Shakespeare is one of the most influential and famous playwrights of modern times. A major reason his work is loved by so many is because of his insightfulness into the human mind, and one of Shakespeare’s greatest works demonstrating this is Macbeth. This famous play is about nobleman and military man Macbeth and how his tragic choices lead to his inevitable demise. The first and most trying choice that Macbeth has to make is whether or not to kill Duncan, the king of Scotland. Macbeth has to make this decision while being pulled in different directions by two conflicting forces. The force pulling him away from murder is his loyalty and humanity towards Duncan. The other force pulling him towards murder is his loyalty towards Lady Macbeth …show more content…
But despite Macbeth’s desire to take the throne, he does not want to kill Duncan. What pushes Macbeth over the edge is Lady Macbeth. She tells Macbeth to follow his ambitions and kill Duncan. She says that murdering Duncan is not a sin, and that it is all worth it for the crown. These words from Lady Macbeth’s mouth are what made Macbeth decide to follow through and commit murder. “I am settled and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” (1.7.92-93). Macbeth will do the act, but he is very reluctant to do so. In conclusion, Macbeth’s ambitions and his loyalty towards Lady Macbeth are huge factors for why Macbeth was torn, and why he decided to kill Duncan. This conflict illuminates the point of the play as a whole. A major part of Macbeth is about how Macbeth is conflicted about doing the right thing and doing what will benefit him. In this conflict Macbeth exemplifies this because he doesn’t want to kill Duncan. Duncan is thought of as a great leader, so to kill him would be traitorous and detrimental to Scotland. Duncan is also very kind to Macbeth. But Macbeth still wants the crown, so he is not sure what to do until Lady Macbeth pushes him towards killing Duncan. Finally, Macbeth decides to do what benefits him rather than what is for the good of Scotland. Another major part of Macbeth is about how Macbeth deludes himself into thinking he has done no wrong. In this conflict,
After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable
Macbeth was an honorable warrior, content to be fighting to protect King Duncan and Scotland, Duncan though of Macbeth as one of the finest soldiers in the land fearing no man nor enemy that came his way. Macbeth being unsure of himself made him morally ambiguous he knew what he was doing was wrong but at the same time he wanted more power,respect,to please his wife that at the same time the murder of duncan didn't seem wrong. The murders that were planned by macbeth shows an evil persona taking upon him he wanted power,to be a great king macbeth didn't let anyone get in his way of achieving that goal even if it meant killing friends,families nothing mattered but the crown. We can’t blame Sir Macbeth for his behavior besides if you were promised,fame fortune, and everything that came with it what how far would you go to get
Macbeth’s ambition for power interests his wife, Lady Macbeth, who also desires power and corrupts Macbeth’s ambition. When Macbeth is having second thoughts as to whether or not he should murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth, coaxing him into killing King Duncan despite his loyal service to him;”When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man”(I.7.56-58). Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manliness as a way to get Macbeth to go through with the murder. Macbeth, offended and hesitant, struggles with moral conflict. He fears being caught and does not wish to murder Duncan because he has been fair to him. Lady Macbeth however knows that Macbeth strives for power, and finds a way to use this as a way of manipulating him. Earlier on in the play, Lady Macbeth is reading her husband’s letter and learns of the prophecies. Her first instinct is to kill Duncan. She reads the letter and reflects on Macbeth’s nature,“Glamis thou art, and cawdor,and shalt be / What thou art promised. Yet I do fear thy nature; / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”(I.5.15-17). Lady Macbeth knows that her husband does not have enough ambition to kill Duncan, and realizes she must push him into murdering King Duncan. [This is the moment in the play where Lady starts planning to murder King Duncan and gets the play moving in the direction it ends]. Macbeth’s thirst for power never leaves him satisfied.
Firstly, an external conflict occurs when Macbeth decides he no longer wishes to murder Duncan. He indicates that they will not continue their plan. Lady Macbeth becomes irate with her husband and attacks his manhood by calling him a coward. She continues to attack his ego by stating that he would be an example of a man if he killed Duncan. The resolution of this conflict involves Macbeth trying to prove his manhood of his wife. He later murders Duncan, the King of Scotland. Secondly, another external conflict occurs when he encounters Banquo who challenges Macbeth in the dark of night, being unable to tell whether Macbeth is friend or foe. Once Macbeth ironically greets Banquo as "a friend," the external conflict arises as Macbeth has to dissemble and deceive Banquo when Banquo confesses to being unnerved by the witches' predictions. Lastly, During Act I, Macbeth struggles with the concept of killing Duncan. He likes Duncan, and he wants to let fate takes its course. Lady Macbeth persuades him otherwise, and he ultimately gives in to his desires of becoming King. Macbeth externally must kill the sleeping Duncan and his
The biggest push that leads Macbeth into choosing to murder Duncan, is his belief in the witches prophecies. When the witches prophecy that Macbeth will become King, he doesn’t have very much concern of the evil that might come from this supernatural prophecy. “If ill, / why hath it given me earnest of success, / Commencing in a truth?” (1.3.8). The witches prophecy that Macbeth will be not only the thane of Glamis but also the thane of Cawdor. When this prophecy comes true, Macbeth conclusion is that the witches might be predicting the truth after all. Ultimately, this prophecy drives Macbeth to kill Duncan because he believes that the witches’ prophecy has to be fulfilled. He had the choice to let fate decide whether he would become king but he chooses to take
Altering what he thinks is right or wrong and helping him with the murder are reasons why Lady Macbeth is responsible for the demise of Duncan. Macbeth, at first does not want to kill his kinsman, his king who is here in double trust (Act 1 Scene 7 Lines 13), it is simply unnatural to do so, yet so is the woman in 1606 Scotland altering the decision of a Thane. Lady Macbeth, has eagerly done her part of making the guests drunk (Act 1 Scene 7 Line 35), and is in desperation for the murder to occur.
Macbeth corrupts the power of rule and becomes self centered and greedy. The corruption of power creates self centeredness and revenge. Early in the play, Macbeth emerges as the definition of what it means to be a man, Macbeth takes his time so everything will be one right and no one will question him when he takes throne. Fortunately, Macbeth’s decision to rethink the plan of Duncan's murder enables him to change his plan so he can kill Duncan and will have it be “done quickly”.
Macbeth had told her that he wasn’t comfortable going through with the plan, and he response was very harsh and questioned his manhood. She asks him if he will “live a coward in thine own esteem, letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would”,” (Act 1 Scene 7 43-45). Through Lady Macbeth’s manipulation and taunting, Macbeth finally agrees to commit this murder. Although it was she who convinced him to murder, it was still ultimately Macbeth’s choice to kill, considering he was the one who actually held the dagger and murdered Duncan. While Lady Macbeth was trying to taunt Macbeth into killing Duncan, there were confounding factors that led to some resistance.
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth loyally defends his king from traitors and was given the title of the Thane of Cawdor, but Macbeth still wanted more power. The only Macbeth would ever get more power is by becoming king; however, in order to that he would have to wait years or murder King Duncan. At first Macbeth was not willing to kill King Duncan because he was loyal to him, but eventually, his wife manipulates him into killing him. Macbeth then begins to ask the heavens to hide his immoral act from God and is horrified. Now that Macbeth is King, he is paranoid about him losing his kingship. So Macbeth begins to kill anyone he finds a treat. If Macbeth had not killed Duncan he would have obtained kingship in a moral manner, thus
In the first act of William Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, Macbeth’s decision to go ahead with the regicide of King Duncan was influenced by multiple factors, primarily his own decision making, the prophecy of the three witches, and his wife Lady Macbeth. Ultimately, the final decision was the result of gullible, caring Macbeth, who unfortunately cannot make his own decisions or think for himself. Lady Macbeth’s power-hungry endeavors and aggressive personality, and lastly the witches who set the plot into action.
Later on (Act 1 Scene 7) Macbeth started to have some serious doubts about the dreadful deed he was planning. He still very much wanted to be King, but his conscience was getting in the way of his "vaulting ambition". However, his wife managed to reassure him that all will be well, and he weakly submits. Nevertheless, it is absurd to suggest that Lady Macbeth was responsible for Macbeth’s decision to kill the King. If Macbeth had not wanted to kill the King, he wouldn’t have, regardless of any amount of bullying from his wife. He knows that he really wants to kill Duncan, it was his initial thought when he first encountered the witches. However, he didn’t like to think he was capable of such atrocities.
Macbeth is aware that his plan is wrong, but he seems to be persuaded by Lady Macbeth and his own ambition. She changes his perception when she tries to tempt Macbeth into killing Duncan by explaining “QUOTE OF PERSUASION” (). Without Lady Macbeth pushing Macbeth to commit the murder, we do not know how Macbeth would carry on. Shakespeare creates Lady Macbeth as a way to manipulate Macbeth in order to create a feeling of sympathy within the audience. Shakespeare wants us to sympathize with Macbeth as a character because Shakespeare purposely builds him as someone who is not a villain, but is pressured into carrying out the evil plan.
At this point in the play Macbeth is still an honest, honorable man, and to kill a dear friend would be going against his nature. “Commends the ingredients of our posion’d chalice to our own lips. He’s here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject.” (Pg. 57). In these lines we are shown that Macbeth is very uneasy about the murder of King Duncan, he believes killing him would be poisoning himself. King Duncan trusts Macbeth, and Macbeth trusts him, so how could he kill a loyal man who has trust in him? This is the conflict that begins to tear Macbeths sanity apart. His wife, Lady Macbeth does not feel the internal conflict Macbeth is faced with. She is so blinded by power and ambition that she doesn’t think twice about killing a man who sleeps soundly in their home at peace. Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth a coward and less of a man for having an internal conflict, this leads Macbeth to the murder of King Duncan. Internal conflicts are a powerful thing; this example goes to show how a person can be stripped of their sanity, especially when it goes against ones
One of Lady Macbeth’s tragic flaws that leads to her downfall is passion which soon leads to corruption of power. Her passion drives her to do terrible deeds that she thinks are going to make her a better person. She also convinced Macbeth that these terrible deeds were necessary for accomplishing their goals of being king and queen. In the first act of the tragedy, Lady Macbeth is trying to convince Macbeth that killing King Duncan is a good choice and that it will help the process of becoming king go quicker. They come up with a plan, that they think, will make sure no one suspects that they murdered Duncan. She says, “Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” (Shakespeare 1.7. 41-44). Lady Macbeth is asking Macbeth if he will always say “he wants to” and then say that “he can not” right before he is supposed to do the deed that he is planning to do. She is trying to get under his skin so he will be persuaded to kill Duncan. Her passion and ambition is driving her to get Macbeth convinced to do this. They both want power but she is willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Macbeth is too scared to take action, he needs some pushing from his wife. Lady Macbeth is making Macbeth believe that backing out of his decision is the wrong choice and killing all of these people that are in their way is the right choice. Lady Macbeth succeeds in
Lady Macbeth is the person who is able to persuade Macbeth into killing Duncan, assuring Macbeth that it will succeed, as Lady Macbeth’s ambition is far greater than Macbeth. This change in the character of Lady Macbeth is apparent after she reads the letter from Macbeth. She goes to the extent of planning the murder of Duncan and assumes full responsibility for this. She exerts a lot of power over Macbeth in this part of the play and even calls him a coward. This shows just how determined she is and how much ambition she has for the two of them. She cries to dark spirits to help her “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe potful of direst cruelty” (16). In this quote she is asking the spirits to make her into a man, so she will be strong enough to commit murder. She talks down to her husband and calls him a coward for not wanting to go through with murder. She does everything in her power to make sure her husband will go through with her plan to kill Duncan. She shows this characteristic again after they kill Duncan. After Macbeth had killed Duncan, he came to her and said it was finished. He then commented on what a horrible sight it was. She then replied saying, “A foolish thought to say a sorry sight” (28). She was clearly unmoved at the thought of Duncan being murdered that she does not even stop to