Macbeth's Mindstate Deterioration Throughout The Play

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A person can easily change due to conflicts evolving in their lives. William Shakespeare shows us this many times in the play “Macbeth”, how conflicts and events effortlessly impact people and the choices they make and how they suffer from it. The play “Macbeth” was one of Shakespeare’s most powerful plays which was based off things that happened in their modern society that affected them. Macbeth’s state of mind declines throughout the plot due to murders that cause him to become more fearful and paranoid, the witches visions that make him more arrogant and overconfident, and the betrayal of his people leading him to be angry and more ruthless.

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Macbeth regrets the murders he committed which makes him paranoid and fearful. Macbeth starts to hear things that make him more fearful of his surrounding and clearly shows how weak his mental state was. “There’s one did laugh in ’s sleep, and one cried. “Murder!” or “I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep”.

In this quote we see that Macbeth’s paranoia kicks in which makes him hear things like the servants saying “Murder” this scares Macbteth because he thinks that he was caught and the the servants were calling him a murderer. We also see how the murder of sleep symbolises how Macbeth killed king Duncan in his sleep which was when he is in an innocent state, this shows Macbeth is worried this will happen to him in the future making him more weak.

To make matters worse, Macbeth starts to hallucinate and starts seeing things. “Is this a dagger which I see before me…A dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain… That summons thee to heaven or to hell”. In this quote we see that Macbeth loses his mental ability as he is so invested into his thoughts. Additionally, his mental state is haunting him due to his internal break down; meaning he is having an internal conflict because he knows the detrimental consequences but he has lust for power and is being manipulated by the witches and his wife. Macbeth shows his weakness because he gets manipulated so easily. “Was the hope drunk Wherein you dressed yourself?...Art thou afeard/To be the same in thine own act and valor/As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/And live a coward in thine own esteem,” . In this quote we can see that Lady Macbeth is taunting Macbeth for being squeamish and for acting as a coward for not wanting to kill king Duncan. She manipulates Macbeth into killing Duncan because of her lust for power by insulting Macbeth’s masculinity. In addition, she deals him a mental blow causing Macbeth to want to prove himself to her that he is not a coward and that he is not weak. Therefore, Macbeth's mind state declines because he starts to hear things, see things and is easily manipulated by his wife.

Macbeth becomes overconfident and arrogant after the witches give him the three visions. Macbeth is not scared and is overconfident because the third apparition says he won't fall until the forest of Birnam marches to his castle. “Bring me no more reports. Let them fly all./ Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane/I cannot taint with fear” (V.iii. 1-3). In this quote we can see that Macbeth is not scared and doesn't care that all of his people deserted him because he thinks he will not fall until the forest of Birnam moves to his castle. This shows how Macbeth is overconfident because of how he is relying too much on the witches and is mindlessly following the witches prophecies and is not being cautious on how the visions could have been told to him in half truths. Additionally, Macbeth becomes arrogant and is acting incautiously because the witches visions vastly boosted his confidence. Macbeth doesn't think he can be harmed because of the second vision saying anyone born of a woman shall not harm him. “Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;/I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield/To one of woman born.” In this quote we can see Macbeth telling Macduff to go fight someone who can be harmed. This clearly shows Macbeth’s arrogance because Macbeth believes that he is invincible because of the vision that the witches told him. However, Macbeth again relied too much on the witches and did not take into consideration that Macduff was not born naturally from a woman, instead he was cut out of a woman. This proves that Macbeth was acting foolish which soon leads to his demise. Macbeth’s suspicion of Macduff becomes confirmed when the witches tell him to beware of Macduff, this makes him think he can avoid him since he was told a prophecy which makes the witches look like a credible source to him. “To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:/The castle of Macduff I will surprise,/Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword/His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls”. In this quote we see how Macbeth becomes confident as he says he won’t hesitate, he will do whatever he decides on; he plans to raid Macduff's castle. In addition, the witches tell Macbeth to beware of Macduff which worries Macbeth because Macduff poses a threat to his position as king. To eliminate any threat, Macbeth raids Macduff’s castle and sends murderers to his castle to kill his children, wife, servants and anyone else who stands in his way to ensure his position as king. Ultimately, Macbeth becomes overconfident and arrogant because of the visions he was told by the witches.

Macbeth slowly becomes angry and violent causing him to act chaotically. Macbeth becomes angry that Macduff fled to England. “Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word/Macduff is fled to England...thou anticipat’st my dread exploits...And even now,/To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:/The castle of Macduff I will surprise,”. In this quote we see that Macbeth is angry and upset that Macduff left Scotland and fled to England. He is mostly angry that Macduff, the thane of Fife is betraying him and is influencing others to betray him. This anger causes Macbeth to stop hesitating and he says he will do whatever he decides on doing which leads him to raid Macduff’s castle and kill his children and wife. Macbeth shows his temper and lack of patience when he speaks with his servant and say “Go, prick thy face and over-red thy fear, / Thou lily-livered boy. What soldiers, patch? /

Death of thy soul! Those linen cheeks of thine / Are counselors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face” (V.iii.16-19)? In this quote we see that Macbeth expresses his anger on his servant by calling him a coward and tells him to go bring color back to his face. In addition, the way he changed in talking changed dramatically as how he is now brutal. Macbeth shows his ruthlessness when he talks about how he will punish his messenger if he lies by saying “If thou speak’st false, / Upon the next tree shall thou hang alive / Till famine cling thee. If thy speech be sooth, I care not if thou dost for me as much. In this quote we see that Macbeth is very ruthless and does not care for the wellbeing of his servants as he tells him he will hang him if he does not tell the truth. In addition, this shows his brutality because Macbeth wants to kill everyone who is against him and wants to make Scotland chaotic before he is conquered. To conclude, Macbeth has an angry and ruthless mindstate because of the people who betrayed him.

In conclusion, Macbeth’s mindstate deterioration throughout the play; he becomes weak and fearful due to the murders around him, he becomes overconfident and arrogant because of the three witches visions, and finally his mindstate makes him angrier and more ruthless. Macbeth lost his power and status because of his wife. Lady Macbeth influenced Macbeth to do things that were not true to his character which eventually causes him to lead himself down to his fateful downfall.