ABSTRACT
Anthony Brennan stresses the progressive isolation of the Macbeths which becomes important to understanding the play they dominate. He writes: "Nowhere else does Shakespeare undertake this feat of locking two major characters almost entirely into their own personal hells". Their isolation from each other is the ultimate punishment they pay for their crimes. They are not seen together in the last two acts of the play. Equivocation carries a steep price. Lady Macbeth's madness and suicide is the ultimate manifestation of the physical and spiritual disembodiment needed to commit murder. Her death leaves Macbeth alone as well, and encourages him to plunge headlong into his. In Macbeth, Shakespeare asks us to embrace the struggles of his leading characters, even when we would rather keep a comfortable distance from them. The process of mounting or viewing Shakespeare's plays is a journey of both discovery and self-discovery.
