Macbeth's new outlook on life
Now that we have reached the end of the play, we get to look back and see how Macbeth has changed as a character. Obviously, the answer is a lot, but one theme that caught my attention was how Macbeth now views life, both his own and his Lady's. At V.3.24, he says "I have lived long enough." At V.5.9, he says "I have almost forgot the taste of fears" (this includes all fears, but probably is meant to reference death). When he finds out Lady Macbeth died, his first response is "She should have died hereafter" (V.5.17) and he then goes on a long rant about how we're all going to die one day and is meaningless. Clearly not the brightest guy anymore
Yet for some reason, he is still unwilling to surrender. He talks about wanting to die in battle and wanting to fight until his death, which is a little surprising considering all this stuff he's spewing out on how he doesn't care about life anymore. I'm not really sure why this contradiction exists, but individually each quality makes sense. Macbeth is a war hero, hardened by cheap tactics to achieve power, and would want to die as such. But he has also seen some things, including visions of daggers, blood, and ghosts, and stripping so many others of their lives has probably chipped away at his value of his own life. This duality is an interesting topic throughout the scene: either way, he's ready to die, but he's going to do it his way.
Yet for some reason, he is still unwilling to surrender. He talks about wanting to die in battle and wanting to fight until his death, which is a little surprising considering all this stuff he's spewing out on how he doesn't care about life anymore. I'm not really sure why this contradiction exists, but individually each quality makes sense. Macbeth is a war hero, hardened by cheap tactics to achieve power, and would want to die as such. But he has also seen some things, including visions of daggers, blood, and ghosts, and stripping so many others of their lives has probably chipped away at his value of his own life. This duality is an interesting topic throughout the scene: either way, he's ready to die, but he's going to do it his way.
At this point, he still believes the prophecy that he cannot be killed by a man born of woman. For this reason, as well as the mindset of a soldier that he possesses, I think his thought process is that there is nothing else to do but fight. I believe he would gladly die if he could, but the prophecy has given him a sense of inevitability, that things are going to happen regardless of his actions and there is nothing he can do except go along for the ride.
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