Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Shakespeare’s renowned Aristotelian tragedy, “Macbeth” presents the audience with the notion that “humanity falls victim to the agents of destiny, therefore being powerless to steer their ship”, connoting that fate determines and man follows. Throughout this play, Shakespeare delves into this concept by means of the leading character, Macbeth, who exhibits the nefarious aspect of human nature. The play illustrates that concepts of fate and ambition corrupts the sense of humanity within oneself, ultimately culminating in their downfall. J Lyndon Shanley shares analogous perceptions on the venality of humanity in his critical analysis of Shakespeare’s 17th Century play.

Fate; the thought which suggests that whatever happens in life is meant to be and cannot be changed by mankind, and is undoubtedly evident throughout the course of Macbeth’s rise to power. Superficially, it almost seems as if Macbeth is an agent of freewill, as it seems he freely chooses to let his ambition influence him to murder. Yet in reality he is a pawn of fate, with such fateful influences such as the witches’ prophecy and his wife pushing him towards murder and evil. Throughout this play, Macbeth is presented with a series of situations in which fate intervenes to aid in the determination of the course of his life. Shanley illuminates this statement by describing the witches and their prophecies as poetic symbols of destruction. The dominance of fate over Macbeth is highlighted in his aside; “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me”. Shakespeare personifies destiny in this line to further emphasize its supremacy of humanity. Macbeth's feeble defense against his imagination is the hope that if destiny will have him to be king, then destiny will do the dirty work, and he won't have to lift a finger. Yet ironically it is destiny which eventually commands him to murder and seize his position as king forcefully. This is further sustained by Shanley as he states that Macbeth can imagine no condition of life other than that he is in. As destiny takes it path, humanity must be enslaved to it.

In Macbeth, excessive ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. The gluttony plays a crucial role as it causes the hamartia of Macbeth and triggers a series of deaths in Macbeth. Ambition is therefore one of the key driving forces of the play. Though it may be considered that his personal ambition was action or result of his free will, at long last as Shanley states; it was the outcome of the agents of destiny.  As this tragedy unfolds, the audience witnesses the increase of excess ambition between both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. “Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,” Macbeth recites to himself admitting that he has no rational reason to murder Duncan. This quote cleverly evokes audiences of Shakespeare’s time, an era in which the notion of Renaissance Humanism was emerging – the thought that man must imbue himself with arts, intellect and rationalism. Again he personifies, his ambition and highlights that in the end, fate is persuading him to do a crime which is not rational. As Shanley has elucidated, such a desire of fulfillment creates an inescapable force.