¶ … violence exists for its own sake. In Macbeth, the author confronts the audience with scenes of violence. Explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work.
In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the horrific murder of Duncan is not simply spine-chilling: it also reveals a great deal about the characters and the relationship of the two Macbeths. Macbeth initially does not want to murder King Duncan -- he tells Lady Macbeth that he will proceed "no further," but Lady Macbeth insults his masculinity until he complies (I.7). Lady Macbeth concocts a plot where the grooms will be smeared with Duncan's blood and thus blamed for the King's murder. Yet despite her bold plan, Lady Macbeth forces her husband to 'do the deed.' She has to get herself drunk to steel her resolution: "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold" (II.2) She also has to talk herself into going back and smearing the grooms with blood as much as her husband.
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil (II.2).
However, unlike Lady Macbeth, Macbeth knows that once violence has been undertaken, there is no going back: "Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!" (II.2). After her initial resolve, Lady Macbeth becomes miserable and eventually insane with guilt: "Nought's had, all's spent, / Where our desire is got without content" (III.2). Once he has murdered Duncan, Macbeth knows he must defend his grip on power with more bloodshed, and he kills his old friend Banquo without remorse.
The contrast between the two figures during Duncan's murder shows the contrast between male and female views of power: Lady Macbeth, shielded from war and the real workings of power, has a romantic view of what being queen might be like. Macbeth is a soldier and despite his ambition has a more sober view of bloodshed, a sober view that is warranted, given the misery that results from his impulsive action to obey his wife and the witches.
