This essay is going to depict the moral decline of Macbeth. It will show how the language used provides imagery and detailed analysis of Macbeth’s state of mind.
Macbeth, in his first soliloquy, finds himself struggling with his conscience, over the possibility of regicide. He is concerned that the consequences he would face were vast, and that there are many reasons why he should not murder Duncan.
This first soliloquy clearly shows that these are his first thoughts on the matter, because of the haphazard way in which they are expressed. At the beginning of the soliloquy he has made no decision as to whether “the deed” will be undertaken, and at the end of the soliloquy he is still undecided, which is largely due to the intervention of Lady Macbeth.
The soliloquy opens with a euphemism of the word murder:
“If it were done.”
Macbeth uses this, and other, euphemisms because murderous thoughts are alien to him. Macbeth is portrayed by the language to be a very moral and conscientious man. The euphemisms show that the “horrid deed” abhors him, because he knows that regicide is a cardinal sin.
The soliloquy carries on by Macbeth describing his inner reasoning against the murder. Although Macbeth tells us that with the death of Duncan he would be successful, “With his surcease, success,” the word that Macbeth stressed was success. This implies that Macbeth is unsure whether this is the kind of success that he wants. This again shows the presence of a conscience within Macbeth.
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Lady Macbeth’s Unsex Me Soliloquy Analysis In 1.5. 36-53 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth delivers a sullen soliloquy which expresses her ambitious yet murderous thoughts, invoking dark spirits to, first, change and destroy her feminine nature, second, to let her feel no fear or guilt upon doing wicked acts such as murder, and then, third, to cover all of her vile and vicious crimes. By ...
Macbeth also uses spiritual reasoning against the murder. He claims that heaven will cry out “trumpet-tongued” against the deep damnation of his “taking off.” This indicates that Macbeth believes that such a horrifying deed would result in him “jumping the life to come,” that he would face punishment for eternity in hell. Macbeth also talks about a chalice. Churches would have used a chalice during the Holy Communion service, which emphasises images of light, love and good. However, Macbeth talks about a “poisoned chalice,” which leads to the opposite connotations: death as opposed to life, darkness as compared to light, evil instead of good.
Macbeth shows that he still has a conscience through the way he delivers this soliloquy. His use of euphemisms shows his anguish at the thought of murder.
Macbeth also has reasoning in his thought. In the Elizabethan Great Chain of Being, it was widely accepted that reason is what separated animals from mankind. Macbeth firmly believes in this, and decides that the act of regicide would reduce him to the level of animals:
“I dare do all that may become a man:
Who dares do more is none.”
Macbeth finally decides that his only motivation towards regicide is his ambition. Macbeth compares his ambition to a horse. A horse despite being very strong and powerful can still “overleap itself” or be over ambitious leading to its downfall “falls on the other”.
At the end of this soliloquy, Macbeth is still indecisive. He wants to be king, but does not want the unavoidable consequences of regicide. Throughout the soliloquy, Macbeth’s conscience is permanent.
Before Macbeth delivers the second of his soliloquies we are introduced to his wife Lady Macbeth. Under the power of the evil spirit who had “unsexed” her, Lady Macbeth goads Macbeth, convincing him that whether or not he had the courage to murder Duncan would be how she would “account his love”. The second soliloquy shows the effects that this constant goading and degradation has had on Macbeth since the first soliloquy.
Macbeth is now more easily recognisable as evil. It now seems that he is eager to murder Duncan:
“Come let me clutch thee.”
This shows that Macbeth is anticipating that the murder will be carried out. Instead of contemplating whether he will murder Duncan, he is now deciding how to murder Duncan.
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On Macbeths day of success he was greeted by three weird sisters, the witches, and in turn they said, the first witch to him, all hail to the thane of Gladis, this came as no surprise to him as he already held this title, the second witch then said to him, all hail thane of Cawdor, this interested him, he wondered why would he be made thane of Cawdor when the current thane of Cawdor was a noble ...
Macbeth is no longer using the reasoning, which separated him from animals, and has reduced himself to the level of an animal. The animal, which is mentioned, is the wolf, which in Macbeth’s age, was a symbol of witchcraft and evil, again showing that Macbeth is now predominantly evil.
His lack of reason is shown by the declining use of euphemisms. Although Macbeth still uses some euphemisms, his conscience is seared, and during this soliloquy he uses the word murder for the first time.
Macbeth uses a personification, in the form of Tarquin, to represent murder. Tarquin raped the last virtuous woman on the earth, Lucrece, which caused great moral decline. Likewise murder is also a sign of great moral decline.
Macbeth also uses an image of darkness, “Over the one half-world nature seems dead”. The forces of evil, which is represented by darkness, are causing the forces of good, represented by nature to seem dead. Macbeth believes that he is part of this darkness.
Macbeth’s evil thoughts are extreme enough for him to believe that “the bell invites him” to murder Duncan, when it is simply the ringing of the castle bell.
These two soliloquies show that Macbeth’s state of mind is changing. In the first soliloquy Macbeth’s conscience is pre-eminent, showing that he still has reason in his thoughts. However, this declines until the point when Macbeth is so dominantly evil, he has difficulty in deciding whether he is animal or man.
