MacBeth is not banned or disfavored by the Church.
Your inquiry is interesting, though, because my son, while in college wrote a paper detailing how extraordinarily Catholic the play is, notwithstanding that it was written during the reign of protestant Elizabeth I. The way he put the paper together, as I recall, was by taking the central moral and theological elements of it and demonstrating how every bit of it was derived from Catholic philosophy and theology; from the witches right down to the duel with MacDuff. He cited Catholic doctrinal sources to demonstrate it.
Interestingly, those elements conflicted with the protestantism of his time. So, why, my son asked, rhetorically, was it recognizable to his audience, and how did he get away with it?
It was, he opined, recognizable to his audience because protestantism was fairly new in England at the time and while the court and much of the nobility understood and formally adopted protestantism, ordinary people were not “educated” in it and were more attuned to Catholic ways of thinking. The crown, my son argued, realized that and let it go.
It is true as well that Henry VIII was far less “protestant” than was his daughter Elizabeth I, and even many who had gone along with Henry’s schism still did not believe much differently than they had under Henry.
Shakespeare can be a tough read because of the language and because plays are a bit difficult as “reading” material. The dramatist has far less time to develop his thesis and has to do it in a dramatically striking way. That’s why, for example, the witches are more a dramatic device than they are intended to be literal. They get a lot out in very few lines and very meaningfully.
MacBeth’s short duel and concise dialogue with MacDuff is the same way. A lot is compacted into a very few lines and actions.
But, on the assumption you are considering reading the play, I’ll say the following.
The witches’ message is the eternal message of the tempter. It directs us away from a course of action that is determined by our perception of moral duty, to one that is directed to ends that are not given to us by Divine Providence. That direction is always a deceit.
When we become sufficiently immersed in sin, repentence becomes difficult, and we temporize with it. If we ultimately reject it, we are lost. MacDuff tells MacBeth the price of true repentence and salvation; of mercy, actually, despite his evil deeds. But MacBeth’s pride will not allow him to do it.
It’s almost embarrassing to realize, as one feels compelled to do, that Shakespeare’s audience would have been better grounded in Catholic doctrines concerning good and evil than we are today. That’s why MacBeth and a lot of Shakespeare goes over peoples’ heads today.
The play is as Catholic as Catholic gets. Hope this helps.
