1. Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking that first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.
Taking the first step towards an evil act is the most important part of partaking in sin. Many people may define the turning moments in ones life as the time they made the decisions to change his or her life made. The causes of taking this daring leap is a very similar journey for many people. You need the idea of an evil act to be planted in your head, be able to justify the act, and, in most cases, be persuaded by the words of a close friend. Macbeth displays all of these steps in his decision to step toward "the dark side".
Macbeth was given the inspiration to kill Duncan when he heard the witches prophecy in the woods. The witches words in act 1, scene 7, "All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!", place the seed that will develop into a plot to kill Duncan (Shakespeare). Macbeth ponders these words and takes them with great curiosity, "Stay...tell me more: /By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis; /But how of Cawdor?" (Shakespeare). This prophecy gives Macbeth a sense of purpose and the potential for power. Even this potential to yield such power has his mind running to evil thoughts.
The next step towards evil actions from an all around good person is the ability to justify the evil act. Macbeth uses his thirst for power to develop justification for all that must be done. However, as found in act 1, scene 7, Macbeth has decided to avoid murder, "We will proceed no further in this business: /He hath honour'd me of late..." (Shakespeare). This is all without the persuasive words of Lady Macbeth that push him over the edge and make him take the first step into evil. It is her words that allows his mind to justify his actions and encourage him to murder Duncan. She does this through de masculinizing him, "Art thou afeard/ To be the same in thine own act and valour/ As thou art in desire?", "And live a coward in thine own esteem..." (Shakespeare).
Once Macbeth committed his terrible act, it had a dramatic effect on his state of mind. By choosing evil he eventually found himself, "Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, /Returning were as tedious as go o'er...". He led himself down a deep hole that has no turning back. When he commits his second murder of Banquo, his guilt turns into a severe insanity. He starts to see the ghost and admit, "Strange things I have in head..." (Shakespeare). By choosing evil the first time, he changed the course of his life. The guilt he felt would manifest as paranoia and insanity. This manifested in later acts of violence and a spiral of bad decisions.
I find it interesting that many people have talked about the persuasion of a friend as one of the main reasons for partaking in an evil act; and I completely agree. Do you think that if Lady Macbeth hadn't pressured Macbeth as much as she did that he still would have killed Duncan? Is persuasion the most effective way to get someone to do something?
ReplyDeleteThe justification of an evil act is an important role in the development of an evil person. It is a perspective based observation-- being that to the evil person, they are justified and therefore they feel they are not evil-- which is almost the epitome of an evil person. It can then be difficult to convince the person their act is evil as they feel justified.
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