William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a story of greed, guilt, and mystery. Throughout the play, we see these concepts take shape in many different ways, from the protagonist Macbeth killing of the former king, Duncan, then killing his friend, to apparitions of ghosts and witches. But all of these driving factors revolve around one key element, insanity and decent into madness. Shakespeare heavily relies on hallucinations and insanity to not only set the tone of the play, but to drive the actions of the main characters. Although many factors go into characterizing the protagonist of the play, -- the one with the most impact -- the one element that truly drives the play is Macbeth’s decent into madness. The shift in character from an honorable soldier
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This further drives Macbeth’s insanity, as his weak mental state leaves him vulnerable to manipulation, especially to a close individual such as Lady Macbeth. Upon hearing that Macbeth would not kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth uses pride and manliness to get Macbeth back to his murderous ideas, “As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,‘” (1.7 42-45). This drives Macbeth then to kill Duncan, and thus afterwards, to kill Banquo, as his murderous paranoia leads him to believe that Banquo could conspire and threaten his position as king. Stimulated by Lady Macbeth, Banquo’s killing was done without her direct orders, which clearly shows just how far from sanity Macbeth is. Just a few scenes ago, his ideas were drowned with self-doubt, only to have Lady Macbeth push his ambitions to fruition. Now, driven by his paranoia, he takes it upon himself to use the tool of murder he knew well from war to remove (through his clouded decision making) anyone he sees as a threat to his throne. If it were not for Lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed to become queen, through Macbeth’s shown indecisiveness in Act one scene seven, it is clear that Macbeth would not have begun his slippery decent into madness after killing King
This further drives Macbeth’s insanity, as his weak mental state leaves him vulnerable to manipulation, especially to a close individual such as Lady Macbeth. Upon hearing that Macbeth would not kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth uses pride and manliness to get Macbeth back to his murderous ideas, “As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,‘” (1.7 42-45). This drives Macbeth then to kill Duncan, and thus afterwards, to kill Banquo, as his murderous paranoia leads him to believe that Banquo could conspire and threaten his position as king. Stimulated by Lady Macbeth, Banquo’s killing was done without her direct orders, which clearly shows just how far from sanity Macbeth is. Just a few scenes ago, his ideas were drowned with self-doubt, only to have Lady Macbeth push his ambitions to fruition. Now, driven by his paranoia, he takes it upon himself to use the tool of murder he knew well from war to remove (through his clouded decision making) anyone he sees as a threat to his throne. If it were not for Lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed to become queen, through Macbeth’s shown indecisiveness in Act one scene seven, it is clear that Macbeth would not have begun his slippery decent into madness after killing King