The Deterioration of Macbeth Essay

The Deterioration of Macbeth

Most readers of Shakespeares Macbeth understand that the play is a tragedy and that the conclusion of the play is brought about by the tragic flaw of the plays hero. Macbeths tragic flaw is his ambitious nature. The play shows the arc of a man who is destroyed by his own ambition. In doing so, a great irony is displayed to the plays audience. As he becomes more ambitious and successful, his actual personal power and sanity decrease. The higher his ambition climbs, the more diminished he actually becomes. The climax of the play takes place just as the audience realizes that Macbeth has been totally overcome by his own strong ambition and lust for power. Macbeths attainment of power has resulted in his personal disintegration and downfall.

From the moment that Macbeth is honored as the Thane of Cawdor, Shakespeare predicts that this appointment may prove tragic for Macbeth. In Act One, Scene 3, Macbeth alludes to the fact that his average clothes are not appropriate for a Thane: The Thane of Cawdor lives; why do you dress me/In borrowd robes? (1.3.113-114). There is an implication that he is stepping into a role of deceit. It is deceit that proves to be the first part of his inner crisis and eventual personal deterioration. Later in the play, during Macbeths soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 7, Shakespeare shows the audience that Macbeth is acutely aware that he is at the edge of self-destruction: I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which oerleaps itself/ And falls on the other side (1.7.26-28). The fact that he understands that ambition is the basis of his crisis only results in an additional layer of irony in the play. This is because Macbeth intentionally ignores his conscience. The soliloquy shows that he knows right from wrong and that also sees that Duncan is a better man than he is and a better ruler.

At the end of Act 1 Scene 7, Macbeth acknowledges that he has become someone other than his true self: False face must hide what the false heart doth know (1.7. 93). His use of the world false is likely to be interpreted to mean his entire life and not just the face he is putting on as a murderer. After Macbeth murders Duncan, he tells Lady Macbeth that he feels as though he has murdered sleep. This seems to be a strange idea, but he explains to Lady Macbeth that sleep, for him, was lost when he murdered Duncan: Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more!/Macbeth does Murder sleep, (2.2. 43-44). This simple line serves two purposes of suggesting that Macbeth is starting to go insane and also that, he has murdered the heart of peace in his own life and world. From here on out, Macbeth can be regarded as being at war with himself. The first Act of the play and most of the actions that come before Duncan's murder shows a "cold war" that is happening inside Macbeth. The cold war is brewing. It is pretty obvious that it will eventually turn "hot. After Duncan's murder, it begins to seem as though Macbeth is actually divided into two warring minds in one body. The side of Macbeth that "murdered sleep" has proven to be a threat not only to Duncan, but to Macbeth himself. This side of Macbeth is obviously the side that is consumed with ambition, which is the polar opposite of sleep.

As Macbeth moves deeper into the a war with himself, he begins to turn against the process of living. His words and actions show a man who is tired of living, but he remains consumed by ambition. He continues to murder and to plot to kill anyone who might stand in the way of his ambitions and yet he also seems to have given up on life and being happy. In Act 3 Scene 2, Macbeth acknowledges "There's nothing serious in mortality: /All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;" (3.2 94-95). This statement shows not only that Macbeth is starting to have constant thoughts of death, but that these thoughts are "nothing serious" and that he is through with the trappings of life. These are the types of emotional states and thoughts that are typical among depressed and suicidal people. This state of mind, contrasted with Macbeth's endless ambition, forms his inner conflict. This inner conflict steers the tension of the play and also expresses its theme. Even though Shakespeare was trying to display the negative impact of consuming ambition, he was also trying to show the emptiness of accomplishment that is created from this type of ambition. The message of the play is that life is meaningful and meant to be lived regardless of grand ambitions and that driving ambition actually sucks the life out of the ambitious person and those unfortunate enough to be around them. It is important to state the difference between the theme of self-destructive ambition and empty-success. The theme of empty-success brings an ironic sting with it that increases the overall sense of tragedy. If Macbeth simply engineered his own downfall by consuming ambition the play would be tragic. Fair is foul, and foul is fair, (1.1 12). On the opposite side, by constructing the play so that it shows Macbeth's ambition increasing even as his zest for life itself dies, the tragedy becomes profound and powerful.

For most people, the tragedy of Macbeth will probably just represent what happens to a man who is consumed with extreme greed and ambition. However, the truth of the play is that all of us are involved in ambition in some way or another and that our ambition may often put us at war with ourselves. The reason for this is because ambition is usually fired by an outside agent and we begin living in a way that is against our own nature. The play of Macbeth shows what kind of bitterness and anger can result from the failure of self-honesty and integrity in the face of personal weakness. This final irony, that Macbeth is violent but weak, shows that ambition, in Shakespeare's mind, actually worked as a force of self-maiming, rater than a path to glory and achievement.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Nicholas Brooke. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.