Fear of Failure
Through a process called potentiating, the more scared you feel the scarier thing will seem. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the thane of Glamis and General Macbeth is brought prophecies by three witches and he chooses to take action and rush the process. Fear of failure leads to Macbeth committing his crimes because he is afraid of failing to be a good husband, failing to be a good friend, and failing to hold his position as king. As a result, the character Macbeth demonstrates how fear can make people act irrationally.
Macbeth encounters several problems throughout the play but he always tries to be a good husband. Fear of being a bad husband leads Macbeth to go against his own choices. An example is when Macbeth says:
“I am settled and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with the fairest show,
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” (Macbeth 1.7.79-83)
In this scene Macbeth decides that he does not want to kill Duncan but is bullied by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth taunts him and calls him a coward; during the Elizabethan Era this was very insulting because status and position was everything. Not wanting to be a bad husband, Macbeth chooses to do the deed. As the story progresses Macbeth makes his own evil decisions trying to surprise his wife. This is clear when he says: “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,
Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day
And with the bloody and invisible hand
Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond” (Macbeth 3.2.45-49)
In this quote we can see Macbeth is keeping things from Lady Macbeth to surprise her later on. This shows that even though Macbeth has achieved great power he does not want to fail being a good husband and still wants to please her. Macbeth isn’t only scared of failing to be a good husband but is also afraid of being a bad friend.
Even though Macbeth is an evil tyrant and committed several crimes he still has some decency throughout the play. Macbeth is afraid to be a bad friend. Macbeth’s fear of failing to be a good friend is evident when he says:
“We will proceed no further in this business.
He hath honour’d me of late,
This quote reveals that Lady Macbeth is an extremely ambitious and unscrupulous woman. However Macbeth contradicts to Lady Macbeth, as he is too kind by nature to complete what needs to be done even though he consists the ambition. Macbeth’s goodness does not allow him to act heinously and murder Duncan in order to seize the throne. As Lady Macbeth shows her anxiety towards Macbeth she also states ““That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top- full of direst cruelty”(1.5. 48-50). The quote shows Lady Macbeth’s no hesitation in murdering King Duncan. Her feelings contradict to Macbeth. Macbeth shows anxiety and extreme fear as he begins to feel mix feelings. The quote shows that Lady Macbeth’s ambition is strong to overcome her husband. Even after Lady Macbeth Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth states “ My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white”(2.2, 82-83) while Macbeth was crying that he hears voices and states that he heard voices- “Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”(2.2. 47-48). It is clear during the murder of Duncan that the two characters- Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have changed the ideal role between genders. Lady Macbeth contradicts to the expectation of women during the 11th century as she controls over her husband. She leads her husband who should have power over her to murder the loyal king of Scotland as well as
up being driven mad by the guilt and she ends up taking her own life
Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth the first push to kill Duncan, and she wants to be ruthless, feel no remorse so that she and her husband will successfully kill Duncan. She desires to “stop up th’ access and passage to remorse” (Shakespeare 1.5.51) so that she will not feel bad about the murder. She persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan, but he struggles afterward when he does not follow the plan and forgets to put back the daggers he cannot face the evil act he has committed. Lady Macbeth is satisfied after Macbeth is king, but that is not enough for him any longer. Eventually the killings take a toll on Macbeth’s mental state, and the guilt he begins to feel is unbearable. Macbeth kills Duncan and then says “this is a sorry sight”
EXAMPLE 1: Macbeth’s fear of the unknown and of the future has driven him to seek certainty as his one objective.
Through the soliloquy, the audience gains insight into Macbeth’s innermost thoughts. He names multiple reasons as to why he should not kill King Duncan, noting that Duncan is his guest, kinsman and a good king. He also admits that the only motive he has is the “Vaulting ambition” residing inside of him. Here he names his own hamartia, his fatal flaw, and acknowledges that to give in and commit such a deed, would result in his “deep damnation”. While still undecided on the matter, Lady Macbeth enters, and, seeing his indecision she decides to manipulate him into the decision that suits her; for after all, she is almost if not as ambitious as her husband. By questioning his manhood, his bravery, even their marriage, she successfully leads him to make the choice to kill the king. We now must realise that although the witches’ prophecies and Lady Macbeth’s taunts were a catalyst for Macbeth’s treachery, they never force him to make these errors in judgement; it must have been something that was already inside of him that caused him to decide this. There must have been some inherent evil already a part of his character.
This is shown many times throughout the play; she thinks she can do everything that is needed to be done with killing Duncan, because she is not a “coward” but when it comes to her making the attempt to do so she chickens out because she finds Duncan to resemble her father to much when he is sleeping. She tells Macbeth everything will be fine as long as he doesn’t show his fear. She does not understand that she has a much stronger conscience then she is aware of. The play reads, “Only look up clear; / To alter favour ever is to fear: / Leave all the rest to me.” (Act I, v, 79-81) This statement is very important because it shows that Lady Macbeth is very confident in herself. She is saying that Macbeth just needs to stand there and look pretty, and sell himself to everyone mean while she will plan out everything else, involving this horrid murder. Much later in the novel she starts to feel very guilty for the murder of Duncan, and eventually falls ill, ridden in guilt. Lady Macbeth has mentally wired herself to act as though nothing will get through to her, it is like she is an iron wall, she thinks nothing can get through, but in reality, the wall is nonexistent, and her conscience is very strong, it is just not present at the necessary times. As well as Lady Macbeth’s blindness to her conscience and guilt, she is blind to the consequences that come with doing
As being the dominated one in their relationship Lady Macbeth uses all her control over Macbeth to make Macbeth murder king Duncan. She also challenges his patriarchy to make him murder the King. For example, when Lady Macbeth says "When you durst do it, then you were a man." Now that Macbeth is trying to back out of it, Lady Macbeth is calling him a coward and torments him to do the murdering. She also says " Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem'st the ornament of life and live a coward in thine own esteem..." In other words, Lady Macbeth uses the power of love to persuade him. She also says if you love me you would kill him straight away with no hesitation. Lady Macbeth says "I have given suck and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums and dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this." In this quotation Lady Macbeth stirs Macbeth even more when Lady Macbeth challenges their love relationship on the basis of the decision, he eventually gives in and murders King Duncan.
Macbeth is confused as he is arguing with himself on what he should do. He states reasons not to kill Duncan, because Macbeth is his noble kinsmen and the act would bring dishonor. However, he also states reason why he should kill him, because Macbeth will then become king and fulfill the witches ' fortune. Lady Macbeth, who appears in the beginning as the driving force for the murder of King Duncan, also develops internal conflict. At first, Lady Macbeth seems to be a woman of extreme confidence and will. But, as situations become more and more unstable in the play, guilt develops inside her. For instance, she exclaims; "Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. / Look not so pale. I tell you again, Banquo 's / Burried; he cannot come out on 's grave" (Shakespeare V, ii, 65-67). Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and frets about her evil wrongdoings because she is extremely guilty of her influence on Macbeth to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth reacts emotionally and dwells on her actions as guilt eats at her soul.
Lady Macbeth provides a scheme for Macbeth to assassinate the King. She is manipulative and persuasive in corrupting Macbeth s judgement. “What beast was’t then that you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.” (Act I. Sc.VII) In this quote, Lady Macbeth is agitating Macbeth by saying he is not a man if he does not do what he says he is going to do, which is to murder the king of course.
After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable
Throughout the play “Macbeth” Shakespeare uses multiple examples of strong diction, paradox, metaphors, and imagery to demonstrate the theme that fate is inevitable. These examples also help emphasize that the witches are in control of Macbeth's severe and hostile actions throughout the tragic play. Without the witches prophecies the idea of murder would have never crossed Macbeth’s mind. After the witches informed Macbeth that he would soon become king he was willed to do anything to make sure this bizarre prophecy would come true.
Lady Macbeth is a very egocentric woman. She fails to have any concern over Macbeth’s interests, and she does not consider his decisions. This lack of care for her husband is shown many times throughout the play, and it is more predominantly shown in the first two acts. Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth has the same viewpoints as her. Because of this, instead of asking if he wants to do something, she tells him what they are going to do. If Macbeth tries to protest against her thoughts or actions, she convinces him to believe in her and do as she says using a variety of tactics. Lady Macbeth does not have Macbeth’s best interest at heart because she manipulated him, she took matters into her own hand,
In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare I found at the beginning the character Macbeth was a portrayed as a noble, honest and brave man. As said by the captain in the second scene, ‘For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that title’ (I.2.16). This gives the audience an indication that Macbeth was highly respected by the king’s men and the king himself. His desire for power grew throughout the play from when he had his first encounter with the witches.
Macbeth's internal combination of ambition and passivity create his susceptibility to the witch's prophecies and allow him to commit murderous deeds, but his unwillingness to take action-and to do evil-create his internal conflict that ultimately leads to his downfall. Although Lady Macbeth tries to goad Macbeth into action, it is Macbeth's character flaw that causes him to take action. At first Macbeth is unwilling to murder Duncan, citing his loyalty to Duncan
In the beginning of the play Macbeth is known as good, he is a noble man and does what he is told. The townspeople all have great things to say about him they state, “Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly and shall continue our graces towards him” (18, Act 1, scene 6). He is known for being loyal to King Duncan. Macbeth is then forced by his wife to kill Duncan and his decision changes him. Macbeth has an internal battle over whether he should listen to his wife or do what is morally right. When Macbeth decides that he has to