Exploring the theme of ‘good and evil’ in Macbeth

Speech for TED Talk – Macbeth
Exploring the theme of ‘good and evil’
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair,” warn the Witches in Scene I of Act I of Macbeth
(Shakespeare.mit.edu, 2019) leaving the audience with an ominous silence. Yes, ‘good’ and
‘evil’ are perceived to be two sides of the same coin. Everything that appears just so may not
be the truth and it can all change in a blink of an eye. As the Witches warn, something that
appears fair, that appears beautiful, that appears good can turn into something foul, wile,
unpleasant and evil. Aren’t we all guilty of having done something selfish or something that
seems foul, at some point in our life? Aren’t we all the proverbial villagers who couldn’t
throw a stone at the accused since we were all tainted with our mistakes as well? Isn’t the
idea of hell a deterrent to being downright evil and the idea of heaven a reward for being
good and decent? It would then follow that everyone is equally capable of being good as of
being evil.
Each one of us faces a myriad of temptations such as avarice, lust, malice, envy, lethargy,
arrogance, and anger. Our internal moral compass guide us towards the choices that
ultimately help us to fight these temptations and be good or give in to them and live with the
guilt and regret (Nietzsche, 2018). It is up to us, our understanding and acceptance of good
and evil, to determine whether we want to live in heaven in peace or in hell with guilt, not in
our afterlife but here on earth, itself. This choice that dictates our actions is ruled by maybe
our guilt or maybe our ambition or maybe the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or maybe
fear of being caught (Jonason, Zeigler-Hill, & Okan, 2017). Macbeth was loyal to King
Duncan right up to the point he himself felt betrayed. Macbeth was reluctant to murder his
King till his ambition overpowered him and corrupted his thinking. Lady Macbeth was
absolutely on board with the idea of slaying the King when she thought her husband deserved
to fulfil his destiny but was overcome with guilt that made her imagine the blood on her
hands not getting washed away. She counseled, coaxed and manipulated Macbeth into
seizing what was rightfully his. Many may argue that she played a big part in leading
Macbeth to act on their evil plan because he regretted the decision till the last minute. But,
let me ask you to consider this. Would Macbeth really have been persuaded to become evil if
he did not really want it? If he was to be King, he surely would be willful enough to thwart
any thing that did not suit his conscience.