In one of his works, Macbeth, Shakespeare portrays characters who are full of arrogance and an insatiable appetite for power and ambition. As such, these characters, and particularly, Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth commit different forms of evil including murder to acquire and protect their power and authority. On the other hand, those whom atrocities have been committed against by Macbeth and his wife seek revenge against them. In the end, Malcolm describes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as a “dead butcher” and “fiend-like” queen respectively. This is irrespective of the fact that Lady Macbeth has a conscience that haunts her, a factor that drives her crazy and causes her to commit suicide, while Macbeth does not appear to have any remorse regarding his evil actions. With this in mind, there is a need to note that ambition in a person’s life need to be guided by ethics otherwise it could lead to destruction.
在他的一部作品《麦克白》（Macbeth）中，莎士比亚刻画了充满傲慢和对权力和野心贪得无厌的人物。因此，这些角色，尤其是麦克白和他的妻子麦克白夫人，为了获得和保护他们的权力和权威，实施了包括谋杀在内的各种形式的罪恶。另一方面，那些被麦克白和他的妻子犯下暴行的人寻求报复。最后，马尔科姆将麦克白和麦克白夫人分别描述为“死去的屠夫”和“恶魔般的”女王。这与麦克白夫人的良心纠缠着她这一事实无关，这一良心驱使她发疯并导致她自杀，而麦克白似乎对他的罪恶行为没有任何悔恨。考虑到这一点，需要注意的是，一个人生活中的雄心壮志需要受到道德规范的引导，否则可能导致毁灭。
To begin with, despite the fact that Macbeth receives a revelation from three witches that he will be honored and would later become the king of Scotland, these witches do not offer an explanation on how he will ascend to the throne. Arguably, Macbeth takes the matter into his own hands and murders King Duncan, the king of Scotland at that particular time. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to show what will happen in the life of Macbeth (Liamputtong & Rumbold, 2008). Whereas this is the case, the attack and murdering of the king of Scotland by Macbeth creates a path for him to be described as a butcher by Malcolm after his death. From an ethical point of view, Macbeth seems to understand the gravity of the actions he was engaged in and yet he does not rescind his actions but rather continues engaging in bloodshed to achieve and protect his ambitions (Keller, 2005). Notably, the king had not resisted Macbeth in any way. On the contrary, after his victory, King Duncan honored Macbeth by naming him the Thanes of Glamis and Cawdor. Furthermore, King Duncan was going to dine with Macbeth in his own house, a factor that reveals how the king valued Macbeth as his military general. Whereas this is the case, Macbeth dishonors the king and murders him.
首先，尽管麦克白从三位女巫那里得到启示，他将受到尊敬，并将在稍后成为苏格兰国王，但这些女巫并没有解释他将如何登上王位。可以说，麦克白将此事掌握在自己手中，并谋杀了当时的苏格兰国王邓肯。莎士比亚用伏笔来展示麦克白的生活将会发生什么（Liamputtong&Rumbold，2008）。事实就是这样，麦克白对苏格兰国王的袭击和谋杀为他在死后被马尔科姆描述为屠夫创造了一条道路。从道德的角度来看，麦克白似乎理解他所从事的行为的严重性，但他并没有撤销自己的行为，而是继续进行流血，以实现和保护他的野心（Keller，2005）。值得注意的是，国王没有以任何方式抵制麦克白。相反，在他获胜后，邓肯国王给麦克白命名为格拉米斯和考多尔的塞恩，以此来纪念他。此外，邓肯国王将与麦克白在他自己的家中共进晚餐，这一因素表明国王如何将麦克白视为他的军事将领。事实就是这样，麦克白侮辱了国王并谋杀了他。
One of the ethical questions that emerge in the narrative regards the choices that Macbeth made and how these affected his life, leading to him being termed as a butcher at the end of the narrative. To begin with, was it necessary for Macbeth to murder the king for him to ascend the throne? Arguably, an evaluation of the play reveals that when Macbeth involved himself in bloodshed, he understood that his actions had negative consequences not only on his life and family but also on society as a whole. For example, Macbeth acknowledges that “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague th’ inventor” (Shakespeare, 1843). In this case, Macbeth understood that the path he had chosen to seek power and satisfy his ambitions was unethical and would have consequences in his life. Furthermore, Macbeth knew that by murdering the king as a way to ascend to the throne would create an uprising in Scotland, leading to further bloodshed. One could argue that it was his wife who convinced and motivated him to murder the king. Whereas this is the case, Shakespeare uses aside as a dramatic technique to show that Macbeth was indeed bend towards seeing the king dead. For example, he notes, “Let not light see my black and deep desires…Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (Pye, 2017). Therefore, whereas he gives his wife many reasons why he should murder the king in his soliloguy, his deepest desires was to see King Duncan dead. Importantly, one would expect that such an understanding would deter him from shedding blood of an innocent king. However, this is not the case. On the contrary, he goes ahead with his plans, ignoring all the consequences therewith. Macbeth also murders other people who were perceived as a threat to his accession to power, and even at the near end of his, he was still willing to shed blood. Therefore, Malcolm is absolutely right to describe Macbeth as a “butcher” since he did not hesitate to shed innocent blood during his life.
故事中出现的一个伦理问题涉及麦克白所做的选择以及这些选择如何影响他的生活，导致他在故事结尾被称为屠夫。首先，麦克白有必要谋杀国王，让他登上王位吗？可以说，对该剧的评价表明，当麦克白卷入流血事件时，他明白他的行为不仅对他的生活和家庭，而且对整个社会都有负面影响。例如，麦克白承认“血腥的指示，在被教导后，又回到了折磨这位发明者”（莎士比亚，1843）。在这种情况下，麦克白明白他为寻求权力和满足野心而选择的道路是不道德的，并且会对他的生活产生影响。此外，麦克白知道，通过谋杀国王作为登上王位的手段，将在苏格兰引发起义，导致进一步流血。有人可能会说，是他的妻子说服并促使他谋杀国王。事实就是这样，莎士比亚用旁白作为一种戏剧性的手法来表明麦克白确实是一心想看到国王的死。“当我的黑眼看不见的时候，让我的黑眼看不见。”。因此，尽管他给了妻子很多理由，为什么他要在独白中谋杀国王，但他最深切的愿望是看到邓肯国王死去。重要的是，人们会认为这样的理解会阻止他为无辜的国王流血。然而，情况并非如此。相反，他继续他的计划，无视由此产生的一切后果。麦克白还谋杀了其他人，这些人被认为是对他掌权的威胁，即使在他生命即将结束时，他仍然愿意流血。因此，马尔科姆将麦克白描述为“屠夫”是正确的，因为他在一生中毫不犹豫地流无辜的血。