"Ring the alarum bell. [Alarums] Blow wind, come wrack"

It has been brought up many times now that Macbeth is a play of paradox and equivocation. One example of this can be seen in scene 5.5, during Macbeth’s exchange with a messenger shortly after receiving news of the advancing Dunsinane forest. Throughout the play up to this point, Macbeth has been trying to control his future by killing off many powerful figures, in order to get himself crowned as King. This was described in lecture as an authoritarian theme. In this scene Macbeth begins to wish that all order be done away with, so that he does not feel the pressure of the power anymore.
After being informed that forest appears to be on the move, Macbeth says
I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun,
And wish th’estate o’th’ world were now undone,
Ring the alarum bell. [Alarums] Blow wind, come wrack,
At least we’ll die with harness on our back. (sc 5.5, lines 47-50)
Macbeth is now weary of the regularity with which the sun rises each day, and he no longer wants the order and structure that comes with the life he has thrust himself into. When he says that he wishes ‘th’estate o’th’ world were now undone,’ he is saying that he wishes all order were lost, because his perception of the world no longer holds true. He then goes on to call for chaos, by summoning an ‘alarum bell,’ and ‘blowing wind’ to ‘wrack’ the environment he has created for himself. Macbeth has given up on his drive for power and authority, and turned his life over to chaos.
The presence of the weird sisters in the play brings up the question whether or not Macbeth really has control over his decisions. This passage makes it clear that he does indeed make his decisions based on his knowledge of the order of the world, and his position in life as next in line to the throne. At this point he surrenders his need for control and authority, because the world he has known no longer fits his former perception. The forest is moving, his wife has committed suicide, and the weird sisters’ predictions have all come true save one. Macbeth relinquishes his claim to power, and so the order created by authoritarianism crumbles. This paradox shows that control gained by chaos is not truly control, and the self-inflicted role that Macbeth has assumed is taken away from him.

Dawn Reid