Act 1 Scenes 5 - 7 Response
"Tricks and treachery are the practices of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest."
- Benjamin Franklin
In Scene 5, Lady Macbeth makes her first appearance as the ambitious wife of Macbeth. The scene starts out with her soliloquy, in which she expresses concerns for her husband's kindness. "Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it" (I.v.15-19). From this quotation, one can just picture Lady Macbeth as a heartless, greedy woman who is willing to forgo loyalty for personal gains. Moreover, her plans to seduce Macbeth into committing treason exacerbate her image even more. "Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise with the valor of my tongue / All that impedes thee from the golden round" (I.v.25-28). She is now portrayed as a duplicitous wife who takes advantage of her gullible husband. She plans to tempt Macbeth into murdering Duncan so that she can benefit from it. One thing that I have noticed is that such character as Lady Macbeth, sly women who use seduction gain advantage of others, is quite common; there are the Sirens in Greek mythology and Cleopatra, who beguiled Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. Meanwhile, Macbeth is indirectly portrayed as being "too full o' th' milk of human kindness" in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy. Her concerns clearly show that Macbeth is a loyal warrior who would never betray his own king unless seduced by his own wife. Her certainty of her plans to tempt Macbeth into committing the act show that Macbeth is quite susceptible to the influence of his wife and that he is quite gullible.
In Scene 6, the oblivious King Duncan finally arrives at Inverness. Despite the fact that he has just stepped into a death trap, Duncan greets Lady Macbeth with much love and gratitude. He is portrayed as a generous king who treats his subjects with decorum and respect. Such portrayal rouses pity from the audience, who know about the seditious ruse that the Macbeth couple has planned. The irony found in the scene also intensifies the sympathy from the audience. Duncan, oblivious of the ruse, praises and thanks Lady Macbeth in this quotation: "The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, / Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you / How you shall bid God 'ield us for your pains, / And thank us for your trouble" (I.vi.13-16). Lady Macbeth, with a deceiving facade, welcomes Duncan with much respect in this quotation: "All our service, / In every point twice done and then done double, / Were poor and single business to contend / Against those honors deep and broad wherewith / Your majesty loads our house" (I.vi.17-21). Such effect of pity is achieved by the diction of the two characters: one who truly believes he is welcome and one who pretends to welcome the other through flattering.
Scene 7 begins with Macbeth's soliloquy, in which he conflicts on whether to commit the treason or to remain loyal and faithful. He ponders that he would commit the act without question if the consequences had not been so terrible. However, he states, "But in these cases / We still have judgment here, that we but teach / Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague the inventor" (I.vii.7-10). He realizes that whatever he does, it will come back to haunt him. Macbeth also considers the trust that Duncan has in him. He knows that he is trusted as a kinsman, who should protect his king at all times, and also as the host, who must prevent the king from any harm instead of causing the harm himself. Furthermore, he thinks about Duncan's generosity in his rule. "Besides, this Duncan / Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been / So clear in his great office, that his virtues / Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against / The deep damnation of his taking-off" (I.vii.16-20). The metaphors in this quotation indicate Macbeth's utmost respect for Duncan, who has been a corrupt-free, honest ruler. In the last part of his soliloquy, Macbeth finally decides he cannot commit the act because ambition, which is what drove him to consider the murder, can lead to disaster. Despite of this long contemplation, Lady Macbeth is insistent with the plan and successfully manages to persuade him into treason. When Macbeth shares his decision, Lady Macbeth begins questioning Macbeth's manhood as well as his love for her. She asks, "Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, / And live a coward in thine own esteem, / Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ” / Like the poor cat i' th' adage?" (I.vii.45-49). Such questioning softens Macbeth up and completely shifts his thinking. When Macbeth's kindness and loyalty was just about to overcome his ambitions, Lady Macbeth and her questioning of his manhood utterly shifted the power struggle between the two.