Michelle Li Defects of Human Psychology in Macbeth The famed psychologist Sigmund Freud once said, Men are more

moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine. With this, he expresses his fundamental theory that there are different parts of the brain called the id, ego, and superego that constantly battle with each other for control. Freud theorized that the id is solely concerned with our needs, the superego considers others needs and the ego considers the situation and chooses which one to listen to. Think of the ego in the middle, taking in both the devil on its left shoulder (the id) and the angel on the right shoulder (superego) before making a decision. While Freud was renowned for his theories, a famous playwright revealed many different ideas about psychology; the writer in question is William Shakespeare who reveals his ideas through Macbeth. He writes about a man who starts off as a great respected war hero but ends the play as a tyrant who is hated by everyone. Through it, he reveals subtle details about the human psyche that are as prominent and concerning as Freuds theories. In its exploration of human psychology, Macbeth reveals the ideas that humans are too trusting, deceptive and impulsive; ultimately showing that we are destined to fail unless we are aware of these fatal flaws within ourselves. As an initial matter, Macbeth shows us that humans are too trusting when they are involved with power. After King Duncan found out that he was betrayed by the former Thane, he immediately says, No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth. (Shakespeare, 1.2.65-67). This is a direct example of how King Duncans fatal flaw, his trusting nature, leads to his death. He should have learned not to place his trust carelessly from the former Thane but feels uneasy without a Thane of Cawdor and compensates by promoting Macbeth which seals his own fate. Furthermore, Macbeth trusts the witches too easily when they give him the prophecy that he will be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland. Right after he hears the prophecy and receives the news of his promotion, he says, This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good; if ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing in a truth? (1.3.130-133). He himself knows
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Michelle Li that he shouldnt trust them and that they could be pulling their prophecies out of thin air but he trusts their word anyways and does everything he can to obey them. This leads him to corrupt behaviour and ultimately, to his downfall and death because he succumbs to his trusting instincts. Finally, Lady Macbeth places too much trust in her own ability to remain stoic when she desperately convinces Macbeth and herself of her innocence after murdering King Duncan. On the surface, she thinks that their guilt will be easy to hide especially when she says, A little water clears us of this deed; how easy is it, then! (2.2.67-68). When she is explaining this to Macbeth, she is really trying to convince herself of this and she buries her guilt so deeply because she wants to believe in her own strength. She foolishly places her trust in herself because it is ingrained in her nature which is what causes her descent into madness. In Macbeth, not only is the idea that trust is a fatal human flaw explored, but also the idea that humans are innately deceptive. Secondly, Macbeth, the witches and Lady Macbeth demonstrate that we have a tendency to lie to others and to ourselves when it serves our purpose. Macbeth lied to everyone and pretended to be innocent to gain power and explicitly talks about the importance of appearing innocent right before murdering Banquo. He says, make our faces vizard to our hearts, disguising what they are (3.2.34-35). Macbeth recognizes that he is deceiving everyone into thinking that he is innocent, but does not do anything to prevent this. This is one of his fatal flaws, allowing him to gain the power he desperately wants, but through corrupt means, including deception. Eventually, the guilt from these acts drives him to become a ruthless tyrant and leads him to his untimely death. Furthermore, the witches deceive Macbeth when they tell him three prophecies and say, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth. / Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? (4.1.80-82). We can see from Macbeths response that he doesnt believe that anybody can harm him; after all, who was not born of a woman? He doesnt consider the fact that the witches are referring to someone born naturally via the vagina, and not someone born due to a caesarean section, like Macduff. The witches know full well of this and dont bother to correct him, leading to his reckless overconfidence. Macbeth takes them at their word and kills Macduffs family just because he wants to, leading to Macduff

Michelle Li seeking further revenge on him and killing him in the final scene. Finally, Lady Macbeth is the master of deception because she cons everyone into thinking that she is a weak, docile woman but lies to herself about how true that is. She does not even recognize that she is pleading for help in her famous unsex me speech, right after she receives the letter from Macbeth. Lady Macbeth screams, Come to my womans breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers (1.5.46-48) Upon first glance, she wants to become a man but closer inspection reveals that she is asking to become evil. Why should she have to ask for this if she is as strong and stoic as she seems? Lady Macbeth lies to herself by repressing her weaknesses and guilt which eventually drives her to suicide at the plays end. In conclusion, humans have a deceptive nature that is shown through Macbeth, the witches and Lady Macbeth, but this is ineffective without their impulsivity. Finally, Macbeth shows that humans commit impulsive acts when they desire power through the characters of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Malcom. To start with, Macbeth receives a prophecy that he would become king from the witches and he simply could not stand up to that type of temptation. Macbeth immediately plots to ascend the throne when he says, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man (1.3.139-140). Here, he shows us that the merest idea of power drives people to think of the unspeakable act of murder without considering any other options or risks. He is like a horse with blinders and this causes him to impulsively reject any rational ideas and act on his first thought which begins his downfall. In addition, Lady Macbeth also plays a major role in the murder by being the push that Macbeth needed to commit the act. When Lady Macbeth first reads the letter from Macbeth talking about his promotion, she comments on how Macbeth has the ambition but is too weak to carry out the act and says, Hie the hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round (1.5.24-27). Just like her husband, she never stops to consider other ways of attaining the power that she wants but immediately gravitates towards her violent nature. She is like her husband, never pausing to think about the consequences of their actions and jumping into the situation with her knife in hand. Moreover, Malcolm us shows

Michelle Li how humans are impulsive when granted power at the end of the play, after he becomes the king of Scotland. In his speech, he repeats the same mistake his father made when he says, My thanes and kinsmen, henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland in such an honour namd (5.7.91-93). It is his impulse to be a good king and trusting human nature that pushes him to rashly promote everyone at the end of the battle without considering the repercussions. His father made the same fatal mistake when he promoted Macbeth, leading him to end King Duncans life, but Malcolm does not consider it. His careless actions could start the cycle all over again and repeat the play, but we cannot find out. It is through the actions of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Malcolm that Shakespeare shows how we are impulsive when tempted with power, leading to our demise if we do not counteract this. In essence, Macbeth explores human psychology many waysit shows that humans are innately trusting when consumed with power, deceptive when it suits our needs and impulsive when tempted with power; ultimately revealing that humans are destined to fail unless we take precautions against these fatal flaws. We see this through the characters of King Duncan and Macbeth whose trusting nature got them killed, the witches and Lady Macbeth who lie to every character in the play, and Malcolm and Macbeth who act on their instincts when they are tempted by power. The characters were not aware that they were succumbing to the fatal flaws of human psychology, they just acted on them. While the play cannot be rewritten, wethe readerscan learn from their mistakes and recognize these universal traits in ourselves. They are not limited to the characters; they exist within our psyches and will lead us to our downfallunless we go against them. Think back to Sigmund Freuds theory with the ego, the superego and the id. The ego is us, considering the outcome of the situation and taking into consideration the id which contains these flaws in human psychology and the superego, the conscience. It is our job not to let the id get the best of us and oppress our instincts so that we can listen to our superego, our conscience. When we do this, we use the power of knowledge we have learned from their mistakes instead of making our own, therefore we circumvent the chances of our lives turning out like a Shakespearean tragedy.