Vanessa Weigand

In the final act of William Shakespeares play, Macbeth, Macbeth expresses

his dim and pessimistic view of life. He expresses such thoughts as, all our
yesterdays have lighted fools / The way to dusty death. (V.v.25, 26) and Lifes but
a walking shadow, a poor player It is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and
fury, / Signifying nothing. (V.v.27, 29-31) Macbeths character sacrifices and makes
decisions throughout the play to lead him to this way of thinking. Macbeth gives up
various relationships, repeatedly ignores his conscience, and gives up his honour
and reputation so that he can pursue his ambitions to become king and stay secure
in that position. When Macbeth gives up these parts of his life and replaces them
with his drive to succeed as king, he loses the very things that fuelled his drive and
made him enjoy life and want to live it to the full. Macbeths choice to pursue his
ambition for power by any means necessary leads him to sacrifice what was really
important in his life and made his life worthwhile.
Macbeth sacrifices and ruins various strong relationships by choosing to place
more importance on his ambition to become king and to stay secure in his position.
His relationship with his wife, Lady Macbeth, starts as a strong and affectionate one.
He readily shares his entire experience with the witches with her through a letter
and refers to her as my dearest partner of greatness. (I.v.11) Macbeth shows that
he cares for Lady Macbeth, she is his friend, and he trusts her. Lady Macbeth even
plays an important part in the murder of Duncan. She tells him, Leave all the rest
to me. (I.vi.86) Macbeth and his wife are partners in their marriage and he is happy
to let her take the lead and to help him do what he wants to do, but is too afraid to.
When Macbeth chooses to continue to pursue his ambition for power and security
after the murder of Duncan, his relationship with his wife loses importance to him.
After killing Duncan, the witches prophecy that Banquos sons will be kings begins
to worry Macbeth and he becomes afraid that his security as king is threatened by
Banquo. He says to Lady Macbeth, We have scorched the snake, not killed it.
(III.ii.15) He shows that he is confident and resolved in what he wants to do already,
without consulting Lady Macbeth as his partner. When Lady Macbeth asks of his
plans. Macbeth simply replies, Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till
thou applaud the deed. (III.ii.51, 52) Macbeth shows here that he is beginning to
put his desire for security and power above his relationship with Lady Macbeth. He
will no longer share his plans with her, as he readily did before. His fear of losing his
position and power and the choices that he makes in attempt to keep it create a
division between him and his wife.
Macbeth allows his ambition for power to cause his to betray and murder his
king and friend, Duncan. While contemplating whether or not to kill Duncan,
Macbeth says, Hes here in double trust: / First, as I am his kinsman and his
subject, / Strong both against the deed (I.vii.12-14) Macbeth feels a strong sense
of loyalty toward Duncan because they are related, and because Duncan is his king
whom he should serve. He cares for Duncan and feels that killing him would be
wrong. He also says about him, Besides, this Duncan / Hath borne his faculties so
meek, hath been / So clear in his great office, that his virtues / Will plead like
angels (I.vii.16-19) Macbeth expresses that he believes that Duncan is a good
and humble king that has been compassionate throughout his rule. He shows his
love for Duncan and his internal struggle between killing him or not. Despite his
strong feelings against killing Duncan, Macbeth allows his desire for power and his
greed to win over his feelings for his king. After he has murdered Duncan, Macbeth
says, Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou / couldst. (II.ii.94, 95) He

Vanessa Weigand
shows that he regrets killing his friend and he wishes that he could take back what
he has done and simply wake him. Macbeth sacrifices his relationship with Duncan,
betraying him, to pursue his ambition to become king.
Macbeth ignores his conscience when he decides to kill Duncan. He decides
to sacrifice his peace of mind to pursue what he thinks will make him happy, power
and status. After he kills the king, Macbeth says, Macbeth shall sleep no more.
(I.ii.57) He believes that he will never be able to sleep again because of the horrible
thing that he has done. The weight of his crime plagues him so much that he can no
longer get what is simply necessary for him to survive. In a sense, he is giving up
one of lifes necessities when he decides to kill Duncan. He further shows how his
conscience is bothering him when he says, I am afraid to think what I have done.
(II.ii.66) The murder is so disturbing to him and his conscience is so strongly against
it that he cannot even bear to think about it. Later, he also says, For them the
gracious Duncan have I murdered, / Put rancors in the vessel of my peace. (III.i.71,
72) His peace has been disrupted by the murder of Duncan. When Macbeth decides
to kill Duncan, he gives up his peace of mind. He ignores his conscience and
sacrifices his sleep and peace that comes with having a clear conscience.
Macbeth also gives up a strong relationship with his friend, Banquo. At the
onset of the play, Macbeth and Banquo are heard to have been fighting side by side
as great soldiers. A captain says of them, I must report they were / As cannons
overcharged with double cracks, / So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe
They smack of honor both. (I.ii.40-42, 48) Going through a great battle together as
Macbeth and Banquo do, forms strong bonds between men and they show that they
have a strong friendship as they travel together, encounter the witches together
and meet the king as a pair. Macbeth sabotages this relationship when he sees
Banquo as an obstacle blocking him from his goals of power and security. Macbeth
says, To be thus is nothing, / But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo / stick
deep, and in his royalty of nature / Reigns that which would be feared. (III.i.52-55)
Macbeth fears that Banquos children will become kings as the witches have told
him and this is a threat to Macbeths security as the king. He places more
importance on his security in his position as king than his relationship with his
friend. His fear of being overthrown by Banquo and his sons moves him to
completely throw away his relationship with Banquo and to order his murder. His
greed even allows him to betray his friend further by ordering the death of his son,
Fleance; an innocent child. Macbeth chooses to sacrifice his friendship with Banquo
to ensure his security as king.
When Macbeth kills Banquo, he further torments and damages his
conscience. Although he does not express directly that he regrets what he has done,
his actions show that the murder of Banquo upsets him. After the murderers have
told Macbeth that they have killed Banquo, Macbeth attends his feast where he sees
Banquos ghost. After seeing the ghost Macbeth says:
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
Too terrible for the ear. The time has been
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end. But now they rise again

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With twenty mortal murders on their crowns
And push us from our stools. This is more strange
Than such a murder is. (III.iv.93-99)
Macbeth shows that he is disturbed by what he has ordered to be done. His
unconscious mind has created this image of Banquo with twenty mortal murders
on [his] crown, just as the murderer told Macbeth he had been killed. These events
show how disturbed and affected he is by the murder of his friend. His conscience
was ignored once again, and the result is another great effect on his wellbeing.
When speaking to the ghost Macbeth says, Take any shape but that, and my firm
nerves / Shall never tremble. Or be alive again / And dare me to the desert with thy
sword. (III.iv.124-126) He says here that if his image had taken any other form
other than Banquo, he would not have been scared; even if Banquo had been alive
again and challenged him to fight, would he have been less afraid than he is now.
He exposes the fear and guilt that he is feeling over Banquos murder and shows
that he wishes not to remember or think of it.
Macbeth sacrifices his honour when he takes the path of murder and betrayal
to become king. Macbeth begins a very honourable and well respected man, but as
he becomes king and begins his rule, the peoples respect for him is lost. At the
beginning of the play, Macbeth is spoken of very fondly for his work as a soldier. A
captain and the king say such things as, brave Macbeth (well he deserves that
name), (I.ii.18) and O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman! (I.ii.26) The men show
how much they admire and respect Macbeth as a man and a soldier. He is thought
so highly of that the king names him the new Thane of Cawdor. When Lady Macbeth
is attempting to convince Macbeth to carry through with his thoughts to kill Duncan,
Macbeth says, I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people, / Which
would be worn now in their newest gloss / Not cast aside so soon. (I.vii.35-38)
Macbeth realizes that he is in a good position at this time and many people have
golden opinions of him. His social status is in a very good position and he does not
want to lose that. Despite having the honourable reputation that Macbeth has, he
decides to kill Duncan to become king and obtain a higher social status, more
respect, and authority. After becoming and ruling as king, though, many of his
subjects feel strongly against him ruling over them. When Macduff comes with the
English and Scottish forces to kill Macbeth, he says to him while fighting, Well
have thee, as our rarer monsters are, / Painted upon a pole, and underwrit / Here
may you see the tyrant. (V.viii.29-31) After having murdered many people to
become and stay king, Macbeth has lost the respect of his people; Macduff and his
subjects even call him a tyrant. This description given by Macduff shows the lack of
respect the people now have for Macbeth after all of the things he has done to
become king and his ruling as king. His honour is lost because of his ambition to
become king.
When Macbeth gives up parts of his life and puts his ambition and drive to
become king as more important, he gives up what is really important for him to
make life worthwhile. When Macbeth gives up the strong relationships he has,
listening to his conscience, and his honour and reputation, he sacrifices the parts of
him that make him want to live and this leads him to ultimately have the viewpoint
of life expressed in his speech in the fifth act of the play. When he no longer has any
friends, has given in to his greedy desires despite his conscience telling him to do

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otherwise, and people no longer respect him, Macbeth sees life as signifying
nothing. (V.v.31) Macbeth gave up all the parts of his life that provided him with
real happiness, to make room for his ambition for power, which he thought could
bring him more happiness.