The Importance Of Evil In Macbeth

“Better to be dead, to be nothing, than to base one’s joy upon destruction” (Frame, 48); In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the audience is engaged in a grueling tale of the bloodshed against evil. From a murderous man and his wife, to the victims of the play, evil deceives and curses every one. Not only does Shakespeare use the major characters in the play as cardinal illustrations of how the enticement of sin brings destruction, but also the minor characters who are inclined to give into evil inadvertently, by letting it seep in through the cracks. Early in the play, Duncan and Banquo, minor characters, permit evil into their lives and it leads them to their graves. For the Macbeths, who become the very instruments of darkness, …show more content…
First and foremost, Duncan’s fatal error presents itself as he is faced with the choice of trusting in a stranger. He speaks of how he was immensely foolish to be convinced so easily and be betrayed. But even so, in the same conversation he devotes his trust to Macbeth, mindlessly allowing evil to infect his life. As King of Scotland, Duncan should be deliberate on who he is vulnerable with, yet immediately after being betrayed and reflecting, “There’s no art/ To find the mind’s construction in the face./ He was a gentleman on whom I built/ An absolute trust,” he eats his own words (1.4.13-16). It is plain to see that Duncan has not learned his lesson with the Thane of Cawdor, and he blindly allows evil to crawl back into his kingdom. Unlike the Macbeth’s, Duncan in no way summons evil, yet he naively welcomes it. As …show more content…
Initially, Macbeth resists the urge to give in, but after tasting a bit of the sweet future promised to him, and persuasion from his wife, he succumbs all too easily. By the end of the first act Macbeth and Lady Macbeth directly pray to evil spirits, chasing after the riches that they seem to offer, but it costs them both their souls and ultimately their lives. From the start, Macbeth endangers his future the instant he allows the witches prophecies to infiltrate his mind as the truth. He trusts them, and welcomes the darkness they bring. Despite Banquo’s warning that the witches only intend to bring destruction, once alone, Macbeth verbalizes, "Two truths are told,/ As happy prologues to the swelling act/ Of the imperial theme,”(1.3.130-133). Because Macbeth immediately disregards his friend’s advice, it is apparent that Macbeth is very impressionable, and cannot hold off evil’s influence. In an instant, he is already sending a letter to his wife for her to rejoice. In the words of Frame “he has decided now that this ‘supernatural soliciting… cannot be ill’,” (Frame, 17). Not long after Macbeth puts his faith in the witches, he starts to spiral downwards. The turning point for Macbeth is when he invites the darkness in. He is already sensing the force of evil in his murderous thoughts, yet instead of pushing them