Macbeth As A Butcher
At the end of the play, Malcolm describes Macbeth as a butcher. Do you think Macbeth is merely presented as a butcher?
I somewhat disagree with Malcom’s view that Macbeth is ‘merely’ portrayed as a butcher, but rather has an excessive ambition influenced by other characters enabling him to endure ‘butcher’ tendencies. It seems unjust for Malcolm to describe Macbeth as a “dead butcher” because at the beginning of the play he is a Scottish nobleman and shows courage and bravery in battle. He killed many enemies in the war but no one in cold blood and so he clearly isn’t a butcher at this point. He is praised as “O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman.” which means he is highly respected.
It is also evident that Macbeth is influenced by the witch’s prophecy. When they say that Macbeth will become king, he gets overcome with greed and ambition and strives for a higher status. The words “If heaven shall have me king, why heaven shall crown me!” foreshadow how Macbeth is eager about gaining power. Therefore Shakespeare demonstrates how disrupting the natural order of things creates the consequences of suffering, evil and death. This leads me to question is Macbeth a dark gothic character from the outset or is it because he came across the supernatural “weird sisters”?
Lady Macbeth also seems to have a definite influence on Macbeth’s decisions. When she receives the letter from her husband about the witches prediction she realises that Duncan must killed. She thinks that Macbeth deserves to be great but also believes he is too noble to do such a thing. “Yet do I fear thy nature (…) it is too full o’ the milk of human-kindness to catch the nearest way. However at this point, although Macbeth wants to be king, he does not want to kill Duncan “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Part of this soliloquy shows the caring side of Macbeth and it is evident he is aware of the consequences …surely a bloody butcher wouldn’t think in much detail like Macbeth does? What’s more, Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth’s conscience will jeopardise his ambitions and because of this she resolves to use punishing words to leave all doubt, and encourages him to do the deed that will make him king. “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round.” The negative sematic field of bribery and seduction perhaps leaves Macbeth with no choice.
Macbeth then decides to kill Duncan, with his major flaw, ambition, as the main influence to his decision. After murdering Duncan Macbeth is extremely frightened and regrets to killing Duncan “Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!” this shows that Macbeth has regrets about what he has done because he was clearly doing something that was alien to his nature. He is now a killer and its despicable (especially to A Shakespearian audience as in them times kings were respected like god due to the divine right of kings) what he has done to the King, but he was not a senseless butcher. In his mind, Macbeth had a reason - ignited by the witch’s prophecies. Macbeth killed the servants brutally, but again he killed them for a reason. For Banquo, he only killed him due to fear knowing about the murder of Duncan. “Our fears in Banquo stick deep”. The ghost of Banquo has also shown that Macbeth had a conscience…would a butcher have a conscience?
Before Macbeth was king he was acting on his ambition, but by the end of Act 3 Scene 4 he is fighting for his survival. He then realises that he has come too far and he cannot stop at just killing King Duncan and Banquo. “I am in blood Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” The fact that he has “stepped” too far also suggests that he’s not a butcher, it’s just that he has no choice in the matter because he cannot go back to being good after everything he’s done. He has also come to distrust everybody, especially Macduff. This is shown when Macduff leaves the country and we see that now Macbeth is truly turned evil when he orders for Macduff’s family to be killed. This is the main example of where Macbeth can be depicted as butcher because the family have done nothing wrong, but he kills them in order to hurt Macduff. This is a particularly brutal to kill an innocent family. But by this time Macbeth is so full of power, ambition and assurance he will do anything to get what he strives for. It’s as if his desperation has caused him to become evil because he know he has nothing left to lose with his “fruitless crown”.
By the end of the play Macbeth realises the end has come and as he prepares to defend the castle, he still hopes that the witch’s prophecies are true. While fighting, Macbeth does not want to kill Macduff, because of the hurt already caused by killing his family “My soul is too much charged with blood of thine already.” Believing that the witch’s prediction that “none of woman born” could harm him, he is unafraid of Macduff. However when he finds out that Macduff was born by caesarean he realises that the witches have basically used their ‘powers’ of trickery and deceit and lied to him. Macbeth then knows that Macduff will kill him but he cannot bear the thought of being subservient to Malcolm and exhibited like a freak “I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet”. Therefore he chooses to die fighting, “yet I will try the last. Before my body, I throw my warlike shield”.
It is clear to see that Macbeth is not a butcher, but started out as a good man with the flaw of ambition. Even Lady Macbeth’s suffering and regret is obvious, which I never would have expected! This is shown by her sleepwalking and suicide “out, damned spot!”(…) “What’s done cannot be undone”. And that’s why Malcolm describing them as “a dead butcher and a fiend-like queen” is unjust and inaccurate. Although, it is easy to see why he describes Macbeth in this particular way from his characters point of view because he is King Duncan’s son thus perhaps he feels this way towards him for killing his father and the fact that he killed Macduff’s family because Macduff came for help to Malcolm for his family and his home county, Scotland.
Macbeth’s downfall is encapsulated by his voting ambition for him to be great, which was ignited by the witches’ prophecy. Macbeth’s indecision on whether he should kill Duncan or not, also shows us that ruthless aggression does not come that easily to him. I agree that Macbeth is capable of enduring actions of a ‘butcher’, however I disagree with Malcom that Macbeth is ‘merely portrayed as a butcher’. Although Macbeth can be seen as a butcher several times throughout the play, he can also be considered as a tragic hero. This is because he was a potentially great man who had a hamartia – he was too ambitious and went about to get these ambitions in the wrong way. Thinking about it, if his qualities had been put to good use instead of evil, he would have probably been a good leader due to his brave and heroic military background. Shakespeare also enables us to see his distressed emotions and difficulties through the use of soliloquys throughout the play reflecting his troubled internal mind, which one could argue a butcher does not possess.
I somewhat disagree with Malcom’s view that Macbeth is ‘merely’ portrayed as a butcher, but rather has an excessive ambition influenced by other characters enabling him to endure ‘butcher’ tendencies. It seems unjust for Malcolm to describe Macbeth as a “dead butcher” because at the beginning of the play he is a Scottish nobleman and shows courage and bravery in battle. He killed many enemies in the war but no one in cold blood and so he clearly isn’t a butcher at this point. He is praised as “O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman.” which means he is highly respected.
It is also evident that Macbeth is influenced by the witch’s prophecy. When they say that Macbeth will become king, he gets overcome with greed and ambition and strives for a higher status. The words “If heaven shall have me king, why heaven shall crown me!” foreshadow how Macbeth is eager about gaining power. Therefore Shakespeare demonstrates how disrupting the natural order of things creates the consequences of suffering, evil and death. This leads me to question is Macbeth a dark gothic character from the outset or is it because he came across the supernatural “weird sisters”?
Lady Macbeth also seems to have a definite influence on Macbeth’s decisions. When she receives the letter from her husband about the witches prediction she realises that Duncan must killed. She thinks that Macbeth deserves to be great but also believes he is too noble to do such a thing. “Yet do I fear thy nature (…) it is too full o’ the milk of human-kindness to catch the nearest way. However at this point, although Macbeth wants to be king, he does not want to kill Duncan “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Part of this soliloquy shows the caring side of Macbeth and it is evident he is aware of the consequences …surely a bloody butcher wouldn’t think in much detail like Macbeth does? What’s more, Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth’s conscience will jeopardise his ambitions and because of this she resolves to use punishing words to leave all doubt, and encourages him to do the deed that will make him king. “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round.” The negative sematic field of bribery and seduction perhaps leaves Macbeth with no choice.
Macbeth then decides to kill Duncan, with his major flaw, ambition, as the main influence to his decision. After murdering Duncan Macbeth is extremely frightened and regrets to killing Duncan “Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!” this shows that Macbeth has regrets about what he has done because he was clearly doing something that was alien to his nature. He is now a killer and its despicable (especially to A Shakespearian audience as in them times kings were respected like god due to the divine right of kings) what he has done to the King, but he was not a senseless butcher. In his mind, Macbeth had a reason - ignited by the witch’s prophecies. Macbeth killed the servants brutally, but again he killed them for a reason. For Banquo, he only killed him due to fear knowing about the murder of Duncan. “Our fears in Banquo stick deep”. The ghost of Banquo has also shown that Macbeth had a conscience…would a butcher have a conscience?
Before Macbeth was king he was acting on his ambition, but by the end of Act 3 Scene 4 he is fighting for his survival. He then realises that he has come too far and he cannot stop at just killing King Duncan and Banquo. “I am in blood Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” The fact that he has “stepped” too far also suggests that he’s not a butcher, it’s just that he has no choice in the matter because he cannot go back to being good after everything he’s done. He has also come to distrust everybody, especially Macduff. This is shown when Macduff leaves the country and we see that now Macbeth is truly turned evil when he orders for Macduff’s family to be killed. This is the main example of where Macbeth can be depicted as butcher because the family have done nothing wrong, but he kills them in order to hurt Macduff. This is a particularly brutal to kill an innocent family. But by this time Macbeth is so full of power, ambition and assurance he will do anything to get what he strives for. It’s as if his desperation has caused him to become evil because he know he has nothing left to lose with his “fruitless crown”.
By the end of the play Macbeth realises the end has come and as he prepares to defend the castle, he still hopes that the witch’s prophecies are true. While fighting, Macbeth does not want to kill Macduff, because of the hurt already caused by killing his family “My soul is too much charged with blood of thine already.” Believing that the witch’s prediction that “none of woman born” could harm him, he is unafraid of Macduff. However when he finds out that Macduff was born by caesarean he realises that the witches have basically used their ‘powers’ of trickery and deceit and lied to him. Macbeth then knows that Macduff will kill him but he cannot bear the thought of being subservient to Malcolm and exhibited like a freak “I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet”. Therefore he chooses to die fighting, “yet I will try the last. Before my body, I throw my warlike shield”.
It is clear to see that Macbeth is not a butcher, but started out as a good man with the flaw of ambition. Even Lady Macbeth’s suffering and regret is obvious, which I never would have expected! This is shown by her sleepwalking and suicide “out, damned spot!”(…) “What’s done cannot be undone”. And that’s why Malcolm describing them as “a dead butcher and a fiend-like queen” is unjust and inaccurate. Although, it is easy to see why he describes Macbeth in this particular way from his characters point of view because he is King Duncan’s son thus perhaps he feels this way towards him for killing his father and the fact that he killed Macduff’s family because Macduff came for help to Malcolm for his family and his home county, Scotland.
Macbeth’s downfall is encapsulated by his voting ambition for him to be great, which was ignited by the witches’ prophecy. Macbeth’s indecision on whether he should kill Duncan or not, also shows us that ruthless aggression does not come that easily to him. I agree that Macbeth is capable of enduring actions of a ‘butcher’, however I disagree with Malcom that Macbeth is ‘merely portrayed as a butcher’. Although Macbeth can be seen as a butcher several times throughout the play, he can also be considered as a tragic hero. This is because he was a potentially great man who had a hamartia – he was too ambitious and went about to get these ambitions in the wrong way. Thinking about it, if his qualities had been put to good use instead of evil, he would have probably been a good leader due to his brave and heroic military background. Shakespeare also enables us to see his distressed emotions and difficulties through the use of soliloquys throughout the play reflecting his troubled internal mind, which one could argue a butcher does not possess.