Macbeth's Responsibility for the Murder of King Duncan

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Macbeth's Responsibility for the Murder of King Duncan

This essay will discuss the issue of King Duncan's murder in William

Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth'. Macbeth is seen to be the one that is

responsible for Duncan's murder as his hands were the ones that

actually killed King Duncan, however, on closer inspection, there are

other influences in Macbeth's decision. The three main influences to

Macbeth's decision are Lady Macbeth, Macbeth and the Witches.

William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth to compete with the other common

types of entertainment in the early sixteen hundreds, Bear Baiting

being one of the most popular. To attract people from these other

bloodthirsty sports, William Shakespeare had to include lots of gore

and bloodshed in his plays. Macbeth is a prime example of using this

strategy.

William Shakespeare set Macbeth in Scotland to please King James 1st,

as he was Scottish.

King James 1st claimed to be the descendant of Banquo so Banquo is

shown to be brave and conscientious.

In the play, the idea of nature turning up side down if the King is

murdered comes from the traditional belief that contact with the

monarch will relieve all sicknesses and diseases anyone has that

touches them. This puts the King on the same line as 'God' in the

mortal world as he was said to heel people just by touching them.

King James 1st believed strongly in witchcraft, so to please him,

Shakespeare included many references to the supernatural and strange.

On the one side of the story, Macbeth is shown to be willing and

competent to kill king Duncan.

Macbeth being capable of killing other people is shown at the start of

the ...

... middle of paper ...

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mend like she would rather kill her own baby than break her word to

Macbeth. 'I have given suck, and know how tender 'tis to love the babe

that milks me - I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked

my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I

sworn as you have done to this.' (act 1, scene 7, page 41).

The witches are another influence in the story that could change

Macbeth's mind on whether to kill king Duncan.

At the start of the play, the three witches are together chanting a

spell on Macbeth. This shows that Macbeth would not have the power to

override the spell and would succumb to their spell.

After examining the evidence, I have concluded that Macbeth was not

wholly responsible for the murder of king Duncan because there were

other influences that he could not prevent.

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