How does Shakespeare present villainy in Macbeth?

How does Shakespeare present villainy in Macbeth?

1. Murder

   • Order of Murders: 1st Duncan, 2nd Banquo, 3rd Macduff's household
     • The murders become progressively more brutal: Duncan is stabbed > Banquo is assasinated by 2 thugs > Macduff's family and household are slaughtered.
       • Increase in brutality implies macbeth's increase in villainy
     • Macbeth becomes less and less associated with the murders: Duncan he kills personally > Banquo's murder was committed by thugs > Macduff & co. are slaughtered by Macbeth's men
       • This could show increasing villainy as Macbeth cannot be bothered to commit them himself and therefore the victims are indifferent to him.
   • Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan, she could be seen as more villainous than Macbeth
   • The presentation of the murders.
     • Duncan's is off stage - this shows respect for the king and his dignity stays intact
       • He was murdered in his sleep - couldn't defend himslef, showing that he wasn't weak as he wasn't beaten in a fight
     • Banquo was murdered brutally on stage - this is for entertainment purposes
     • Macduff's household and family are brutally murdered on stage
       • This shows Macbeth's power and villainy - he kills them to threaten Macduff, it is done maliciously and without cause - they are unnecessary murders - children and women are killed

2. Supernatural

   • Witches
     • They are a supernatural forces controlling fate
     • The villainy is built on their prophecies
       • Macbeth commits the murders because of the prophecies
     • The witches already seem to know Macbeth, showing that he might already be associated with them, making him villainous.
   • The dagger and Ghost of Banquo
     • These may not be seen as supernatural as they are visions that Macbeth experiences possibly due to his guilty conscience
     • Banquo's ghost haunts Macbeth, making him have a guilty conscience
     • The dagger which is imagined refers to the quote: 'foul is fair and fair is foul'. This means that what seems right isn't right and what seems wrong isn't really wrong
       • The vision of the dagger could also symbolize death hanging in the air
   • Language
     • Descriptions of characters from mythology
       • "With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design"
     • "Moves like a ghost"
     • "Witchcraft celebrates"

3. Dramatic Techniques

   • Soliloquies (order)
     • 1st: "He's here in double trust...."
       • This is Macbeth's response to the witches
         • Scared and overwhelmed: "This supernatural soliciting//Cannot be ill, cannot be good","Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair...". Ambition and excitement: "Why hath it given me earnest of success?". Disbelief: "...stand not within the prospect of belief". Intrigued: "...tell me more" - his curiosity suggest villainy.
       • Villainy is presented through the soliloquy as it gives an insight to his thoughts. However Macbeth doesn't seem very villainous yet but the idea of regicide is born
     • 2nd: "Is this a dagger which I see before me..."
       • Before he kills the King (like a pep talk)
       • It is a pivotal moment at which Macbeth clearly turns villainous.
       • Fearing discovery: "Thou sure and firm-set earth//hear not my steps..., for fear//Thy very stones prate of my whereabout". Wants to be disassociated with the deed: "wither'd murder...moves like a ghost". Guilty (conscience driving him crazy: "...a dagger of the mind, a false creation,//proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?". Ambition: "I go, and it is done..."

4. Imagery

   • Blood
     • It is used to convey guilt, murder, treachery and evil
       • "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood"
         • This quote could also be interpreted as a premonition of the murder Macbeth will commit
   • Weather
     • Thunder and lightning announces the witches
       • Premonition of villainous characters
       • "When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain"
     • There are storms on the night of Duncan's murder
       • The fore-warning of villainous actions
   • Darkness
     • Dark = villainy and evil Light = good and truth
       • "Stars, hide your fires, let no light see my dark desires"
         • Stars are the truth and macbeth orders them not to shine as their light will reveal his villainous deeds
       • "Come, thick night...nor heaven to peep through the blanket of the dark..."
         • Darkness allows Lady Macbeth to do evil - It implies that deceit and treachery can go unnoticed and villainous acts can be done freely

5. Language & Structure

   • Poetry
     • Blank Verse
     • Iambic Pentameter
       • 10 syllables per line and stresses every other syllable
     • It groups characters (villains)
       • The witches talk mainly in rhym, therefore act as 1 unit of evil and villainy
       • Macbeth talks a lot in imabic pentameter and blank verse - a form of poetry, therefore suggesting an association with the witches
   • The use of Macbeth's soliloquies (see Dramatic Techniques - Soliloquies)
   • 5 Acts
     • Act 1: Expostition, Act 2: Complitcation, Act 3: Crisis Act, 4: Resolution, Act 5: Denoument
       • This allows the audience to experience Macbeth's increasing villainy throughout the whole play