Action and Accountability in Macbeth

Action and Accountability in Macbeth

They say that life is what you make of it. Though there is much in the fabric of Shakespeare’s tragedies that complicates the relationship between action and accountability with regard to the tragic heroes, it cannot be assumed, simply because they find themselves in a difficult position, that they are engulfed and rendered powerless by the events that unfold in their midst. Even Iago, Shakespeare’s evil incarnate, remarks, “ ‘Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus…we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts” (1.3:316-326). Circumstance, then, simply does not negate guilt or responsibility. Given reason, we are capable both of the good and the evil behavior that seals our fate. This idea is especially important to a moral reading of Macbeth The true calamity of this and all other tragic Shakespearean plays lies not in the circumstances that Macbeth finds himself in, but what he chooses to make of those circumstances. Ultimately, it is Macbeth himself who serves as the instrument of his downfall. By instilling his character with reason, judgment, consciousness, and at least some degree of morality, Shakespeare proves Macbeth capable of resisting the impulse to carry out his infamous dark deeds, and thus implicitly tells us that despite our circumstances, we must all be held accountable (as Macbeth certainly is) for our own actions.

Macbeth’s moral makeup and reasoning capabilities play a major role in proving him the author of his own destiny, rather than a victim of circumstance. The complicated mix of unruly ambition and reflective morality that co-exist in Macbeth’s character, however, render those reasoning capabilities at ti...

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...is a very short-lived kingship, in fact, and when Macbeth’s head is finally paraded around on a stake, we can only blame him for his own gruesome demise.

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