Macbeth: Act 3 Scene 1 - Summary & Analysis

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M A C B E T H
Act III Scene I :
A Summary
After Banquo exits, Macbeth is left alone with his thoughts. He quickly realizes that to be king is nothing unless the king is safe. And he does not feel secure with Banquo around, who "hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour ... There is none but he whose being I do fear ... under him, my genius is rebuked." Since the rest of the witches' prophesy has already turned into truth, Macbeth fears that the part about Banquo's children taking over the kingship will also come true. To prevent the last part from coming true, Macbeth decides to kill his trusted friend and his son, Fleance, later that night. Right away he orders in a pair of poor and ignorant beggars, convinces them that "it was [Banquo] in the times past which held you so under fortune," and persuades them to commit the murders as revenge while, at the same time, receiving a grand reward for their loyalty to their king. Macbeth also tells the duo that Banquo is his own enemy as well, and he should be attacked during his journey, away from the palace, to prevent suspicion.
A n Analysis
In this scene, we immediately notice a great change in the behaviour and attitude of Macbeth toward murder. After his first meeting with the witches, Macbeth had worried about their prophesy the King's murder. He had plenty of rational reasons at the time against the plot, and had to be convinced by his wife to commit the highest crime possible. But now he is at much ease about innocently killing anyone standing in his path to greatness. All rational reasoning has left him and he is no longer aware of Banquo's kind and honest nature or his long friendship with him. All that matters now is, to get rid of Banquo, so the rest of ...

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...ean his hands and wash away his guilty conscience. We know from these instances that Macbeth is a mentally weak person, and most of his strength comes from his wife. He ordered someone else to kill Banquo outside the royal estate, so that no one would suspect him. Relating to the "dead sleep" incident in Act II, scene II (page.63,1ine 40), he ordered the murders far from the castle so he could justify the act by telling himself, that it was not he, who actually carried out the act, but the beggars, whom he likes to dogs and dirty animals. More importantly, he was so obsessed with the idea of any piece of dirt on him being linked to the murders, that he feared that the slightest sight of blood (his guilty conscience) would follow him around throughout his life. This shows a complete transformation of Macbeth from the hero to the cowardly and dishonourable murderer.

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