Irony in Macbeth Essay

Irony: †¦ an event or result that is the opposite of what is expected. Many situations in Macbeth have unexpected results that are deemed as ironic. Lady Macbeth, the one who originally was labeled as evil becomes frail and weak, and succumbs to the madness that she is driven to by her guilty conscience. Macbeth the one who was so hesitant is now ruled by his greedy, murderous, impulsiveness. Macbeth was once a loyal, valiant soldier who appreciated the King. He then turns his trust and fate into the hands of the supernatural and starts increasingly putting his need for guidance of what he should do, and what will become of him, into the hands of three witches. He starts committing evil acts of murder out of what he feels is his best interest but also out of irrational impulsiveness. Lady Macbeth, initially, makes herself out to be evil â€Å"Lady Macbeth: †¦Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me, from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty!† (William Shakespeare I.v.43-46). She then backs down with many excuses when it comes down to performing the task of murdering Duncan. Lady Macbeth who was once strong, and believed she could tolerate her guilt falls into a state of insanity that eventually leads to her demise. Ironic changes occur in people when greed, dominance, and irrationality replace moral conscience, and social values. One realizes Macbeth is loyal to the king and in turn is respected by the king when Duncan presents the title Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth. In the quote â€Å"No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive/ †¦And with his former title greet Macbeth† (I.ii.73-75) one can see the trust and respect Duncan has for Macbeth. Duncan believes Macbeth to be such a valiant soldier that he awards his loyalty to Scotland with allowing him the honor of being chosen to be the Thane of Cawdor, because the previous thane of Cawdor was executed for being a traitor. After receiving the prophecies, and then finding out he has been given the title Thane of Cawdor Macbeth thinks about how to make the third prophecy, of him becoming king, true. The thought of killing Duncan crosses his mind but immediately he rejects it, and is filled with guilt for having such horrid thoughts. His wife, Lady Macbeth, coaxes Macbeth into planning, and performing Duncan’s murder. Macbeth refuses, at first, to even consider the thought of killing Duncan. He is especially hesitant because Duncan has been so kind to him, and has never wronged him in any way. Lady Macbeth continually insults her husband’s manhood and convinces him that her plan of how to murder Duncan is fool proof. He gives in, he still believes it is wrong but comes to the conclusion it is the only way he will be able to attain the position of king. After the deed, of killing Duncan, is done he experiences and immense feeling of guilt. The irony of Macbeth killing Duncan, the King of Scotland, can be looked at in two views, of how the old thane of Cawdor was a traitor, and Macbeth has now turned into a traitor, also because Macbeth was a General in the Kings army and risked his life during wars to protect not only his country but the King. Macbeth was given the title thane of Cawdor when it was believed that the old thane of Cawdor was a traitor. Macbeth himself assumes the position of being a traitor, as he killed Duncan for his own personal gain and went against the social values of his country, that he once fought to keep, in addition to fighting for the values of his country he also was fighting to keep his country under the reining of Duncan as King. Macbeth lost his passiveness, decided to put trust into the prophecies of the witches by taking fate into his own hands. Lady Macbeth feels that she is able to be brave, and strong in order to accomplish the gruesome task, of murdering Duncan, herself if need be. Lady Macbeth calls to the supernatural to take her feminine character and replace it with evil. One can see Lady Macbeth’s desperation to become all that is not considered to be womanly weaknesses in the quote † †¦Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ Of direst cruelty!† (I.v.43-46), here it is seen that she is calling on the supernatural to make her evil. She also states, while progressing with getting the soldiers drunk, â€Å"That which hath made them drunk hath/ made me bold; †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (II.ii.1-2), the alcohol has given her a sense of newfound bravery and strength. Lady Macbeth makes excuses, to Macbeth, as to why she was unable to bring herself to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth, on the arrival of Macbeth to the court, immediately starts to talk about what she has done to help the murder go as planned but makes excuses as to why she could not kill Duncan â€Å"†¦Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done’t.† (II.ii.16-17) Lady Macbeth expects her husband to do something that not even she was able to bring herself to accomplish. Lady Macbeth was constantly reminding Macbeth that she could do the deed herself if she was given the chance, but in the end she backed out and made excuses and put her husband in the position of having to murder Duncan himself. Although Lady Macbeth bravery seemed legitimate, we saw that when it came time to do the unsightly task she was unable to bring herself to it, and even though she found it to be too awful of a feat for her to complete she still expected Macbeth to finish the hanest murder if for no other reason than obligation to her. Lady Macbeth complained that her husband was incapable of hiding his emotions and his inability to accept committing a senseless crime for personal gain. Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth how to hide his guilt in this quote † †¦look like the innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (I.v.72-72). Here it is noted that she wants her husband to act and appear like nothing is wrong, and nothing out of the ordinary is going on, but to also be ready and waiting to strike when the time is right. Lady Macbeth is trying to encourage Macbeth that the assassination of Duncan is the only path that will take him to the role of King, that even though killing Duncan is a rather evil thing to do it must be done, and once Macbeth is king he will see that it was worth it. Macbeth is transformed into an impulsive, irrational fiend, who is willing to take any steps necessary to remove anyone who may get in the way of his rein as King. Whereas Lady Macbeth’s guilty conscience is slowly destroying her vitality, and she begins to drown herself in a guilt stricken state of madness. Macbeth no longer relies on his wife to give him support, courage, and insight within his evil deeds. He continually visits the witches’ advice of how to prolong his rein of king, and who not to trust. He begins to kill, with a guiltless conscience, for vengeance. Lady Macbeth falls deeper, and deeper into a state of neurosis that the guilt of her conscience has forced her into, she is now weak and unable to sleep, her nights are filled with constant bouts of sleepwalking trying to wash the blood off her hands. Their roles have been reversed Macbeth is evil and strong; Lady Macbeth is becoming more and more fragile. No longer is Macbeth the worried one who is constantly horrified by his own actions, he is the strong one who seemingly now has no social conscience and acts solely on the animal instinct of his Id. Lady Macbeth has fallen victim to her own sins, she was the one who once said â€Å"†¦ A little water clears us of this deed:†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (II.ii.85) Now she spends sleepless nights attempting to wash the imaginary blood away. Lady Macbeth who seemed powerful in the beginning let her life be shattered by haste and greed, as the once seemingly weaker Macbeth rose into a monster. Irony takes many forms through out the play, not only to create dramatic effect, but also to show the uprising of Macbeth through his newfound evilness, and the downfall of Lady Macbeth as she descends further and further into the insanity brought on by her eagerness for Macbeth to become King by any means necessary. Once a loyal, well liked Nobleman, Macbeth, in a simple run in with the supernatural turned into a hated, unworthy, King. Lady Macbeth’s external bravery in planning the murder is then proved to be an act when faced with the real situation and not just the scenario. Evil can be easily transferred, and as it progresses it is easy to see who has enough strength to be able to deal with the torture of the guilt. Through the irony of the changes in Macbeth, one is able to relate to how easy it can be to be engulfed in horror yet be blinded by the desire of wanting, and needing more for no other reason than personal gain.