2022: Explore how Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s fears.
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Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s fears as palpable and self-destructive. They have arisen
due to his firm belief in the witches’ prophecies and his immoral actions as a result.
Ultimately, Macbeth fears retribution and eternal damnation in Hell; his utilisation as a
character construct by Shakespeare remains a clever method to ensure that the Great Chain
of Being remained intact for Jacobeans were dissuaded from committing regicide in order to
avoid Macbeth’s guilt-stricken state.
Initially, when contemplating regicide, Macbeth’s thoughts focus on the “golden opinions”
he has garnered, he’s fearful of losing these and becomes conflicted between public face
and private ambition. This dichotomy quickly dissipates as he resolves to murder: he says
“false face must hide what the false heart doth know”, which offers an insight into the
workings of his mind. The repetition of “false” implies a sense of subterfuge, as though
Macbeth is compelled to conceal and mask his true identity in order to have the strength to
murder. This is also reinforced by the alliterative face “false face”, which fortifies the
impression of a facade. This is indicative of the fact that despite residing in a martial,
patriarchal society, that honours and glorifies violence, it’s clear that Macbeth is fearful of
violence and murder when it pertains to regicide. This scene acts as a parallelism to the
beginning of Act 1, where “all’s too weak” for Macbeth and graphic, hyperbolic language is
used to describe the ferocity of the battle. Here, Shakespeare may be implying that violence
is only honourable if utilised to protect one’s King and country but when used for self-
centred intent it becomes inimical and plagues the person. Additionally, the juxtaposition
between “hide” and “know” is almost ironic, his fears are evident to Lady Macbeth like “a
book” but the innocent Duncan cannot determine the “mind’s construction in the face”.
Moreover, by possessing such treasonous and traitorous thoughts, it’s as though Macbeth
has overturned his former vacillation and lost sight of God and the teachings of Christianity
so as to fuel his perfunctory ambition. This shows that, despite his fears of retribution and
falling from favour, he carries on with his plans, in pursuit of a hollow success.
Furthermore, Duncan’s death is referred to in euphemistic language such as “his surcease”
to distract himself and the audience from the horror and treason that is being enacted.
Perhaps he finds it more palatable for his conscience to use sanitised language to implicitly
reference the murder, so its legitimacy and morality is overlooked by both himself and God.
Macbeth does this in vain, agonisingly aware, that his fear of murdering Duncan is only
being heightened and exacerbated by this immoral crime. He is fearful of condemnation to
Hell as a result of regicide, but has oxymoronically, strayed from Christianity
notwithstanding. He laments that “all great Neptune’s oceans” will not rid him of this
metaphorical blood stain, which will linger and act as the “gaze of the time” for a Jacobean
and contemporaneous audience alike. His explicit plea to a non-Christian God perfectly
, encapsulates the dichotomy of his state and conscience: on the one hand, he fears eternal
damnation, yet, on the other hand, he commits regicide and also perhaps, attempts to
atone for his actions by referring to another God. This reveals how he is fearful of the
repercussions of his actions but fails to consider how he will bear it on his conscience as he
cannot accept his identity as a murderer. This sets the precedent for his undiluted fear: he
fluctuates between insatiable ambition and guilt-stricken, God-fearing man. Interestingly,
structurally shorter fragmented lines following the most “sacrilegious murder” mirror
Macbeth’s state of mind as he is plagued by his fears of punishment.
In the extract, Macbeth painfully uses contrasting pronouns to elucidate his bitterness and
fear when he despairingly says “they hailed him” and “upon my head they placed a fruitless
crown”. The reference to Banquo, not by name, reveals a contempt that Banquo’s
“unlineal” hand will take from what he has worked immeasurably hard for. The opposing
possessive pronoun “my” suggests a personal affinity to the throne, as though, by his
immoral usurpation, Macbeth now deserves to remain King and for the throne to remain in
his family. However, due to the supposed veracity of the witches’ prophecies, it’s clear that
the “seeds of Banquo” will flourish. This is painful for Macbeth to bear, given particularly his
insecure kingship since has has no heir. This also bears semblance to the situation after
Elizabeth I died: her heir was not apparent, and chaos ensued. The thought of this recurring
in the microcosm of the play haunts Macbeth as his fears “stick deep”.
However, Macbeth’s paroxysm of fear is delineated when he proclaims, “full of scorpions is
my mind, dear wife”, where the allusion to scorpions suggests poison and connotes death.
Interestingly, this metaphor mirrors Macbeth’s internal mind as his fears fester and coalesce
until they sting and poisonously contaminate all of his thoughts. The addition of “dear wife”
offers a hint of his need for catharsis as a way of relieving some of the pain that afflicts him.
Their loss of equanimity here signals a physical and metaphorical fall from grace because it’s
as though, by committing regicide, instead of ascending up the echelons of power, he has
demoted himself to the level of all of the animals (implied by “scorpions”) of the Earth, a
significantly lower rank in the Great Chain of Being than his previous rank. This would act as
an overt warning to Jacobeans not to act upon treasonous tendencies in a bid to prevent
them from suffering in anguish and continually being plagued by fear as Macbeth is.
Overall, Shakespeare does not shy away from revealing the true horror of Macbeth
undiluted fears that are debilitating. He warns Jacobeans against the perils of committing
regicide and defying God’s ordained hierarchy. Yet, Macbeth is tragically seduced and
tempted by power and, ultimately, it is this lust for power that condemns him to be riddled
by doubt and fears.
