William
Shakespeare is one of the pioneers of English Renaissance with his sonnets and
tragedies. His tragedies are famous for their monologues and tragic flaws which
causes the main character's death. Macbeth, written by William
Shakespeare, is one of the best plays to show how ambition can be destructive
in someone’s life. Main character of the play, Macbeth, becomes a villain to
actualize his wish which is to be a king, when three witches hints him as a
cawdor and a king. Even though some critics think he is deceived by his wife
Lady Macbeth since Shakespeare is regarded as a misogynist, I think she is just
a tool to pull off the real Macbeth. In my opinion both of the characters have
mistakes and Nietzsche’s theory of power can be seen through the play.
Firstly, according to Fredrick
Nietzsche, main stream of life is will to
power in people's life. Everybody tries to improve their social positions
or conditions as much as possible. This attitude is seen in Macbeth’s ambition,
since he kills his relative King Duncan and accepts to be a murderer for the
sake of being a king. He cannot say no to improve his social position, because
it is the main goal of people's life actually. However, many people cannot find
a way to do as they are so coward and week or so moral and humble. On the
contrary of them, Macbeth finds a way for his will to power and breaks all the
moral values for it. After he is called as a king by a witch, namely the third
witch, the only thing he thinks is to be king. “Third Witch: All hail,
Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” Banquo explains Macbeth after this
foreshadowing like this: “My noble partner You greet with present grace and
great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal.”
This quotation shows that the possibility of being a king allures Macbeth
and he starts to think about killing Duncan, which is the fastest way for him
to fulfill his wish or his will to power.
He says: “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my
single state of man that function...” Thinking about the killing the king
to whom he swears allegiance, reveals how he becomes a slave of his ambition.
It is a proof that, if something is
physically possible, it is morally admissible. Macbeth is one of the best
examples of this. Being a king is possible for him, because he is a relative of
king Duncan. After he kills him and Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donalbain run
away from the country, Macbeth becomes the king. When he has the power, he
wants to protect it and because his hands are full of blood, he is aware of the
fact that he can do more.
Secondly, Macbeth writes a letter to
his wife and explains the oracle of the witches. He tells about how they are
good at their spell and how accurate their first oracle is. In the letter he
says he is likely be a king. “This have I thought good to deliver thee, my
dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing,
by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and
farewell.” I think what Macbeth aims
while writing this letter is not only to inform her wife about his future, but
also catching a triggering event . There is an illocutionary force a request in
it, because he expects his wife to encourage him as he knows he has a lot of
hesitations. It is because in physics, things have inertia which says
everything in the world has the resistance of changing their motion. What
Macbeth needs is a propellant power and he knows his wife is the best “thing”
for it. He does not want to start his
treacherous actions, but he cannot stop after he starts once. He says: “We
will proceed no further in this business” in act I, scene VII and “For
mine own good, All causes shall give way” in act III, scene IV. This
quotations proves my idea about the inertia, because Macbeth does not want to
start at first, but cannot stop at the end. His ambition makes him unstoppable
for his actions, and he challenges everything. However, what he reaches is not
the happiness but a huge disappointment and a name which is called as betrayer
and villain.
Thirdly, the relationship between
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can be thought like Adam and Eve. Macbeth seems he
does not want to kill Duncan as he is a good and fair king. He says for Duncan
that: “ He hath honor’d me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from
all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast
aside so soon.” However, Lady Macbeth teases and encourages him to do what
he plans to be a king. She says: “Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress’d
yourself? hath it slept since?And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At
what it did so freely? From this time Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valor 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,’ Like the poor cat i’ the
adage?” This speech gives Macbeth enough courage and he decides to “be a
man” as he says. Lady Macbeth is so brave that she puts the dagger which
Macbeth forgets to put in the chambers' arms. Even though Lady Macbeth seems
like an Eve figure and deceives Macbeth, her ambition is not as big as him. It
might be because of she is a female and does not have enough power to fulfill
her ambition. However, I think she does what his husband expects her to do and
she is just a tool for her husband's ambition. Macbeth wants to be king and
needs a partner. Lady Macbeth is aware of his husband's ambition and desire, so
she guides them. Macbeth would stop or even kill her, if he did not want to do
what she says. Macbeth does not do what Lady Macbeth says just because he loves
her too much, but he looks forwards to do them. Ambition of Macbeth makes him
blind while Lady Macbeth suffers her sins and she loses her sanity. She becomes
ill and tells about the murders. Macbeth reveals his ambition is higher than
his love as he is so indifferent to her wife's death. “She should have died
hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word To-morrow, and
to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last
syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to
dusty death.”
Finally,
I think the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is like yin and yang
since they complete each other. When considered from this point of view, Lady
Macbeth can even be thought as the alter-ego of Macbeth. Macbeth is regarded as a good man by her wife
while she is reading the letter written by him. Lady Macbeth is the bad spot
inside the white yin. She reveals that after she finishes the letter. I fear
thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest
way: thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without The illness
should attend it” What Lady Macbeth does is to add the best spices into
Macbeth's character like a master chief.
She is an ambitious character like Macbeth and she has will to power,
too. She wants to be wife of the king and improve her social position. When
Macbeth is about the loose his concentration, she gives a speech and deceives
him. She is like a reflection of her husband and has a key role for the plan.
Ironically, she is braver than her husband. While Macbeth is scared after he
killed Duncan in order to put the dagger, she goes and finishes the conspiracy.
“Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead Are but
as pictures: ’tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do
bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal; For it must seem their guilt.”
Through the play, Macbeth becomes a villain and does not scare from
anything. He does not need anyone to encourage him. On the hand, Lady Macbeth
suffers from mental illness and behaves like a crazy, which proves my idea
about yin and yang because of the contrast of their situation.
Consequently, Fredrick Nietzsche’s
theory of will to power can be seen
in the actions of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth since they want to improve
their social rank and they do it by means of breaking moral values. Therefore,
regarding one character as more ambitious than the other might not be true at
first view since they both have some mistakes. However, since Macbeth is the tragic
hero of the play, I think he is more ambitious than Lady Macbeth. As I said
before, Lady Macbeth is like a tool for Macbeth's goals in life and she is like
the dark side of him or an alter-ego. She cannot order anything to him because
of her social position and gender in that century; therefore, Macbeth always
have freedom to stop his villain actions, but he does not stop. He becomes so blind that he is not even sorry
for his loss of Lady Macbeth. In short, even though both of the characters have
mistakes, Macbeth is more ambitious than his wife because of the reasons that I
mentioned before.
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