ects so much they won't resist him. Macbeth is striking out at random, and his moral sense seems to have entirely disappeared. The brave hero we met in Act I, who at least seemed honorable, is completely twisted. You can see how much his crimes have cost Macbeth. His reaction to Lady Macbeth's death is a sign of complete despair- all feeling is dead in him. His famous speech upon hearing of her suicide- "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." (Act V, Scene v, lines 17-28)- is less an expression of grief than it is a speech about the utter meaninglessness of life. You wonder how all this has happened. If he was so horrified by first the idea and then the fact of Duncan's murder, why did he do it? And why commit the other crimes? Apparently his ambition is stronger than his conscience. The witches tempt him with the idea of becoming king. Lady Macbeth helps him overcome his natural hesitation to commit murder. But Macbeth himself chooses between his honor and the crown- and between salvation in the next world and material gain in this one. Once he has killed to get the crown, the other crimes seem inevitable. In order to keep what he has taken, Macbeth learns to lie and kill as a matter of course. His values become totally confused. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" to him now; he has lost track of the difference. All that seems left in the end is his pride. You respect him when he fights to the death rather than be displayed as the monster he is. But some people think that if Macbeth had not been so proud he would not have wanted to be king to begin with, and that if he had been humbler he would have repented. Another aspect of Macbeth is his active imagination. Considering Duncan's murder, he can vividly picture all the possible consequences. His imagination pursues him throughout the play. He's continually reliving his crimes and fantasizing about present and future dangers. Nothing Lady Macbeth can say will quiet his mind. At times h...
