Lady Macbeth as the Real Driving Force Behind the Murder of Duncan

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Lady Macbeth as the Real Driving Force Behind the Murder of Duncan

Although in this play it is true that Macbeth murders Duncan and he

willingly states, “I have done the deed” to his wife after the murder

I believe that he is not completely to blame for this act.

I believe that the witches are originally to blame. Without the

witches casting the spell to influence the murder or even just giving

Macbeth the idea of becoming King through these means, the murder plot

would not have been thought up and the actual murder would not have

been carried out.

Macbeth could also be to blame by believing and trusting the witches’

prophecy. When the prophecy is told, Banquo does not believe what is

said, he says to Macbeth “Why do you start and seem to fear things

that do sound so fair…” Also the fact that Macbeth wrote the letter to

his wife telling her of the encounter with the witches and what they

told him could make him partially to blame. By reading the play we

realise that Macbeth would not actually murder someone by choice but

he would kill as many people as he felt like on the battlefield. We

find him first as a brave and respected soldier, but as the play

progresses, he becomes a treacherous villain.

Lady Macbeth is brought into the play in act 1, scene 5 reading the

letter Macbeth has sent her. When she reads this, her evil is

immediately revealed to us as she starts to plan the murder of Duncan.

Lady Macbeth loves her husband. She wants him to be King and is

willing to do anything to make this come about. This also brings about

the idea that Lady Macbeth wants to become Queen more than she wants

Macbeth to become King. L...

... middle of paper ...

...eth must feel.

Macbeth as we have found is a very ambitious character and he lets

this get the better of him. Both the witches and Lady Macbeth know

this and that is why he can be manipulated so easily.

Although he knows right from wrong as we find from him saying, “We

will proceed no further in this business…” He knows that murdering

Duncan is wrong as he says this to his wife but she is able to sway

his judgement quite soon after.

He is a weak man and he constantly needs to prove himself, which makes

it even easier for Lady Macbeth to make him do what she wants. I have

found that she treats Macbeth more like you would a dog than a

husband.

I have decided to believe that Lady Macbeth is the real driving force

behind the murder of Duncan from the information I have gathered in

the course of this essay.

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