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Michael Kadish
11/10/95
.6
In Macbeth a great deal of the actions are influenced by mystical forces. Ghosts, witches, and Fate's dark forces surround the play without being on either the "good" side or the "evil" side. These mystic forces merely seem to push forward fate. The goal of this play is to show how King James' family attained their royal position. In order to show that this King's rule was divine, Shakespeare brings forth the supernatural to help history along its way.
The witches are generally viewed by most as evil. I disagree. The witches are not evil. The concept of this play is to end with King James' family line in power. In order for this story to be understood, the audience must already know the ending. Just in case they were unclear on their national history, Shakespeare inserted a prophetic voice to show the Truth.
The ghosts, seen by Macbeth, get him going on his path. Case in point, we have the dagger. Everything is going swimmingly; everybody is happy. Unfortunately, Destiny realized that James I had to eventually come to power. Macbeth, who was not an overly evil person, was only a little upset that Duncan did not give him the title. Basically he was content and certainly not ready to commit murder. To insure that Malcolm's lineage inherits the throne, Fate pulled a dirty trick. He made Macbeth see ghosts. One does not know what was put in the eyes of Lady Macbeth but we know that out of nowhere Macbeth says, "Is this a dagger which I see before me." This ghost was not evil, for it was for the good of everybody. Perhaps without any past history Malcolm would have become a hideous tyrant had he even become king. In any case, assuming that James needed to be king of Scotland and/or England, his family would need to come into power. Fate decided that its chosen course was the easiest way to switch the line. The ghosts of and in this story serve to set history. The dagger was not evil; it was for the good of the people. The dagger was not killed; this illusionary dagger led to some innocent deaths.
The darkness of the play involved the second half of Fate's plan. While this entire essay may be viewed as stretching the facts, continuing the thesis explains how Fate still had to get James' family into power. If no more mystics had shown up after the death of Duncan, then Macbeth's seed would reside over the throne of Scotland. Somehow, there was a catch to this that Banquo's kin would take over. This is no good. We have to get Malcolm on the throne. If this dreariness surrounding the play did not exist, Macbeth would not have had to have his closest friend killed. This dreariness is what is needed to slowly turn Macbeth insane. The people have to realize what a messed up ruler they have, so that they can wish for the next in line of the previous king.
Fate needed all these situations and phases to get Malcolm the kingship. Since the Scottish law does not make the eldest prince king, this would have given the eventual kingship to Macbeth. This is the probable result anyway. The second phase, of course, got the reluctant Malcolm his needed position.
The sad part of this is that Macbeth has some vague premonition that all these are for a legitimate goal. He of course is not ready to conform with this. "Miserable wenches," Macbeth calls the witches. He knows deep down that what they are telling is true, but cannot deal with the fact that he could lose a battle. This had never happened to him before. Macbeth had to see all of the mysticism with scared skepticism yet awe. When Banquo's ghost appears, Macbeth is shaken but realizes he is doomed to fail. None of these mystical occurrences are evil or good, but merely move along fate and the setting of the writing.