Macbeth examines his own mortality much more in Act 5 of
Shakespeare's Macbeth than he does in Act 3. That's when his wife
dies and when he discovers the witches have been manipulating him. He knows he's going
to die at that point.
In Act 3, I suppose, he indirectly
speaks of mortality when he exclaims, after the appearance of Banquo's ghost, that there
was a time when you could kill a man and the man would stay dead. I suppose mortality
doesn't seem so permanent to Macbeth at this point.
We
don't see much of Macbeth's view of mortality here, however, because he deflects the
trouble he's in and changes his focus to Macduff. He employs what today we would call
defense mechanisms. Lady Macbeth seems to realize his fit in the presence of the thanes
signals their failure, but Macbeth just directs his attention to Macduff. He is
persistent and he is a survivor.
He does seem to be more
at ease with killing others, however, in Act 3. He orders the deaths of Banquo and his
child, Fleance, with much more ease than he kills Duncan in Act 2. The value of life
seems to have lessoned for Macbeth.
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