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Unit 8: Macbeth: Plot Construction and Themes

temptation to become King, he will choose to commit murder even though he could simply discard Notes
their words. As it turns out, the prophecies are not only fated but fatal, as Macbeth’s confidence in
the witches leads him to fight a rash battle in the final act.

Macbeth’s confidence in the witches leads him to fight a rash battle that he may avoid
by discarding the witches’ words. Analyse this statement.
8.2.2 Guilt and Remorse

Some of the most famous and poetic lines from Macbeth are expressions of remorse. “Will all great
Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?” exclaims Macbeth after he stabs Duncan.
Similarly, Lady Macbeth is plagued by a “spot” that she cannot remove from her hand: “Out, damned
spot! Out, I say. . . What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”. At first physical remainders of a regrettable
crime, the royal blood leaves permanent marks on the psyche of the couple, forever staining them with
guilt and remorse. The different ways in which the Macbeths cope with their crimes show how their
characters develop: whereas Lady Macbeth is initially the one without scruples, urging Macbeth to take
action, it is an overpowering sense of guilt and remorse that drives the Lady to her untimely death.
Macbeth, on the other hand, seems to overcome the guilt that plagues him early on in the play.

8.2.3 Ghosts and Visions

Just as an overwhelming guilty conscience drives Lady Macbeth mad, so too does Macbeth’s “heat-
oppressed” brain project the vision of a dagger before he murders Duncan. In what concerns ghosts
and visions, the relation of the natural to the supernatural in Macbeth is unclear. The three apparitions
that the witches summon, for example, are usually taken to be “real”—even if only as supernatural
occurrences. But the matter is less clear when it comes to Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth is the only one who
sees the ghost in a crowded room; is this yet another projection of his feverish mind? Or is it really, so
to speak, a supernatural occurrence? Such ambiguities contribute to the eerie mood and sense of
uncanniness that pervade the play, from the very opening scene with the three bearded witches.

8.2.4 The Natural/Supernatural

If the witches’ prophecy is understood to be imposing a supernatural order on the natural order of
things, the natural order can also be understood as responding with tempestuous signs. Following
Duncan’s death, Lennox describes the “unruly” night in some detail. Similarly, Ross notes that “the
heavens, as troubled with man’s act/Threatens his bloody stage”. In the same scene, the Old Man
and Ross both agree that they saw horses eat each other. Even the events leading to the conclusion
of the play can be understood as a negotiation of the natural and supernatural. Whereas Macbeth
believes that he will live the “lease of nature”—since Birnam Wood cannot possible comes to
Dunsinane Hill—the forest is literally uprooted by the English army in accordance with the prophecy.
The dichotomy between the natural and the supernatural forms a backdrop that suggests the epic
proportions of the struggle over the Scottish crown.

8.2.5 Dichotomy and Equivocation

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair/Hover through the fog and filthy air.” The first scene of the first act
ends with these words of the witches, which Macbeth echoes in his first line: “So foul and fair a day
I have not seen.”. In a similar fashion, many scenes conclude with lines of dichotomy or equivocation:
“Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell/That summons thee to heaven or hell;” “God’s benison go
with you, and with those/That would make good of bad, and friends of foes.” Such lines evoke an

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