Is it right to say that Macbeth is the only one who should be blamed for the death of King Duncan? Fairly, the culpability for King Duncan’s murder should be shared among Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the three witches even though there is the fact that Macbeth with his dark enormous ambition for the imperial power is the most sinful man who directly commits that deadly sin. Moreover, fate also plays an important part in this murder, which leads everything to happen. Firstly, at the beginning of the story, Macbeth appears to be a hero of Scotland who has gain massive respect from other nobles and even from the Scottish King (Duncan) because of his bravery on the battlefield and his triumph against the two enemies of Scotland. In contrast, he loses …show more content…
all of his allegiance since he cannot control his sinister ambition. At first, his ambition appears when Banquo and Macbeth meet the three witches for the first time. One can see how ambitious Macbeth is from his reaction, the Weird Sister greet him by saying “Thane of Glamis! ... Thane of Cawdor! … that shalt be king hereafter.” (1.3.50-52). Furthermore, they also predict that Banquo won’t be a king but his descendants will be. By this time, Macbeth is more trusting and willing to believe the prediction from the witches in comparison to his close friend- Banquo who is suspicious of the three witches’ intention. Since Macbeth thinks that the “evil” beings can help him to usurp the throne, he is willing to consult it, as the result his vivid imagination control his thought so completely that Macbeth himself see the predictions as reality. On the other hand, Banquo is more skeptical he believes that the prophecies are designed to trick them. Following the story, Macbeth’s evil ambition becomes stronger when Ross informs that Macbeth has become the thane of Cawdor. Obviously, Macbeth at this point starts to immerse in darkness, he reminds himself of the prophecies from the witches and begins to think that “The greatest is behind” (1.3.124) waiting for him.
Nevertheless, it is palpable that his ambition is not strong enough since he still wonders: “This supernatural soliciting / Cannot be ill; cannot be good” (1.3.139-140). Therefore, his greed and love of power still can be considered as under-control that we can see his hesitance whether to put all his trust in the prophecies and kill the king or let fate decide him to be king without any act on his part. Finally, his ambition augments drastically and reaches its pinnacle when he hears Duncan decides that Malcolm will be the heir of the throne and when Duncan tells Macbeth that he will visit his castle that night, which is a propitious chance for Macbeth to murder the king. Macbeth says that Malcolm is “The prince of Cumberland! That is a step / On which [he] must fall down, or else o’er-leap, For in [his] way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!” (1.4.55-57). In this moment, he defines Malcolm as a new threat that he must overcome to achieve king status and one can also see that he is willing to do the evil action that even his eyes fear to see to get what he wants. Moreover, his ambiguousness makes him delirious he talks to himself that he see a bloody dagger in his imagination leads him to Duncan’s bedchamber and finish the …show more content…
murder. At this point, his avarice is now cannot be controlled by his conscience, which leads to the disruption in the natural order- Macbeth commits a deadly sin which is killing the King of his kingdom. In conclusion, Macbeth is the one who has the biggest responsibility for Duncan’s death as he cannot hold himself against his massive greed and his love to advance his position in life; the outcome of that is the respectful king of Scotland (Duncan) has been murdered. Secondly, Although Macbeth is responsible for Duncan’s death, the three witches and Lady Macbeth also play an important roles since they encourage Macbeth to murder the king, which make them be considered as indirect murders.
Without hearing the prophecies from the Weird Sisters, Macbeth will not know about the future that he will be the king of Scotland or be the thane of Cawdor so that his ambition will not be awakened. If they did not tell him, nothing would happen; he could be the thane of Cawdor and even be the King without committing that deadly sin if he had no idea about that beautiful future (in his opinion) where he becomes the king, which is drawn by the three witches for him. In the same way, Lady Macbeth should be blamed more than the three witches. Lady Macbeth is the one who plans the murder right after reading the letter from her husband because she mistrust his nature, she thinks Macbeth is too soft-hearted to take shortcuts and she knows that he wish to be great and he has ambition but he lack the ruthlessness that should go with him to achieve the power since he want to get power in a moral way. Lady Macbeth also recognizes the huge contradistinction in Macbeth’s personality that he do not want to cheat but he want to win unfairly. Therefore, Lady Macbeth decides that she will use the strength of her words to fill Macbeth with her own inspiration so that Macbeth can overcome the fears that hinder him from the golden crown which she thinks should belong to
Macbeth like what fate and magic have promised to him. If one judges Lady Macbeth according to a wife’s obligation, one can see that she do that perfectly since she understands totally about her husband and since she has sacrificed herself for him too much. On the other hand, as the readers’ perspective, Lady Macbeth is seen as a malignant one willing to do anything to achieve success. One more point is that there is a moment when Macbeth want to get out of that deadly plan but Lady Macbeth use her evil words to force him to finish the murder. Macbeth expresses to his fiancé that “[they] will go no further in this business” (1.7.34) as he knows that Duncan is a fair ruler who has just honored him and he has won admiration from many people, which is a feeling that he wants both of them to enjoy not to throw it away so soon. Nevertheless, Lady Macbeth’s response totally awakes Macbeth’s ambition, she asks Macbeth: “Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dressed yourself? hath it slept since?” (1.7.39-40). Fairly to say that Lady Macbeth is also the murder, the only difference between her and Macbeth is that she does not kill the king by her own hands. To conclude, the three witches and Lady Macbeth are factors that affect Macbeth’s action. Finally, Fate, which controls everything in the world, also do its job in the storyline of the play Macbeth. Therefore, witches, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Duncan are affected by their own destiny. First of all, fate ask King Duncan to die so that he cannot live anymore, which gives out the fact no one can run away from their fates, include the king. One example of that fact from the story which one can see after Macbeth kills King Duncan, Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth: “Alack! I am afraid they have awaked, / And ‘tis not done: th’attempt and not the deed” (2.2.12-13). At this point, Lady Macbeth afraid that the servants will awake so that their plan will be discovered and cannot be completed. However, fate decides that the servants will not awake and their plan is finished completely. On the other hand, Macbeth and his fiancé cannot come to the point they commit the sin if King Duncan doesn’t come to their castle that night, which is another example of how fate affects the story. Next, fate does control the witches to tell Macbeth about his future or one can say that fate leads Macbeth to meet the three witches’ place. Obviously, the witches are more powerful than human beings because of their power but they are still under fate’s control which leads them to predict for Macbeth that he will be the king, which leads the murder to happen. In conclusion, the responsibility for King Duncan’s death belongs to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Witches and fate. Although Macbeth directly kill the murder which make him the most sinful one, Lady Macbeth, witches and fate still play its important parts in the play as the factors that affect the actions of Macbeth. Macbeth, the successful tragedy written by Shakespeare, has left behind the meaningful lesson for all the generations of readers.
Macbeth, “A matchless soldier, kinsman to the king, wins the king’s battles and the king’s praise” however, “prompted by inner ambitions and external urgings”, he takes rash decisions conclusively ending in his atrophy of his title, power, and position (Bernad 49). Several factors contribute to the downfall of Macbeth, which produce a contagion effect; and ultimately end with his demise. The weird sisters disclose his prophecies which enlighten him about Duncan’s throne; Lady Macbeth abets Macbeth to realize his deep desires and come to the conclusion to murder Duncan; and Macbeth, the most significant contributor, makes his deep desires come to reality. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth are important contributors to Macbeth 's downfall, however, they are not mostly responsible. Unlike, the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is the most prominent contributor to his downfall; whose actions, decisions, and state of mind lead to his ruination.
Upon hearing that Malcom is officially heir to the throne, Macbeth displays shame for his thoughts of murder by explaining “Stars, hide your fires;/Let not light see my black and deep desires” (Document A) At this point, Macbeth reveals his fear of the very idea that has taken hold inside of him, suggesting that he has the capacity to resist the witches’ temptation. Unlike Lady Macbeth, who immediately starts planning to murder King Duncan and eventually convinces Macbeth to join her, Macbeth remains hesitant to commit the murder. Macbeth’s initial hesitance reveals the possibility that he allows the evil thoughts to take over him due to the persuasion of Lady Macbeth or on his own, as opposed to those thoughts forcing their way into reality against his will. If this is the case, the murder of King Duncan was entirely in Macbeth’s control. A short while later, Macbeth explains to his wife that he “ha[s] done the deed” (Document C). Unlike Lady Macbeth, who is unable to murder the king herself, Macbeth reveals that only he has the power to murder King Duncan. After murdering him, Macbeth moves to take more control of the events around him. Out of a fear instilled in him by the weïrd sisters, Macbeth murders Banquo. Now, Macbeth is trying to free himself from the control exerted on him by the weïrd sisters. Unfortunately, by trying to free himself, Macbeh finds himself further entangled in the strings of the powerful weïrd sisters. The dominance of the sisters is not complete, since they allow Macbeth the choice of how to act on their prophecies. By allowing him some choice, the weïrd sisters give Macbeth the ability to control how the prophecy comes true; however, they never allow him to alter the end result. No matter how Macbeth acts, the prophecies of the witches will ultimately come true. Unlike Lady Macbeth, though, Macbeth brings his fate upon himself, and by
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
Malcolm in William Shakespeare's Macbeth In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Malcolm is one of the more cautious characters in the play. He has the ability to realise appearances can be deceitful and that the person on the outside may not be as innocent as he or she is putting across. As Duncan's son he is the natural heir to the throne and is eventually made king at the end of the play after the death of Macbeth. Malcolm has a reasonably good relationship with his somewhat naïve father. After his father's death he is full of sorrow and wants to express his feelings.
Firstly, we shall consider Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as they are the two who planned and performed the murder. Although after the witches told Macbeth that he was to be king and he was burning in desire to be so he, on first instance, decided that if fate had determined that he was to be the sovereign of Scotland he shouldn’t try to be reach the throne by his own actions, that it would come eventually: “If Chance will have me king, why, Chance / may crown me, / Without my stir”. However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility on Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status of woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not...
Lady Macbeth seems like the right person who the most at fault. It is true that Lady Macbeth is the one who tells Macbeth to murder Duncan, and with her words in her aside, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty,” (I.v. 391-392) along with many other horrible scenes Lady Macbeth gives. It gives the audience a purpose to accuse her for all the murders. Lady Macbeth is argued to be in control of Macbeth. John Turner, coauthor of two books on Shakespeare, says, “Until her sense of time dissolves and Macbeth seems crowed already,” (Johnson) which shows that the image of Macbeth being King and having power is driven by Lady Macbeth’s ambitiousness. This is not entirely true. Lady Macbeth does have an ambition for power but not to the extent to be killing everyone. She only wanted Duncan off the throne, she was not aware of the other men in authority, such as Macduff, suspecting her and her husband. She was not paranoid like Macbeth, which is why he killed so many people. It’s reasonable to argue that Lady Macbeth was the influence; therefore she is to be at most at fault. She also was not the one to kill Duncan and the other people, Macbeth did.
When Macbeth first hears the prophecies, and when the prophecies begin to be fulfilled, he does think of killing the king, but also, towards the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king : "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir." On the other hand, Lady Macbeth, on receiving the letter telling her about the witches' prophecies, she immediately thinks that she and Macbeth will have to kill king Duncan. She also decides that Macbeth is too nice to kill the king, sayin that he "is too ful o' the milk of human kindness" and when she hears the Duncan will visit their castle that night, she immediately appeals to the evil spirits, to (ironically) give her the strength to kill the king. In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth is doubtfull of Lady Macbeth's plot to kill the king. He doesn't think that he will be able to live with the guilt of killing his king while he is staying under his very roof, and then decides that he will not kill the king. This shows that Macbeth is thinking about what he is going to do, and shows that he does feel guilt and is weighing up the situation, unlike Lady Macbeth who never thinks twice about killing the king. When Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth has left the room, she goes to speak to him. Macbeth firmly tells her that they will not kill the king : "we will proceed no further in this business". Lady Macbeth, however, tells him that his love is worth nothing if he refuses to go through with the plan, saying that his love is as accountable as his indecisiveness. Macbeth wants his wife to love him and wants her to trust him, so he agrees to go through with their plan.
Macbeth’s ambition to obtain power convinces him that it is his destiny to become King of Scotland, and that he should do anything to fulfill that destiny, even if it involves him committing tremendously immoral acts such as murder. After Macbeth realizes that the witches may actually speak the truth due to the second prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) becoming true, he begins to have an eerie and frightening thought of him killing his king and friend, Duncan, in order to ac...
The tragedy of Macbeth opens up with him returning home from a victorious military battle, displaying his honor and excellence. This is, also the first time he is presented with the opportunity for power. His success covered him with glory in defense of the crown. Macbeth is busily basking in his own glory and soaking up credit when Duncan basically steals his spotlight from right over his head, proclaiming Malcolm, Duncan's son, as the heir-apparent. This action also belittles Macbeth's achievement, since the procession of the throne is not necessarily dictated by bloodlines. Duncan is basically announcing that Macbeth, while noble, is inferior to his son Malcolm. This is where Duncan provokes Macbeth to hate him and also points out what Macbeth must do to become King. Duncan even tempts Macbeth, by pronouncing him as the Thane of Cawdor. This gives Macbeth a taste of power and he begins to have a desire for more. This desire or ambition is his fatal flaw. Shakespeare, by using Macbeth as a guide, shows that even the honorable men can fall into the hands of evil just like everyone else. No one is safe from his or her own ambitions of power and success. It is clear that Macbeth ends up a far more brutal and simple...
Lady Macbeth is responsible for the death of King Duncan. In the play “The Tragedy of Macbeth” the main character Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make a plan to kill King Duncan so Macbeth can become King. Who is really responsible for King Duncan’s death. I think Lady Macbeth is responsible for his death. My first point is that Lady Macbeth is not affected by the murder as she says in the book “these deeds must not be thought of these ways so, it will make us mad” (Line 32-33 pg. 330).
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth King Duncan’s murder is a significant point in the story that eventually leads to the demise of Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. However, who is really responsible for his murder? Although both hold some responsibility as they conspired against him, Macbeth is the one is more responsible because of his longing desire to become the king of Scotland. Macbeth was the one to ultimately make the decision to carry through with the murder and tried to justify it afterwards. Even if he felt remorse and contemplated, he still went through with it and paid the price afterwards.
It is with great grief that the nobles of Scotland announce the death of their leader, King Duncan, who was murdered on the night of Tuesday, September 3rd 1034, during his trip to the Castle of Inverness, where he was visiting one of his kinsman.
In Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth”, the King of Scotland is suddenly murdered, leaving a mystery yet to be solved. The sons of King Duncan fled to England and Ireland causing confusion on who murdered the king. Macbeth and his wife are seeking power by plotting the murder of the individual with the most authority: King Duncan. Lady Macbeth is responsible for the King Duncan’s murder because she manipulates Macbeth and creates a plan to kill the King without any help from him.
“[Life] is a tale/ told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing.” In the drama, Macbeth, Macbeth says this famous line after hearing of his wife's murder. But who’s fault was it that Lady Macbeth and later Macbeth, were murdered? Was Macbeth the victim of some else's manipulation? In the play Macbeth, Macbeth was told by 3 witches his fate throughout the course of the drama. Macbeth was a victim of the witches and supernatural because they unleashed his evil aspirations and gave him false security.
A commonly asked question from people who have read Macbeth is “Who is more at fault for the murder of King Duncan? Lady Macbeth or Macbeth himself?” There are many arguments for each side explaining who could be more at fault for the King’s murder. Personally, from the evidence of the book I believe that Lady Macbeth is more responsible for the king’s death. Throughout the book there are numerous examples showing how she is more at fault for this. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare Lady Macbeth not only talks her husband into reluctantly killing the king, she turned killing the King into a matter of Macbeth being a true man, and she felt no remorse after the King’s death while Macbeth felt awful about the situation and he felt very disloyal to the King.