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Lawren Szilagy

Mr. Clark

Honors English 12: British Literature

13 December 2017

On Evil Devouring Souls in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

William Shakespeare, the world-known English playwright, actor, and poet, compels the

audience of his famous work Macbeth. In a world that has been and always will be full of the

desire of instant gratification and ambition to succeed, Shakespeare plants themes that the

audience can recognize in themselves and learn from in order to stray from self-destruction.

People of all ages and ethnicities have believed in dark spiritual elements and have toyed with

them in order to do “improve” their lives. These people long to catch a glimpse of their future,

be advised on what to do in a situation, speak to the deceased, etc. Believing in these dark

spirits, however, is temporary to our life on earth. Through Macbeth, Shakespeare shows the

destruction that comes from faith in these dark spirits. Faith in dark spiritual elements may give

us what we desire now, but in the end, such faith devours souls.

In the beginning of Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth seems to be a fairly virtuous

character. However, Macbeth’s soul is devoured by his mental decline and his death, which both

result from faith in dark elements. His personality takes a three-sixty when he begins to talk to

the three weird sisters, or witches. These witches are evil, but Macbeth trusts what they say and

puts all of his faith in them, even believing that he is indestructible because what the witches say

will destroy him seems to have no possibility of becoming true. What Macbeth does not realize

is that these dark spiritual powers want him to trust them in the small things, so they can
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ultimately destroy him in large things, such as his chance at an eternal life of peace and

happiness.

The witches’ predictions, along with some provoking from Lady Macbeth, causes

Macbeth to murder King Duncan. From this point on, Macbeth’s mental health noticeably

declines, as what the witches tell him replays in his head on repeat, and fear that someone will

try to steal the throne from him creeps up as well. This fear causes Macbeth to have one of his

former best friends, Banquo, murdered. Following Banquo’s death, Macbeth begins to see the

ghost of Banquo, causing him to act out in front of a large dinner party while trying to interact

with him. Macbeth exclaims at the dinner, “The times has been/ That, when the brains were out

the man would die/ And there an end; but now they rise again,” (Shakespeare III.iv.79-81).

Macbeth is constantly hounded in his mind by guilt and darkness, all as a result of his

faith in the witches. Faith is supposed to put one at ease; however, faith in the wrong things,

such as dark spiritual elements, obviously does the opposite. At the end of the play in Act 5,

Macbeth knows that he is outnumbered and that his castle is surrounded, but he does not seem to

care. He trusts the witches that told him that he would only be harmed by a man not born of

woman, and Macbeth does not believe that such a man could possibly exist. With dark spiritual

powers, however, there is always a loophole. Thus, there is truth to the statement the witches told

Macbeth. Macduff, a man born of cesarean section, was technically not born of woman. The trust

Macbeth placed in the witches ultimately gets him killed by Macduff in Act 5, which is just the

start of the devouring of his unvirtuous soul.

The complete and utter destruction of a soul is seen in Macbeth through the character of

Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth. There is a drastic change in her character from the time that

Macbeth is in the process of murdering and becoming King to the end of the play. In Act 1 Lady
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Macbeth prays to evil spirits, saying, “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!” (Shakespeare I.v.41-44).

Lady Macbeth prays for evil to come upon her and give her the strength and courage of a man to

carry out evil deeds to become Queen and for Macbeth to become King. She knows that in order

to become queen in the near future, she must attain the title unrightfully and in an unvirtuous

way. Although Lady Macbeth does in fact gain the power she desires and becomes queen

through dark spiritual elements, there is a steady deterioration in her character throughout the

rest of the play. She seems to diminish as a person, and it is noticeable that the guilt is eating

away at her. At every moment of the day, Lady Macbeth is on edge. Lady Macbeth starts to

sleepwalk in Act 5, and in her sleep, she exclaims, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” (Shakespeare

V.i.38), as she desires to wash her hands clean of the guilt she is carrying. She is unable to wash

away her guilt, and the guilt eats away at her until she is compelled to take her own life,

devouring her own soul.

Shakespeare portrays a world in Macbeth where evil and faith in spiritual elements starts

to win for a time, but ultimately fails. It is seen throughout the play that those who believed and

put their trust in dark elements declined psychologically and were led to death. Christians

around the world believe in this as well, as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will ultimately

bring a defeat to evil. Those who are virtuous will live an eternal life with God in peace, while

those who believe in dark spiritual elements will have their souls devoured for eternity in hell.

It is hard for many to realize that staying away from dark elements matters. The world is all

about instant gratification, and it takes a lot less time to achieve something from dark spiritual

elements than to build a relationship with God. Like Macbeth’s decision to murder King Duncan

to become King, many would rather have their desires instantly gratified instead of waiting,
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working hard for something, and actually deserving what is earned. Most of the time, sinning and

doing wrong is a lot easier and more desirable than doing the right thing. However, this is a

slippery downward slope that, as Shakespeare shows in Macbeth, can lead to an eternal life of

misery.

Macbeth shows the decline of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as they put their trust in dark

spiritual elements. Both of their souls are ultimately devoured as a result of their unvirtuous acts

and beliefs. Both Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s mental health declines throughout the play, as

they are constantly on edge regarding the witches’ words and watching their backs for what is to

happen to them next. Macbeth is killed, because he trusts the witch’s words exactly and does not

realize that they tricked him. Lady Macbeth is devoured by the guilt that came with the murders

of King Duncan and Banquo, which she convinced her husband to do after praying to dark

spirits. Although written in 1606, Macbeth still offers sound lessons for all to recognize and

learn from, with one of the largest being the realization that evil spirits may give us what we

desire in the present, but in the end, they devour souls.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Edited by Sylvan Barnet, Signet Classic, 1998.