Violence

The Theme in the Work

Violence in the play begins offstage and gains strength as it goes. Duncan's murder is not staged: in scene 2 of Act II, Macbeth returns with the hands of an executioner, and Lady Macbeth smears the chamberlains with blood so that the guilt falls on them. In scene 3 of Act II, when the body is discovered, Macbeth kills the chamberlains and claims a rush of love for the king.

Now king, he begins to commission violence. In scene 1 of Act III, he convinces two murderers to kill Banquo and the son, and in scene 3 of Act III Banquo dies after ordering Fleance to flee. In scene 4 of Act III, Macbeth notices blood on the face of the murderer, who says afterward that it is Banquo's, dead in a ditch.

In scene 2 of Act IV, violence reaches the family of Macduff: murderers kill the boy and chase Lady Macduff, and in scene 3 of Act IV, when Ross brings the news, Macduff repeats the list of those he has lost without being able to believe it.

Macbeth's violence was rewarded before it was turned against the king. In scene 2 of Act I, the Captain tells Duncan that Macbeth split the rebel Macdonwald from the navel to the jaws and fixed his head on the battlements, and the king calls him worthy cousin and noble gentleman. Soon after, in Act II, that same capacity to kill is the one he turns against Duncan.

With Macbeth on the throne, violence becomes method and spreads through the kingdom. In scene 1 of Act IV, he decides to take Macduff's castle by surprise and put to the sword his wife, his children, and all who belong to his line. In scene 3 of Act IV, Ross describes a Scotland where no one smiles, deaths no longer move anyone, and every minute brings a new misfortune.

In the end, violence turns back on him. In scene 7 of Act V, Macbeth, surrounded, kills young Siward, who had challenged him without fearing his name, and then fights Macduff, who seeks him to avenge his wife and children killed at Fife. Macduff returns with Macbeth's head, presents it to Malcolm, and hails him as king.

The play's violence cuts the distance between thinking and acting. In Acts I and II Macbeth hesitates and has visions. In Act IV, when Lennox brings the news of Macduff's flight, he resolves that the first impulses of the heart will also be those of the arm, and the massacre at Fife, in scene 2 of Act IV, comes from that cut: violence reaches a boy who calls the assassin a liar.

Where It Appears

• Scene 2 of Act II: Macbeth returns from the king's room with the daggers, and Lady Macbeth takes them, smears the chamberlains she had drugged with blood, and leaves the crime offstage.
• Scene 3 of Act II: When Macduff discovers Duncan's body, Macbeth says he killed the chamberlains, accused of the crime, in a rush of love for the king.
• Scene 1 of Act III: Macbeth convinces two murderers, resentful with life, to kill Banquo and his son Fleance tonight.
• Scene 3 of Act III: The murderers attack Banquo on the way to the palace, and he dies after ordering his son Fleance to flee; the light goes out and Fleance escapes.
• Scene 4 of Act III: The first murderer tells Macbeth that Banquo is dead in a ditch, and Macbeth notices blood on the murderer's face.
• Scene 2 of Act IV: Murderers break into the castle of Fife, stab Macduff's son, who called the first of them a liar, and chase Lady Macduff.
• Scene 3 of Act IV: Ross tells Macduff that his wife and children were killed, and Macduff, repeating the word all, asks how this can be.

Passages

The blood on the hands of the one who killed:

The blood on the face of Banquo's murderer:

The voice of the boy at Fife before he is killed:

Macduff's grief at the news: