Macbeth: Forgotten Taste of Fears by Tom Stambaugh

Macbeth is the brave general in Scotland's army who murders King Duncan and takes over the throne. He is never quite able to justify this act, however, despite the prediction of the witches saying he would be king. His "vaulting ambition" and his "black and deep desires" describe him incompletely. He is also insecure: "Cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears" (III.iv.25-26). He never overcomes the many rebukes of his conscience. He reaches a point where he has done so much evil in usurping the crown and eliminating those who would reveal his crimes that there is no turning back. He accepts himself as evil and becomes determined in his goals. This change in character is so strong that he appears even to frighten Lady Macbeth (probably contributing to her subsequent madness). Armed with what he considers to be invulnerability by further predictions of the witches, Macbeth continues his quest for power. Yet with this power he also recognizes that it has not brought him happiness. He has many regrets to go with his misplaced ambition. In his last few hours he says, "That which should accompany old age, / As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have (V.iii.24-26). And yet, his self-accepted evil drives him on. Hearing the dying scream of the wife he has loved, he dismisses it. His character is summed up in the following lines:

I have almost forgot the taste of fears:
The time has been, my senses would have cooled
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in't. I have supped full with horrors.
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me (V.v.9-15)

Macbeth has become callous to all in him that could have been kind; a kindness that allows a measure of empathy with the audience. This is the tragedy of his character.

Act III, Scene IV, the banquet to honor Banquo, is the pivotal scene for Macbeth's character. We see him, to this point, as a man wavering in his unsureness: unsure of his actions and ambitions. Yet we see his mind working. He sees Banquo (and Banquo's heirs) as a threat to his new crown. And because of it, he wants Banquo dead. He somehow believes that if someone else's hands do the deed he will not be wracked with the guilt he suffers for Duncan's death. He discovers quickly that such is not the case. Upon hearing the murderer's report, Macbeth's guilty conscience causes him to see (but not hear) Banquo's ghost. He is able to send it away until his guilt brings it back. On determining his steps "in blood," he accepts a path of evil and, in this path, finds strength.

Until now, Macbeth has taken strength (and suggestion) from his wife. And out of obligation to her, supplemented with his ambition, he did the evil deeds. At this point in the scene, it is as if he discards his feeling of obligation to Lady Macbeth and her support, and takes strength from himself: "For mine own good / All causes shall give way" (III.iv.36-37). Having overcome Duncan, Banquo, and most importantly, his conscience, he prepares to take on the mighty Macduff, who is responsible for his eventual downfall.

Lady Macbeth: Queen of Self-Delusion by Cheryl Whitaker

Prior to our scene (III.iv), Macbeth has been torn between his ambition and doing what is right. Lady Macbeth, who is perhaps more ambitious than her husband, fears that he does not have the gumption to do what is necessary to get what they want. Therefore, she resolves to "spur" him to action with her tongue. Prior to and during our scene, she is a domineering nag who taunts her husband into doing what it takes to get her where she wants to be (and where she has convinced herself he wants to be). In this way, she plays a major role in pushing Macbeth toward his dark side.

As long as she feels the need to dominate the situation, she is able to focus on the immediate task, whether it be the details of Duncan's murder or entertaining the thanes as in our scene. She is strong so long as she believes Macbeth is weak. She has a quick practical intelligence to deal with the present, but seems unable to grasp a practical picture of future consequences. She is able to temporarily block out the reality of their deed, just going through the necessary motions.

As in Macbeth's character, we see a kind of duality in Lady Macbeth's character which manifests itself in two ways. The changes that take place in Lady Macbeth in the course of the play demonstrate an inner duality, a duality of her conscience--one part of which can participate in a horrendous act and remain seemingly unaffected, making her seem unbelievably ruthless and cold; one part which eventually overrides the first, demonstrating that she is not as cold-hearted as she at first appears to be. The outward duality of Lady Macbeth's character is possibly most obvious in our scene and could best be described as a two-faced personality. In public, she plays the role of regal queen and gracious hostess. In private conversation with her husband, she is hateful and shrewd, revealing the dishonesty of her public face which is put on insincerely for appearance's sake. Her bitter words to Macbeth are often to jibe him into doing the same.

In our scene, Lady Macbeth's significance lies in the changes taking place in her relationship with her husband. This is the pivotal scene in which Macbeth ceases swaying between good and evil and resigns himself to his darker side. During the scene we see that Lady Macbeth is still attempting to call the shots and Macbeth is somewhat cooperative. But he is no longer attentive to all she says and he no longer consults her about his decisions. In fact, he seldom even shares his thoughts with her.

Furthermore, our scene is the pivotal point for Lady Macbeth as well as Macbeth. At the end of the scene, Lady Macbeth is stunned to hear her husband declare that they "are yet young in deed." Not only is she unable to remain self-deluded through further crimes, but she also realizes that Macbeth is now self-resolved. He no longer needs his wife's "spurring." (He is now "spurred" by his fear.) Her distraction gone, Lady Macbeth cannot help but contemplate the horror of the bloodbath that may never have begun if she had kept her mouth shut. Now that Macbeth is strong (in himself), she becomes weak. The guilt and remorse she has kept at bay up to this point, overwhelms her, eventually driving her mad, and ultimately killing her.

The Ghost by Brian Perkinson

The ghost always enters when Macbeth utters Banquo's name. It's like a calling to the spirit. Of course, the ghost is upset. He glares. He's angry that Macbeth has him killed. I'd be mad too. Now he feels like he has an upper hand. "What are you gonna do now, kill me?" He is stronger than when he was alive, for now he has the power to make Macbeth go crazy and confess. This is his major significance. He is portrayed as a figment of Macbeth's imagination. No others can see him; this is made obvious by Lennox's invitation to sit where the ghost is sitting. Since only Macbeth sees the ghost, he seems almost mad in his ravings at the table. His confessions cause Ross to become suspicious of wrongdoing on Macbeth's part. This moment throws Macbeth over the edge. At the end of the scene we see he's made a choice toward the "dark side."

Ross by Melissa Smith

In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Ross, a Scottish nobleman and cousin of Macduff, is an important messenger. He brings the good news of Macbeth's military victory and the bad news about Macduff's family. He is also the one who, in Act I, Scene iii, first addresses Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor; this sets the ball in motion by giving Macbeth reason to believe the weird sisters (105). Later in IV.ii., he gives the audience a foreshadowing of the events to come when he talks to Lady Macduff saying that she does not know whether Macduff fled because of "his wisdom or his fear" (4-5). At this point he clearly understands the situation--that Macduff has gone to team up with Malcolm against Macbeth. It is also clear here that Ross is not in disagreement with this aim. What is not explicit is when Ross begins to believe in his own mind that Macbeth is evil.

At the end of Act II, Scene iv, it is clear that Ross believes that Malcolm and Donalbain are Duncan's killers. About the issue, he states, "Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up/Thine own life's means" (28-29). He is referring to Malcolm and Donalbain killing the person that gave them life.

Indeed, Ross gets no significant clue that Macbeth is the true murderer until III.iv., the banquet scene, when Macbeth raves about the presence of Banquo's ghost. This scene is a turning point for Macbeth as his guilt over the murder of Banquo haunts him--literally. It is in this scene that Macbeth succumbs to his darker side. This scene is a turning point for Ross as well, as this scene is where he begins to see Macbeth as evil.

As Ross does not know of Banquo's death, he must think that the ghost Macbeth is raving to and about is Duncan, except that if it were too obvious, there would have been an uprising at the banquet. Instead, many of those at the banquet may each be reaching the same conclusion in their minds without outward discussion of it. On the other hand, some may be distracted by the ongoing festivities. Some may also not want to believe that Macbeth is evil. In this scene, then, Ross does not make any accusations that Macbeth killed Duncan. He is still taking it all in, digesting it. Over the course of Macbeth's ravings, he comes to realize that Macbeth is Duncan's murderer. In line 53, he still does not seem to suspect much as he bids the gentlemen to rise as "his Highness is not well." by line 118, however, Ross is definitely suspicious and trying to gain an admission after Macbeth has referred to the ghost as a "shadow" (107) and expressed his fear of it (117). Ross, in reply to Macbeth's ravings about "such sights" (115) asks, "What sights, my lord?" trying to get Macbeth to reveal exactly what--or who--he is seeing. Of course at this point Lady Macbeth chimes in with "Question enrages him" (119) and bids everyone good night. In spite of Lady Macbeth's attempted cover up, though, it is clear that by this time Ross knows that Macbeth is evil. It is no wonder, then, that when Ross again plays the messenger in the final scene his message is one of admiration for one who has fought against Macbeth. He tells Siward, father of the soldier,

Your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his [Young Siward's] worth, for then
It hath no end (V.viii.44-46)

Although Ross' role may have been minor, it is clear that he had both suspicions and feelings of his own.