Macbeth 
 
Independence And Failure
 
Peasants of the early sixteenth century are often pictured
carrying a bundle of limbs tied with vines on their backs.
This is a perfect metaphor for the events in Macbeth.
Macbeth is one of many Thanes, or limbs, bundled together.
The Thanes are united by the king, or the vine. Scotland,
or the peasant, carries the bundle by the sweat of his
brow. They carry the bundle for fires on cold nights, in
order to build homes, or castles, to protect them from the
elements. Scotland fights wars in order to protect them
from invaders. If the limbs are tied improperly, one limb
may slip to the side and cause the peasant, or nation, to
stumble or fall. If the limb slides completely out, the
rest of the limbs may follow because the bundle is loose. 

Another metaphor for Macbeth that exemplifies his marriage,
is a triangle. Each spouse makes up one of the leaning
sides, and marriage the lower side. The three together are
very strong, but to stand they all must be united. The
longer a marriage is held, the longer the bottom stretches,
and the more dependent each person becomes on the other. If
one side tries to stand on its own, then the second will
fall on the first as it tries to stand. This is what occurs
in Macbeth as both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth try to
separate. 

Macbeth is an eighteenth century play written by William
Shakespeare which uses these two metaphors, the breakdown
in the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth and
between the king and the Thanes. They perfectly parallel
each other because each is caused by Macbeth's will to be
independent. According to Webster's dictionary, the archaic
definition of independence is "competence" (1148). To be
independent is not to be "subject to control by others"
(Gove 1148). This means that independence is to be in
control of ones decisions and to feel they are good
decisions. Macbeth, on the other hand, feels independence
is to not be subordinate to others like the king. To be
independent, one must be strong. Inner strength, not
physical strength, is needed. Inner strength is only
accomplished by having a high self-esteem. Macbeth does
not, and must use others to reach for independence. Macbeth
needs this strength: It [Macbeth] hurls a universe against
a man, and if the universe that strikes is more impressive
than the man who is stricken, as great as his size and
gaunt as his soul may be, he will fall. (Van Doren 217) 

According to Macbeth's ideas of independence and of
strength, he is neither independent nor strong. He feels
the need for both and thus allows nothing, including
murder, to get into his way. Shakespeare opens Macbeth with
the disorder being stabilized by the king and Thanes. The
Thanes fought "rebellious arm 'gainst arm" to curb "his
lavish spirit" (I, ii, 56- 7). Macbeth's stature increased
to fill the space in the bundle of limbs opened by the
death of the Thane of Cawdor for "what he hath lost, noble
Macbeth hath won" (I, ii, 67). "When we first see him
[Macbeth] he is already invaded by those fears which are to
render him vicious and which are finally to make him
abominable" (Van Doren 216).At the end of Act I, Lady
Macbeth and Macbeth are discussing whether or not to
assassinate the king (I, ii). Macbeth has not committed
himself to this sin and to independence, he has not broken
the commitatus bond that exists between the king and Thane.

Likewise, Macbeth's marriage is unstable as they argue, but
their triangle is still together as they depend on one
another. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth each experiment with
external forces to gain independence from their spouse.
Macbeth uses the witches, on which he becomes increasingly
dependent. Lady Macbeth uses alcohol and Satan to "unsex"
her and make her strong (II, ii, 1; I, v, 42). Both Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth deny their dependence on their aid, and
still require their spouse. Their self denial of their
dependence makes them weak, and the more self denial, the
weaker they get. As a married couple, they are splitting
away from each other: they are trying to turn their
triangle of dependence into an open square of independence. 

The split between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth becomes apparent
with the assassination of king Duncan. By the end of their
arguing in the beginning of Act II, the two had not come to
a final decision as to whether to kill the king or not (I,
v, 72). Without the consent of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth tries
to kill Duncan but fails, because she lacks strength and
covers her ineptitude with the lame excuse that he
"resembled my father as he slept" (II, ii, 12-3). Lady
Macbeth lacks strength, because she only has conscience
strength formed by extreme self denial. Unlike Lady
Macbeth, Macbeth is almost strong enough to complete the
task without Lady Macbeth. "He is driven to the murder of
Duncan partly by the constant goading of Lady Macbeth and
partly by his own will to be in control of Scotland:" he
feels power is strength (Watkins 29). His strength comes
from multiple places. It comes from his strength as a
warrior, from the witches' revelations, and from self
denial of his dependence on the first two (I, iii, 49-50). 

Macbeth is still not completely independent from his wife
in that he is unable to complete the task and "carry them
[the daggers], and smear the sleepy grooms with blood" (II,
ii, 48-56). The scene is painful in the way it separates
husband and wife. Crime had at first brought them closely
and eagerly together, but now they discover how the
execution of the crime separates them. In fact, after the
murder they can only speak in short sentences, not
communicating or even answering questions. (Jorgensen 67)
Although he blames his rage on the grooms for killing
Duncan, he was actually mad at himself for committing the
murder. Not until he kills the grooms with his regret, does
Macbeth become totally independent from the Thanes and
slides from the bundle of limbs (II, iii, 108-19). 

The action of killing the chamber servants was the first
action which Macbeth does totally independent of Lady
Macbeth: he does not even mention killing the chamber
servants to her: A stranger to himself and to others, he is
on his way to isolation...but what he sees cannot really be
shared with others for it is the uniquely appropriate and
lonely torment that cannot be felt by others. Even for his
wife there will be a torment of a different kind, one that
likewise separates her from others. (Jorgensen 178) This
reaction to his regret is the strongest divider between him
and his wife: it ends their relationship of dependence for
their temporal existence. Tree's limbs do not tie very
well, because they break, likewise Macbeth is incapable of
being king, because he is unfit for the job. He tries to
replace Duncan, because he is so filled with self denial
that he can not see the truth: he will never be a good
king. Macbeth wants to be strong and independent at the
same time but is very unsuccessful. Macbeth must use
external support to stand and not to lean on Lady Macbeth
so he turns to killing. He has Banquo killed, because he
poses a threat. Macbeth can not do it himself, because they
were once friends which shows his lack of strength to stand
erect (II, i, 11). 

As soon as the deed is done, Macbeth falls: his control and
independence fall. His plan to use Banquo's death to
restore order and give him strength did not work. Before
all the Thanes except for Macduff, Macbeth has a brief
moment of insanity, in which he loses all control and
reveals his true strength which has been hidden by self
denial. For her own safety, Lady Macbeth tries to calm the
situation and to make it excusable: Sit, worthy friends. My
lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth. Pray you,
keep seat. The fit is momentary; upon a thought he will
again be well. If you much note him, You shall offend him
and extend his passion. Feed, and regard him not. . . (III,
iv, 54-9) With little effect, she struggles to keep order
but gives up and has the Thanes "stand not upon the order
of your going" (III, iv, 120-1). 

Macbeth's strength from self denial fails, because he is
losing his sanity. To make up for the loss of support, he
returns to the witches. "He may conceivably be under the
spell of the witches, may even be possessed" (Jorgenson
64). He is very uncertain of himself and asks many
questions of the witches in search of answers on which he
can be strengthened: "Then live Macduff: what need I fear
of thee?", "Who can impress the forest, bid the tree unfix
his earth bound root?" (IV, i, 82; IV, I, 95-6). His
answers do not give him sufficient strength for he vows to
make "assurance double sure and take a bond of fate" (IV,
i, 83-4). Again his will is greater than his ability, and
Macbeth must have someone else kill Macduff and his family.
As if trying to keep all the marbles together, each time
one slips Macbeth has them killed. Unfortunately for
Macbeth, he is not too successful for Fleance and Macduff
get away. 

Quickly Macbeth is overwhelmed with his independence. Lady
Macbeth is "troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep
her from rest" (V, iii, 38-9). She is no longer "unsexed"
and strong so she can not sleep. She remains sane and
strong longer than Macbeth, because her strength came from
one source, Satan. Ultimately she succumbs because her
sub-conscience fought against evil and kept her without
rest. She also began to realize the wickedness of her sin
for she said, "all the perfumes of Arabia will not [could
not] sweeten this hand" (V, I, 53-5). The fight in her mind
is too hard so she kills herself. She leaves Macbeth with
the rest of his subjects. Many of Macbeth's soldiers are
deserting him, and he gets his wish: to be independent of
others (V, iii, 1). He thinks he is independent, but, in
reality, he supports himself on the revelations of the
apparitions for he frequently repeats "until Birnam Wood
come to Dunsinane" and "was he not born of woman?" (V, iv,
60; V, iii, 3). 

In the end, Macbeth dies because everything he used for
strength was gone. As soon as Macbeth dies and reunites
with Lady Macbeth, the Thanes are reunited by Malcolm who
has the qualities to make a good leader and to keep the
Thanes together. The suffering that Scotland had endured
ended because "All Hail, king of Scotland" (V, viii, 59).
"The passions are directed in their true end. Lady Macbeth
is merely detested; and though the courage of Macbeth
preserves some esteem, yet every reader rejoices at his
fall" (Johnson 484). In the end, Macbeth is independent,
because he does not rely on his wife and he does not rely
on the witches. Since the nation was restored to order, his
death was for the better. "The universe that struck was
more impressive" so he crumbled with lack of strength. 
 
Works Cited
 
Gove, Philip Babcock. Webster's Third International
Dictionary. Springfield, Mass: G. & C. Merriam, 1967. 

Johnson, Samuel. The Plays of William Shakespeare. London:
J & R Tonson, 1788
 
Jorgensen, Paul A. Our Naked Frailties. Los Angeles: U of
CA, 1971.
 
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. New York: Penguin Books,
1987.
 
Van Doren, Mark. Shakespeare. NY: Doubleday, 1939.
 
Watkins, Ronald. The Theology of Macbeth. Oxford: Oxford
University, 1964.