The first scene of the last act marks a return of Lady Macbeth and the theme of guilt. In addition, the strong relationship or interconnection between Macbeth and his wife is also suggested in the final act of the play. The intense feelings of guilt have produced madness in Lady Macbeth that eventually causes her to commit suicide (V, 11: 36-37). And Macbeth himself, mad with both guilt and power and by the misleading prophecies of the weird sisters, acts foolishly and recklessly. And that brings about his own death.
The scene begins with a doctor discussing Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking problem to a gentlewoman, one of the queen’s servants. The gentlewoman explains how Lady Macbeth, while still asleep, gets up out of bed, gets paper and envelope, writes a letter, seals it, and then returns to bed. The doctor describes such behavior as “a great perturbation in nature” (8). The doctor is referring to the sleepwalking behavior itself, but the line also may remind the audience of how Lady Macbeth changed her essential nature (human nature) in wanting to “unsex” herself (I, 5: 39) so that she would be more like a man, that is, colder and crueler. Murder of one’s lord is also an act that, in medieval and Renaissance societies, was viewed as unnatural. Lady Macbeth herself then appears (after line 15). She is sleepwalking again. In addition, she is also talking in her sleep. In her mind Lady Macbeth is reliving the murder of King Duncan, the horrible gory scene in which she assisted her husband. And in her mind she sees her hands once again covered with blood stains. The blood symbolizes her guilt. In this dream she cannot wash off the blood no matter how hard she tries. That suggests that she cannot remove her feelings of guilt no matter how much she would like to do so. Lady Macbeth is in anguish and cries out, “Out, damned spot; out, I say” ((30). She wants the blood, like her guilt, to go away; but it will not.
Lady Macbeth’s mind is a jumbled mass of memories. She also recalls how she encouraged her husband to commit the murder by calling him a coward (31-32) and how he ordered the murder of Macduff’s wife (36-37). Although Macbeth himself was directly and solely responsible for the murder of Macduff’s wife and children, Lady Macbeth shares in the guilt. All of the evils that followed were a result of the murder of King Duncan. And, so, Lady Macbeth shares in the guilt of all of the atrocious deeds done afterwards by her husband. One other deed that Lady Macbeth directly mentions is the assassination of Banquo (53). Lady Macbeth also feels guilt for that deed as well.
Lady Macbeth’s final words in her sleepwalking remind the audience of the porter who answered the “knocking at the gate” (56) on the night that Macbeth murdered his king. The gates to Macbeth’s castle then symbolized the gates of hell. And in Lady Macbeth’s mind there is also a hell of sorts. Her own mind is punishing her.
The doctor, who has witnessed this sleepwalking and sleep-talking along with the gentlewoman, comments sadly on the situation: “Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles” (6162). In this manner, Shakespeare himself is telling his audience that such a murder is indeed most unnatural, most against human nature, and that such acts will cause the doer to suffer in a most unnatural way. This applies to both Lady Macbeth and her husband.
In the short second scene, two Scotsmen discuss the growing rebellion. Both Prince Malcolm and Macduff have come to fight against Macbeth. And the prince is assisted by a large army from England. One of the Scotsmen notes that the majority of people in Scotland do not “love” or care for Macbeth: they are just obeying their king because they feel forced to do so (19-20). The men also suggest that Macbeth acts as a madman (13 and 23). Thus, madness links Macbeth to his wife (as suggested above).
The scene ends with the two men planning to join the rebels against Macbeth. They use a metaphor of medicine and disease to explain their reason. Scotland under Macbeth’s rule is gravely ill (“sickly weal”: line 27), and Prince Malcolm is the “medicine” to “purge” or remove that illness and cure the land.
In the third scene Macbeth is acting madly or irrationally. He knows that the rebel forces under Prince Malcolm’s command are coming to attack him, but he is not taking the necessary precautions or making the necessary preparations for the battle. Macbeth is a man without fear, and he is without fear because he believes the witches’ prophecies that he cannot be harmed until a forest (Birnam Wood) moves toward his castle and that no man born of woman has the power to harm him (lines 2 and 6). Macbeth does not even care that many of his own men are becoming traitors and joining in with the rebels.
Yet Macbeth’s mind is perturbed or disturbed (not unlike the mind of Lady Macbeth). Macbeth delivers a short soliloquy expressing his regret about the way he has lived his life. The soliloquy begins with Macbeth exclaiming, “I am sick at heart” (20).
The reader should note that when Macbeth says “Seyton” and “Seyton, I say” (in lines 20-21), he is calling out loud for his servant to come to him. This is not part of the soliloquy. The interruption is designated by the use of the dashes.
Macbeth uses the metaphor of a leaf during the fall season to describe his condition. The leaf is yellow and withered. It is old and will soon fall off of the tree. Macbeth realizes that his time on earth is nearly over. Before long he will die of old age.
Macbeth always expected that his life at this point would be happy and content, but instead he has received the opposite of what he expected (26-29):
What Macbeth Had Expected |
What Macbeth Received |
honor |
mouth-honor |
love |
curses (hate) |
obedience |
poor heart (fear) |
friends |
(enemies) |
The expression mouth-honor (or lip-service) means that servants praise Macbeth and tell him what a great and wonderful king he is. But they do not mean it. They do not think he is wonderful or great at all. They just tell him that to flatter him. They just praise Macbeth because they want something from him or because they are afraid of him.
In essence, then, Macbeth regrets the way he has lived his entire life. The young Macbeth had hoped that his life would be grand and glorious if he achieved his ambition of being king. The old Macbeth now realizes what a terrible mistake he has made. In this respect, Macbeth is not unlike Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowe’s play. Faustus’ ambition of being a powerful sorcerer came with all sorts of expectations of the glories that he would achieve. But at the end of his life, he realized that he had not accomplished anything. Like Macbeth, Faustus traded his soul to satisfy his ambition; and, like Macbeth, Faustus realized that he gave up his soul for nothing.