Macbeth: Plagued by Polarities

"Such welcome and unwelcome things at once/'Tis hard to reconcile" (Shakespeare 1994, IV.iii p.158).

The theme of reconciliation is both central and recurrent throughout Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. As a protagonist, Macbeth is difficult to analyze: his only consistent quality being self-contradiction. Throughout the play, we see him in a constant state of flux as he desperately struggles to categorize the events befalling him into strictly defined areas of black and white (Bloom 1998, p.350) . "So foul and fair a day I have not seen..." (Shakespeare 1994, I.iii p.39) is the thought of a man plagued by polarities.

A man of action and not of thought, half-formed anxieties and vague expectations haunt Macbeth relentlessly. He is the arch-typical soldier, the man who has single-handedly assured Scotland's freedom, yet still he wallows in indecision: not for moral or philosophical reasons, but merely to protect his reputation because he has "bought/Golden opinions from all sorts of people" (Shakespeare 1994, I.vii p.85). Are social appearance and political correctness all that comprise Macbeth's conscience? If not, how can he reconcile his actions?

Macbeth does seem to have a conscience, and certainly a sense of honor (Hawkes 1977, p.25), yet we see him repeatedly responsible for horror after horror. He says that he dares to "do all that may become a man..." (Shakespeare 1994, I.vii p.51), but do murder, tyranny, and deception "become a man"? If a man's character is only to be judged by his actions, then Macbeth is truly evil; if it is not, then how can he be judged?