William Shakespeare: The Tragedy of "Macbeth"

In the play Macbeth we see that Shakespeare captures many elements of his society and reflects them in the play. Shakespeare highlights the good and evil traits that reside in people, the overthrow of natural order and subsequent guilt. The supernatural, the divine right of kings and the great chain of being are some of the major beliefs of Shakespeare’s society, of which he deeply explores in the play. These key issues and elements within the play Macbeth clearly reflect what society during the Jacobean Era experienced and believed. Shakespeare explores the transition from good to evil in his play Macbeth and how associating with the supernatural can initiate this transition. Shakespeare primarily portrays this issue through the character Macbeth, displaying how power can quickly corrupt a man, changing his judgments from good to evil. During the Jacobean Era some values that were considered good were loyalty and courage, and evil was represented by traits such as treachery and dishonesty. Witches and the act of witchcraft are an example of what was considered evil during this era and were associated as the cause of darkness and death. So as we see the transition of Macbeth, a noble man to a tyrant, this is a reflection of the renaissance belief that the supernatural can lead great people to do terrible deeds. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is depicted as a good man by refusing to kill the king,”…his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Through the symbolism of shutting the door to protect the king makes Macbeths later act that much more betraying. Later in the play we are shown that due to the tempting urge to fulfill his prophecy given by the supernatural beings, the evil overcomes Macbeth, “ I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” At this point, in order for Macbeth to gain more power he decides he must kill the King. Ultimately Macbeth’s actions result in the unlawful gaining of the crown. Macbeth begins to abuse his unfairly gained power and Scotland begins to fall under his tyrannical rain. Macduff recognizes Macbeth’s abuse of power and sympathises for his country, “bleed, bleed poor country”, through this quote Shakespeare uses imagery to portray how the horrible reign of the king poorly affects his country. This was used to represent to the audience the consequence of killing the king, and how correlating with the supernatural can lead a good person to this terrible act of betrayal and evil. After the murder of King Duncan during the play, Shakespeare depicts an overthrow of natural order. The murder established a series of chaotic and unnatural events, due to Macbeth’s terrible doing, unsettling the divine right of Kings. During the Jacobean Era it was believed that the king was the supreme upholder of order on earth and any treachery against the King was considered an indirect sin against God. Following the death of Duncan, the old man and Ross discuss the horrible darkness beginning to cover the earth, strongly believing that the dreadful weather’s cause was due to the murder of their king; “Tis unnatural, even like the deed that’s done.” Another result of upsetting the divine right of kings was the extremely unfeasible killing of a falcon by a regular owl, told by the old man “A falcon, towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d” Shakespeare uses such imagery to portray the awfully unnatural experience as a direct result from the murder of the King. Another, particularly disturbing, unnatural event following was the wild fight between two of Duncan’s best horses, “… they eat each other” the old man says to Ross, also a clear example of Shakespeare’s belief that Killing a king will result in the over throw of natural order.

Shakespeare’s also successfully captures the subsequent guilt both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience due to upsetting the great chain of being. Both characters within the play are affected by their heavy guilt due to their unthought-of of actions. In fact, so much so that it drives Lady Macbeth over the edge of her sanity, and to her demise. During the Jacobean Era it was believed that everything and everyone was arranged in a certain order. Any break in the chain of being, such as killing the King, was a disturbance of the order of the universe and believed to create immense turmoil. After the murder of Duncan Macbeth is very shaken by his wicked act. Killing a king was an unforgivable sin and Macbeth knows only chaos could follow; "Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more". Further evidence of this subsequent guilt, is after the arranged murder of Macbeths own friend, Banquo, his ghost appears and Macbeth states “I am in blood Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er” the descriptive language shows he knows he has killed so many and is so covered in blood that he can no longer turn back and seek salvation. Lady Macbeth also had a role in upsetting the great chain of being and as a result also suffers the consequential guilt, driving her insanity, as she tries wash the non-existent blood from her hands “Out damned spot, out I say” this symbolism is used to show Lady Macbeth attempting to wash the guilt of murdering Duncan from her conscience. Shakespeare throughout the play represents that the disturbance of the great chain of being will result in this subsequent guilt, which can, and in this case will, bring you to a horrible demise.

Therefore throughout Macbeth we see how Shakespeare captures key issues within the play and reflects them through his context. He explores how the evil can be brought out of people through the association with supernatural and also how upsetting the divine right of Kings can result in the overthrow of natural order, resulting in immense chaos. Lastly he depicts how disturbing the great chain of being generally results in subsequent guilt and can lead great people to a terrible downfall. The particular issues explored in the play of the good and evil traits that reside in people, the overthrow of natural order and subsequent guilt are all effectively captured in the play and are a clear reflection of Shakespeare’s society’s experiences and beliefs.

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