Killing as a Moral Barometer in Macbeth
In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the title character is a killer. Through the course of the play, he kills five different people or groups of people, one in each act. These are, respectively, Macdonwald, Duncan, Banquo, Macduff's family, and Young Siward. These five killings are different. In the beginning, Macbeth kills for his king. He then suffers a fall from grace before finally becoming a noble figure again in the end. But more interesting than this process is the way in which Shakespeare shows us the changes in Macbeth's character. Shakespeare uses the killings as a sort of "barometer" to illustrate these changes.
Before the play begins, Macbeth's Scotland and Norway fight a war. In this war, Macbeth is a hero, admired for his courage and strength:
But all's too weak;
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked like bloody execution,
Like valor's minion, carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops
And fixed his head upon our battlements. (Captain, 1.2.17-25)
The killing that the Captain describes here is Macbeth's most heroic killing. The Captain admires him for his remarkable bravery. The other members of the Scottish court continue in praising him. Macbeth's motive for killing here is, unlike all his later murders, not a personal reason. It is a selfless, courageous, heroic deed that is thought to be able to save Scotland from utter destruction. Shakespeare uses this killing to introduce the audience to Macbeth. Here, we see Macbeth as a hero. This is possibly the most potent way in which Shakespeare could introduce Macbeth's heroism to us. What could be more heroic than killing for one's king?
Similarly, what could be so evil as killing one's king? Macbeth, thanks to his bravery in the war, is made the Thane of Cawdor, part of a three-part prophecy given him by the Weird Sisters. Macbeth yearns to complete the prophecy and become King. Yet at this point, Macbeth is torn between killing and not killing. He is loyal to Duncan: "He's here in double trust:/First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,/Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,/Who should against his murderer shut the door,/Not bear the knife myself.
Furthermore Macbeth kills his best friend, but now decides to stoop to even lower means to keep his crown as king. He begin to harm the innocent people of threatening that he will,“Send out more horses. Skirr the country round. Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armor.” (5.3.36-37).Macbeth makes it known to all that he is going to harm all who may cause him to jeopardize his crown and reign as king. On the other hand, if no one desires to do so, Macbeth has no reason to harm the people of Scotland; but, because he is human he is doing whatever it takes to keep his fame and
Until his death, King Duncan was misled by Macbeth’s false loyalty. When the Thane of Cawdor had been found guilty of being a traitor and was hanged, King Duncan thought so highly of Macbeth, that he gave the title to him. The Thane then ironically dies with pride while Macbeth dies a foe of Scotland. The King was under the impression that Macbeth was a loyal and brave soldier, calling him “O worthiest cousin” (1/4/14), but Macbeth was actually already planning to kill the King, “whose murder yet is but fantastical” (1/3/139). Even when Duncan goes to visit Macbeth, he praises the castle’s pleasant environment and hospitality, “This castle hath a pleasant seat” (1/5/1), but is totally unaware of Macbeth’s plans to murder him.
Of course, by his delaying his revenge, the entire plot of the play goes in a different direction. Immediately after this scene Hamlet speaks with his mother, unknowing of the fact that Polonius is hiding behind a curtain in the room with them. When the Queen becomes frightened by Hamlet's irate demeanor she cries out for help, as does Polonius. Hamlet mistakes Polonius for Claudius and stabs him to death.
Lady Macbeth tries to get Macbeth to kill King Duncan, because she wants Macbeth to be king. " He that's coming/ must provided for: and you shall put/ this night's great business into my dispatch;/ which shall to all our nights and days to come/ give solely sovereign sway and masterdom." Iv 65-69, this is a quote from Lady Macbeth explaining to Macbeth that when King Duncan comes to stay, they will kill him. After Macbeth killed Duncan, he killed the King's guards, so no one could question them. All this was just the beginning of a walk down an evil trail.
Macbeth negates his moral responsibility as a person as well as a king. He doesn’t take into consideration that he will pay for all the evil deeds that he executes. Killing Duncan is the worst crime that is possible to commit since the kings were the closest in hierarchy next to god. It is evident that Macbeth is aware that this is an evil sin when he states, “ I dare do all that may be come a man, who dares do more is none.” (Act I Scene VII, Line 46-47) The previous statement shows that Macbeth believes that killing Duncan will make him nothing more than a beast. Nevertheless he goes against his morals and kills King Duncan. Sin is a prevalent theme in this play, Macbeth shows that he knows he has lived a sinful life, “Seyton I am sick at hearth, when I behold Seyton I have live’d long enough.” (Act V Scene III, Lines 20-22) Ambition takes over Macbeth when he decides to hire assassinators to kill Macduffs wife and children, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to the edge of the sword in this line.”
After a long and hard battle, the Sergeant says to King Duncan, “For brave Macbeth,-well he deserves that name,- disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution , like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage till he fac’d the slave;” (1.2.16) . This quote shows that Macbeth is viewed as a valiant soldier and a capable leader. However, it does not take long for the real Macbeth to be revealed- a blindly ambitious man, easily manipulated by the prospect of a higher status. His quest for power is what drives his insanity, and after having been deemed the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth’s ambition can immediately be seen. In a soliloquy, Macbeth says, “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings; my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastica, shakes so my single state of man that function is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.140). Macbeth has just gained more power, and his immediate thought is of how to gain an even higher status as king. He imagines how to kill Duncan, and then is troubled by his thoughts, telling himself it is wrong. This inner struggle between Macbeth’s ambition and his hesitation to kill Duncan is the first sure sign of his mental deterioration. Although Macbeth does kill Duncan, he questions whether or not he should to do so, which is far different from how Macbeth feels about murder later in the play. Macbeth becomes king, and this power leads
Macbeth is captured by his wild ambition at the opening of the play when he and Banqou meet the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and later will be king. They tell Banquo that his sons will be kings. Instantly Macbeth started to fantasize how he is going to be king. He understood that in order for him to become king he has to kill Duncan. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(Act 1 Sc. 3, p.23). He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan.
Shakespeare introduces the protagonist of the play as a valiant and a prominent character, even before the audience meets him. Macbeth’s fellow soldiers give us a view of his bravery and courageous manner. In order to prove his loyalty towards his king, Macbeth had won the appalling war against Norway, and became a hero:
In conclusion we can see that revolutions and wars can lead to positive and negative turning points.
Macbeth is a true Shakespearian tragedy, in which mast murders take place, in order for one man and women to take the throne and become king and queen. It starts with Duncan’s murder, which is done because Macbeth did not want to see Duncan’s son next in line for the throne and the only way to prevent that was by eliminating Duncan. The nest murder was that of Banquo. Banquo is a friend of Macbeth and his murder is un-predictable. Macbeth may have feared that if he did not kill Banquo, Banquo would kill him in order to gain a position power seeing that the witch’s just informed both Macbeth and Banquo that Macbeth will be the next King of Scotland and Banquo will never have the chance to hold the throne. Once Banquo is out of the way, Macbeth turns his attention to his real target, King MaCduff. Although at first hesitant about killing MaCduff, Macbeth chooses to murder MaCduff, a man who Macbeth himself said was a good man and a fine leader. The last murder is of MaCduff’s family. Macbeth can not take any chances and must kill any associated with the former king (King MaCduff). The murder of MaCduff’s wife and son is the most vicious crime of them all because for one we see the killing on stage and number two a child is murdered, the most vicious and horrific thing one can show. Macbeth murders for personal gain and has no regrets or else he would not have continued his mass slaughtering. Macbeth is responsible for these murders because he commits them himself, without any assistance, he kills everyone out of necessity, and because all these acts were done out of free will.
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...
In Shakespeare’s MacBeth, a Scottish thane ascends his way to becoming king by killing off anyone in his way. MacBeth’s first victim, and most difficult to kill, was King Duncan. The reason killing King Duncan was harder for MacBeth than killing other victims, was that MacBeth had never committed such a crime, and he was unsure whether or not he wanted to go through with his plan. He had promised his ambitious wife, Lady MacBeth, that he would kill Duncan, though he later reassesses the idea. If it were not for Lady MacBeth’s persuasion, Duncan most likely would not have been murdered.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
Throughout the play of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is supposed to be a likeable character until he kills the king. By committing this heinous act, Macbeth instantly becomes a villain and continues to commit murderous acts, all stemming from his first terrible mistake. One of his motives consists of choosing power over integrity, therefore he kills the king. Another reason why Macbeth is a villain is because he continued to kill innocent people to hide his doings. Lastly, since Macbeth is a villain and murderer, he deserves to be condemned and disdained.
It was because of these killings and his overbearing attitude that caused him to be overthrown and killed himself. Macbeth, at the beginning of the play, seems to be a very noble person. He is characterized as being very loyal and honorable. He fights in the battle against Norway which proves his loyalty, then he is appointed Thane of Cawdor which proves that he is honorable in the eyes of royalty.... ...