Q. Analyze the Murder-Scene in Macbeth.
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Q. Discuss the importance of Murder-Scene in Macbeth.
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Q. Show how Shakespeare creates the atmosphere of horror and terror in Macbeth.
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| Murder-Scene in Macbeth |
William Shakespeare's Macbeth traces the course of degeneration and downfall of an over-ambitious individual who is a victim of both fate and circumstances and also of his own inclination towards evil. This idea is strengthened by the moral and psychological states of Macbeth before and after the murder of Duncan. Actually, we see the murder of the good old king reflected as it were on the souls of the two agents---Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Murder-Scene in Macbeth
The second scene of the second act of Macbeth is usually called the Murder-scene. But as the murder takes place off the stage and we only see the before and after-effects of the murder, so it is better and more logical to considér the murder of Duncan as an episode rather than as a particular scene. In this play, there are mainly five scenes (Act I Sc V Act I Sc VI Act lI Sc I; Act Sc ll and Act II Sc ll) which reek of this abominable regicide.
We get for the first time the definite structure of evil--the murder of Duncan from the fifth scene of the first act where Lady Macbeth has just received her husband's letter and knows of the witches' prediction. She describes him as one "too full o' the milk of human kindness" and later she advises him to "look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it". This shows that at first Macbeth is mentally very weak and confused, though the thought of murder occurs to him as soon as he hears the witches-prophecy. To goad him to his purpose of killing Duncan she dehumanizes herself and fills herself "from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty". Thus it is noted that the initiative passes here automatically into the lady's hands. She takes off the rudder, from him and assumes control of it, and paves the way for this heinous crime.
But it is clear from the seventh šcene of the same act that but for Lady Macbeth's goading Macbeth would be fully equal to the task of regicide. He is apparently çonsidering the pros and the cons of the projected murder. It is with his moral nature that he is in conflict. He fears eternal judgment. He is sensible of Duncan's trust and virtue. He sees beyond his intended crime, knowing that Duncan would be pitied as"a naked newborn babe" and that he himself would be condemned through "sightless couriers of the air". This apprehension shows that his conscience is not completely dead at this stage and he is wavering in his resolve to commit the murder. But it is Lady Macbeth who by her relentless rebukes and taunts finally succeeds in transforming the irresolute Macbeth into a fully determined man who can say: "I am settled and bend up/ Each corporal agent to this terriblę feat".
It is a new Macbeth that we find now. Here there is a Macbeth who has prepared himself for his "terrible feat". The atmosphere too is in keeping with this terrible situation: "There's husbandry in heaven" (Act II Sc I). Macbeth has now entered another phase in which he indeed looks like the innocent flower that conceals a serpent under its sweet demeanor. In response to Banquo's care-free remark about the witches when he says "I think not of them", it is then clear that his mind is guilty because he is already toying with the idea of murdering Duncan. He derives his motivation from his inner self now. He now sees the vision of a bloodstained dagger that points to Duncan's bed-chamber. This shows that now he does not need any external stimulant to be goaded to his purpose of murdering the king. The "dagger of the mind" also acts as a kind of warning to Macbeth. It refers to the moral consequences which make Macbeth apprehensive of divine retribution.
It is with this inspiration of his inner self that Macbeth, at last, commits the crime. But immediately after the crime, we find him quite restless. Actually, his conscience gnaws into his soul and makes him uneasy and restive. He hears the voice crying "sleep no more!/ Macbeth does murder sleep. In fact, it is not an actual voice; it is his conscience speaking to him in the covert language of imagination in the shape of voices. His mind is sorely convulsed now. He is penitent that he cannot join the invocation of blessing to God: "I could not say 'Amen',/When they did say God bless us!". He had most need of blessing, yet 'Amen' stuck in his throat. Here the delirious agony of the conscience-stricken soul is revealed. He is aghast to look at his blood-stained hands. This shows the tremendous impact of the 'deed' of the 'doer'.
Now it is Lady Macbeth who begins to work. If her remark "The attempt and not the deed/ Confounds us" shows her womanly nervousness, her other remark "Infirm of purpose!/ Give me the daggers" shows her impenetrable self-possession and iron-stability of resolve. If in her remark "Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done 't' she reveals her natural feeling of a daughter, her another remark "if he do bleed,/ I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal." shows that she crushes her role of a daughter to successfully perform the role of a wife. And finally her ironic remark "A little water clears us of this deed" shows that there is no change in her totally dehumanized mind. But Macbeth is completely unstrùng. His final remark: "To know my deed, 't were best not know myself" shows that his persona is completely dissolved. He has now become a man who has no self of his own.
Thus Macbeth and Lady Macbeth through their actions have violated all kinds of laws social, moral, and ethical. By murdering Duncan they have created a topsy-turvy world. This violation is reflected even in the nature as Lennox says in Act I Sc l. This topsy-turvy situation continues up to the murder of Macduff's wife and children, and after this, the damage-control is started. And at last, at the end of the play, we find the total restoration of the normal balance.
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