Shakespeare in the play Macbeth powerfully portrays the vision of evil. Evil refers to the absence or total lack of good. The form of opposing the desires and needs of other individuals is evil. Characters of evil are usually humans, and the virtue of evil can be at least tied to a source. One can make an observation that evil is of three types: moral metaphysical and physical evil. For physical kind of evil it refers to the harm done to a human being that can result into bodily harm and injuries, thwarting needs of people or by hindering the progress of others whether by order of nature or the conditions presented in existence of humans. The impact of this kind of evil can be seen in resulting in death, sickness, among others. In today's society instances of evil include oppressions from those in power. Moral evil, on the other hand, can be understood as the deviance seen in human volition from what is set as the moral order of the society and also as actions that arise as a result of deviation. Moral evil is mostly scrutinized through the lens and sphere of religion where one has to follow a strict supernatural order and perceptions considered to be the will of God. Moral evil is regarded as sin under religion. Lastly, evil can be categorized as metaphysical, which is considered as a limitation of nature. It is the imperfectness of life that is inevitable. For this paper, we are going to look into the character Macbeth created by William Shakespeare and how the character's behaviors portray the theme of evil.
William Shakespeare in the play 'Macbeth' gives a presentation of two characters whom he frequently associates with deeds of evil. The two characters are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. When the play commences, Macbeth comes into contact with sisters who consider themselves to be witches and they surprise him after one goes ahead to call him out in his proper title yet he does not know them. The women show that they are okay with evil in society as they shower him with praises. Initially, Macbeth is portrayed as a violent person, but his wife seems to be eviler since she is ruthless and manipulates Macbeth. Macbeth in scene one act three, he develops evil thoughts of killing King Duncan, but again he later feels like it is a wicked and evil deed. The wife, on the other hand, considers this as a weakness, and she believes that Macbeth is too kind and she makes a comparison of him to a baby.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Lady Macbeth later reads a letter she receives from Macbeth on his adventures. He tells her on her encounter with the witches and the victory he had on the battle. Lady Macbeth promptly tries to summon evil spirits to be strong and not weak like Macbeth ( Sinha, 2016). She believes that the evil spirits can grant her powers so that she can be brutal and cruel, unlike her husband. Most of the words that Lady Macbeth uses are indicative of evil and these terminologies is "raven." Considering a raven is a predator that feeds on dead animals then she is also very evil. Her summons to the evil spirits is all aimed to make her stronger and provide her with braveness so that she can commit murder. Lady Macbeth is cunning and sly, and at one point she uses euphemisms, but in the real sense, she is referring to the killing of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth uses the words "He that's coming must be provided for, and you shall put This night's great business into my dispatch" with the aim of convincing and persuading Macbeth to kill so that he can also become evil. He convinces Macbeth to look innocent but with malicious intentions that the King will not notice. That alone portrays lady Macbeth as a cold-hearted person.
Later on, Macbeth is faced with second thoughts on murdering the King since he fears for his reputation, but consistent threats from lady Macbeth on the withdrawal of her love changes his mind. Later on, Macbeth kills the King, and he feels remorseful about it. Despite all these, Macbeth does not right his wrongs. Instead, he goes ahead to be more inhuman as he plots other deaths including that of Banquo. By the end of the play, we see a Macbeth who is running a bloody tyranny and tied to sorrows resulting from failure in his reign, family and he seems a condemned man. Macbeth at first appears to be the right person with a good reputation. his flaws are seen at the way he is easily convinced into doing bad. He has a weakness of quickly being persuaded, and at the end, he ends up being an evil person.as for lady Macbeth she is an evil person from the start with a deceiving character. She plots the assassination of the King, but she cannot commit the act. The lady believes that leading can only involve brutality and cruelty. She accepts the witches, and her constant plea to the evil spirits does not help in describing her as an evil woman
What brought the end of the reign of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seemed to be the sinful nature that had swallowed them up. Their evil eventually destroys both of them as no soul is capable of holding and living with so much darkness ( Schoenbaum, 2015). Macbeth knew that there was no way he could defeat MacDuff but still goes ahead to battle with him. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is overwhelmed with sadness and thoughts of her deeds could not leave her dreams. She is haunted by the evil deeds that finally drive her to her death. Her decline was consisting of her denial for humanity as she turns against it. Earlier we saw how she consistently steeled and convinced Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Herself she was unable to do the act with an excuse that the King had a resemblance of her father when he slept.
In my opinion, Shakespeare defines evil as a going against the natural order or nature of the world. It may not be necessary to determine evil as physical alone since from the thought of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare reveals that even a wrong idea is evil itself. Shakespeare defines evil as something that cannot be compatible with humanity because from the play both Macbeth and lady Macbeth are later tormented with their evil deeds to the point of their demise. He tries to portray the good part through the acts of Macduff who from the play is a man of virtue.
According to me, the hero of the play will be Macduff. Macduff goes ahead to protect and defend Scotland. All these he does at the expense of his family that he leaves behind. He consistently shows hostility towards the reign of Macbeth. Macbeth plays a vital role in bringing down the tyranny of King Macbeth and his antics and therefore liberating a lot of people from cruel leadership. Despite all these, it is sad to see him losing his family after their slaughter in order of Macbeth.
In conclusion, the evil which is seen as an absence of any good, is presented to us by William Shakespeare in his play Macbeth. The character of Macbeth and lady Macbeth is a clear presentation of this evil. The character Macbeth ends up being a cruel and brutal leader just like his wife wanted with deeds such as murdering and ordering the murder of others. The lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is schemer herself with a lot of belief in evil spirits. The writer of the play outlines his definition of evil throughout the play through the deeds of Macbeth that were entirely different from those of Macduff. The sacrifice Macduff does in rebelling the tyranny of Macbeth makes me consider him a hero of the play. Evil does not do any good instead it leads to sorrow and miserable life.
References
Schoenbaum, S (2015) Macbeth : critical essays- taylorfrancis.com
Sinha, G (2016) The nature of Evil in Shakespeare- nature, - ijetsr.com
