about Banquo though there's also a great line Macbeth delivers to his wife: she asks what Macbeth is doing about the issue of Banquo's children, and Macbeth says that she should "be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed." What he's basically showing here is that he's finally learnt everything she'd taught him: he couldn't lie at the beginning of the play, but now he can conceal the truth from her; and he couldn't kill ruthlessly at the beginning of the play but now he will do it. And why? Because he's desperate for her applause - he wants so much to please her that he'll even kill his closest friend for her.

The situation with Macduff's wife and children is quite similar as well. Why does Macbeth kill them? Partly because he's scared of losing the throne, but mainly it's because the witches told him to "beware Macduff." So in both instances, Macbeth's actions were partly driven by his own desire to keep the throne but were also quite significantly driven by the women who have been a constant driving force behind his actions from the opening of the play.

By the end of the play, Macbeth (who was a great servant, but not a very good leader) finally loses everything when he discovers that his wife has died. At this point in the play he delivers his "to-morrow and to-morrow" speech in which he declares that all life is basically meaningless.

This is telling: Macbeth was a great servant, he was amazing when he was being told what to do, but he was awful and making decisions for himself and his final ending really comes when he's lost his leader - his wife.

In any good ending though, the hero and the villain have specific areas in which they are polar opposites, and Macduff's relationship to women is completely opposite to Macbeth's:

Macbeth listened to his wife and betrayed his king by killing him; Macduff followed his king and betrayed his wife, leaving her to die.

Macbeth was consumed by the women in his life; while Macduff was as far as it is possible to be from womanhood: he wasn't even born of one; and in fact, his birth was an act of violence against a woman because he was "from his mother's womb untimely ripped."

Macbeth's story is a cautionary tale, warning men against listening to women. I can see why it's not a popular reading for fans of Shakespeare, but it is absolutely valid and is - I'd argue - a much closer and more accurate reading of the original text.

Brave Macbeth ... sword smoked with bloody execution

So fair and foul a day I have not seen

Why do I yield to that suggestion

We shall proceed no further in this business

He's here in double trust

Is that a dagger I see before me?

I heard a voice cry: "Sleep no more Macbeth hath murdered sleep."

To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus
Shows how Macbeth values security

I have scorpions in my mind, dear wife

I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er

(life) is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing