Macbeth

 

He is a man at war with himself--in a unique way. He gulls himself into believing he is undecided or uncertain about plans he fully intends to undertake from the beginning. So there are actually two Macbeths who are protagonists in the tragedy.

His dialogues with himself are masterworks of feigned narratives when they are not so transparent that real intentions break through. For Macbeth 1 needs to convince Macbeth 2 he is plagued by internal dilemmas when he only seeks reassurance his plans will not backfire. In line with this, he strains to identify the ambiguity of the world with an internal moral struggle, play acting as relentlessly with himself as he does with others. The masquerade is taken to such lengths, it becomes second nature to him to confuse bombast driven by fear with authentic soul-searching. Only one thing unnerves him: the unknowability of the future, and his Act III monologues, far from being the agonies of a soul cast in self-doubt, are only feigned consolations that it will all go off without a hitch.

Macbeth's life theme is how efficiently he can seize the moment to ensure the inevitability of outcomes that were guaranteed before he began fretting about them. His energies are so bound up with self-subterfuge, he has little time for examining the probity of his aims. Rather, he devotes himself to the destruction of those who would undermine his goals: Duncan, Banquo, and the Macduffs.

Macbeth's determination, amorality, apprehensiveness about the future, and relentless need to cheer himself up combine to create a unique life strategy: casting others in roles necessary to bolster a view of himself. He seems to be saying, "If I wish to accomplish X, I shall convince myself I have certain reservations, and will seek those who will play the Devil's Advocate against my professed uncertainties. Macbeth's career of sham self-doubt creates an aura of moral circumspection. But the hesitant accommodation to natural law is artificial, and manufactured to assure himself he verges on being an all right guy underneath meaner ambitions that make a mockery of such pretensions.

Contrary to the view that Macbeth is a family man however corrupt, he is a totally private person. And far from being under the thumb of his wife, she too is another pawn in his game of self-subterfuge. From Act III to the end of the play she is dramatically unimportant, and is kept in the dark about her husband's designs on Banquo. If after Act II she hardly matters, why should critics assume she matters momentously before it? Macbeth's long-range plans were already finalized before his entrance in the first act, and Act I, Scene VII, is not the picture of a resolute wife resolving her husband's legitimate doubts, but of a husband tricking his spouse into appropriating the role of a partner in simulated war games. "Prove to me I won't fail" demands the general. "You won't if you buck up, old boy," consoles the consultant, "your enemy is within yourself." He has deceived her into thinking he has reservations over murdering Duncan, when what he really seeks is confirmation the whole thing will go off without a hitch. The irony of the scene is that he permits his wife's reassurance to allay his uncertainties about the future, even though it is based upon an inaccurate assessment of his motives.

Macbeth plays the same game with himself he plays with his wife. Witness his monologue at the beginning of Act I, Scene VII, another masterpiece of obfuscation, prefaced by a slew of pseudo-justifications for not killing Duncan:

He's here in double trust:

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject

Strong both against the deed

 

Yet what is the mood of these reservations? Do they smack of personal conviction because Duncan is kinsman and sovereign? Or are they a phony rehearsal of reasons to hold back, as if the general were recapitulating the justification others would supply against regicide? That the latter hypothesis is the correct one is suggested by the fact that Macbeth straddles categorically dissimilar reasons for condemning the deed--too many in fact to convince us the litany stems from heartfelt feeling. Consider likewise another of his recriminations:

Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye

In other words, murder ruins your reputation. But if regicide were morally wrong to begin with, it is redundant to consider how committing it will tarnish one's reputation in the eyes of the kingdom!

Macbeth's litany of reasons against regicide is simply a rehearsal of bromides he has no intention of heeding. But they afford him the luxury of convincing himself he is both human and circumspect in a nerve-wracking business that may, for all he knows, boomerang. Macbeth is topical. He reminds us of all those contemporary politicians who surround themselves with toadies who tell them what they wanted to hear in the first place Afterwards, they insist their decisions were undertaken only after serious consideration of advisor feedback.

Macbeth murders Banquo seemingly to terminate a hereditary line. But there is another motive behind the act: Banquo, after Lady Macbeth, was personally closest to the hero. There are hints in Act I that Macbeth and Banquo feel they were on the same wave length, and could read each other's thoughts. So Macbeth fears Banquo for reasons other than the latter's being a hereditary competitor to the throne, for the victim has a

royalty of nature

Which would be feared. 'Tis much he dares;

And, to that dauntless temper of his mind

He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor

To act in safety

In other words, Banquo is too savvy a person, and may prove to be a monkey wrench in the murderous designs of the hero. ( Macbeth has the suspicion Banquo sees through him, making him a dangerous adversary. The latter has invaded the general's personal space, and may in future act on the knowledge he gleans from it.) Apprehension over Banquo's personal traits is made to fade into concerns about the future royal line, and it is quite in the mode of Macbeth's thinking to pass imperceptibly to one set of fears from another so that the first is obscured. This way, the general conveys the impression he harbors anxieties about only one thing. Being on the same wave length with Banquo was suggested at the outset of the drama:

Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time

The interim having weighed it, let us speak

Our free hearts to each other

 

The earlier intimacy is yet another threat to vaulting ambition, inasmuch as it portends Banquo's being privy to the general's true character and intentions.