The different natures of evil within the play of Macbeth

To begin with, the play is embellished by many images which actually foreshadow or represent the ever-present evil. Firstly, characters often remark on the weather or the sky when evil is going to happen or has already. Indeed, after Duncan’s murder, Lenox speaks of the strange happenings of the night:

“The night has been unruly: where we lay,

Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,

Lamentings heard i’ the air; strange screams of death,

And prophesying with accents terrible

Of dire combustion, and confused events,

The obscure bird clamoured the livelong night:

Some say the earth was feverous, and did

These unfamiliar events show that nature has already reacted to the murderous deed. The weather’s excessive reaction to the act exposes its evil: it is so evil that none of the characters has ever seen such horrible consequences. Lenox tells Macbeth that his “young remembrance cannot parallel/ A fellow to it” (II.iii.58-59). This would not mean so much as he is obviously young; however, the old man, representative of the people, can neither remember such a drastic night: “Threescore and ten I can remember well;/ Within the volume of which time I have seen/ Hours dreadful and things strange, but this sore night/ Hath trifled former knowings” (II.iv.1-4). The old man thus confirms the evil that has occurred, and his testimony is all the more significant as he is older and has seen more. Basically, the bewilderment that this night has caused for him shows the intensity of the night’s evil: “ ‘T is unnatural,/ Even like the deed that’s done” (II.iv.10-11). It is a known truth that what is unnatural is most often considered evil, as it is different, not normal. In fact, even Macbeth himself agrees that “ ‘T was a rough night” (II.iii.57). So if the weather even worries the murderer himself, it must mean that it was truly an illustration of the evilness of the deed. The fact that such a great warrior, and killer of men, is so lost in terrifying guilt indicates the full extent of the evil he has committed. Nature thus foreshadows or exhibits a particular evil that will or has happened on the night of the event.

Additionally, the opening of the play brings together the witches who, even though only appear in four scenes, have a great impact on the outcome of the story. These three characters are the pure representation of evil for several reasons. Firstly, the witches always meet during a storm: “When shall we three meet again,/ In thunder, lightning or in rain?” (I.i.1-2). Also, when, in act four, scene one, whenever one of the apparitions comes, there is thunder. As aforementioned, the weather holds great importance on the foreshadowing of evil in this particular play. Not only that, but the witches always encounter in mysterious places, thus adding to the mystic aura that surrounds these characters. In this same scene, for example, they find themselves in a dark cave around a boiling cauldron. Along with this eerie setting comes the constant rhymes. Indeed, from the beginning, the witches’ speeches all rhyme unlike other characters’: “The weird sisters, hand in hand,/ Posters of the sea and land,/ Thus do go about, about:/ Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,/ And thrice again, to make up nine” (I.iii.32-36). These rhymes make the text to sound like a spell or curse that invokes evil. Moreover, when the reader analyses the construction of the text, it is clear that some lines do not follow the iambic pentameter used throughout the rest of the play. In fact, the first line of the play is the opposite of “iam”: “When shall we three meet again” (I.i.1). This particular construction creates a sens of imbalance typical to the scenes where the witches are present. This imbalance comes up again in the famous line, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (I.i.10), which claims that good is bad and bad is good, as this statement is directly violating “God’s natural order”. An imbalance is often seen as unnatural, not following the norm, thus created a sens of evil which is noticeable, from the first scene, through the mysterious and surnatural atmosphere surrounds these three characters.

Moreover, Macbeth’s evil nature is also expressed through different images given to him by other characters. Indeed, Macbeth is referred to as a “tyrant” (V.i.11), “weeds” (V.i.30) and a “butcher” (V.ix.35). However, the most common association is that between Macbeth and the deviln showing the full extent of his evil. Already he has a servant whose name, Seyton, res

Some topics in this essay:
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