SOURCE: Long, Michael. “Doers of Deeds.” In Twayne's New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare: Macbeth, pp. 30-53. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989.

In the following essay, Long evaluates Macbeth as an archetypal man of action and analyzes his crimes in relation to other literary depictions of primal destruction and Christian redemption.

Bloody Execution

Shakespeare often begins a tragedy with somebody's description of the protagonist before he comes on stage. We hear of Marcius as ‘chief enemy to the people’ before he bursts in full of fury. We hear of the ‘good and gracious’ Timon before he sweeps on distributing largesse. We hear of Antony falling into ‘dotage’ and then the great lover strolls on in leisured magnificence. We hear whispers of Lear's odd shifts of favour and then he comes on in state to express his ‘darker purpose’. And we are told that Othello is a vainglorious soldier full of ‘bombast...