Macbeth Essay

The Murder of King Duncan: Macbeth Essay Yemin Shou Earl of March Secondary School ENG3UR-02 Kryczka

The Murder of King Duncan – Macbeth “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is a play of deceit and betrayal where Macbeth, a seemingly noble and honourable thane, with the influence of Lady Macbeth, assassinates his King Duncan in a plan to become the new King in order to fulfill a prophecy given to him by three evil witches. As a result of the prophecies, including Banquo’s prophecies, Macbeth becomes obsessed with the witches and their supernatural knowledge. This obsession leads to Macbeth’s downfall as he was deceived by the witches and defeated by Macduff at the end of the play. Although characters such as Lady Macbeth and the three witches have influenced Macbeth’s decision to murder King Duncan, it is ultimately Macbeth who is primarily responsible for Duncan’s death. Macbeth has such strong internal ambitions and emotions that they overrule his reasoning which leads to Macbeth’s decision to kill King Duncan. He also allows too much influence from certain external forces to persuade him, and chooses to ignore others who warn him. Additionally, Macbeth is capable of reasoning and knows right from wrong, yet he still decides to assassinate Duncan even though he knows it is not right. Macbeth has very strong internal forces such as his ambition and his emotions which work to overrule his powers of reason and convince him to decide to murder Duncan to become King himself. Macbeth admits that “I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition” (I.vii.25). He says that the only good reason for killing Duncan is his own ambition and desires to become King. This shows how Macbeth’s emotions are overruling his reasoning and thus spurs Macbeth on to murder Duncan. Additionally, despite Macbeth’s moralizing and noble appearance, his only concern about going through with the murder is the consequences. He asks “if we should fail?” (I.vii.65) when he discusses the plans with Lady Macbeth. He also believes the “even-handed justice” (I.vii.10) will punish him if he were to commit this crime. Although he fears these consequences, his ambition causes him to set aside this reasoning. Lady Macbeth also influenced Macbeth not to fear these consequences as she came up with a plan to remove consequences from their actions. However, Lady Macbeth’s ambition came from Macbeth’s own ambition. In the letter that Macbeth wrote to Lady Macbeth, he calls her “my dearest partner of greatness” (I.v.10) which

sparked Lady Macbeth’s own ambition to come to a position of power to fulfill the prophecy for Macbeth to become King and her to become Queen. Macbeth also asks that “Stars, hide your fires;/ Let not light see my black and deep desires” (I.iv.57) after he learned that Malcolm was to be the King’s successor. This demonstrates the strength of Macbeth’s desires and that he would go through dark measures, such as killing the King, to satisfy these desires. It was also his ambition which influenced Macbeth to believe in the witches’ prophecies. These ambitions and desires of Macbeth’s prove that Macbeth is primarily responsible for the assassination of King Duncan. Macbeth also allows external forces, such as Lady Macbeth, to have a large influence on his decision to murder Macbeth while he ignores other external forces, such as Banquo, when they try to warn him not to. When the witches disappear after they had given Macbeth his prophecies, Macbeth wants them to “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (I.iii.73). This reveals how Macbeth is becoming obsessed with the prophecies and wants to know more about the prophecies that were given to him. Macbeth calls the witches “imperfect speakers” which indicates that the witches are evil because they only provide enough information to entice Macbeth’s attention by stating he will become King, but not enough information to reveal the crime that was committed for this to happen. There are clear signs indicating the wickedness of the witches, but Macbeth chooses to ignore these signs. Even when Banquo warns him that “Oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/ The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/ Win us with honest trifles, to betray us/ In deepest consequence.” (I.iii.132), Macbeth ignores this warning. Banquo clearly states that the witches are evil, but Macbeth still does not listen. In contrast, Macbeth allows Lady Macbeth to influence him greatly when it comes to convincing him to commit the crime. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth that “you shall put/ This night’s great business into my dispatch” (I.v.74). This demonstrates how Macbeth is allowing Lady Macbeth too much influence over his decisions, which is unorthodox because it is unusual for the lady to take the lead and be the decision maker. Lady Macbeth also manipulates Macbeth by claiming if he goes through with the plan that he “would/ Be so much more the man.” (I.vii.55) Lady Macbeth claims that Macbeth is not a man if he does not follow through with the plan. This type of argument reinforces that Macbeth is ignoring

reasoning and allowing emotions to rule him. However, Macbeth is also allowing Lady Macbeth to convince him using his emotions this way. He did not have to agree to go through with the murder even after Lady Macbeth’s influencing. This enforces that it is not other characters, but Macbeth himself who is the most responsible for the death of Duncan as it was ultimately his decision to go through with the plan to kill Duncan. It is evident that Macbeth is capable of reason and that he knows right from wrong, however, he decides to ignore his better judgement and allows emotions to take over which results in his decision to kill Duncan. Macbeth realizes that while King Duncan is staying at his castle, he is the King’s host, and “as his host,/ Who should against his murderer shut the door,/ Not bear the knife myself.” (I.vii.14) Macbeth knows that he is supposed to be protecting the King, not be the one killing him. It is clear that Macbeth knows right from wrong. However, despite his saying this, he still decides to ignore what is right and continue with the plan to assassinate Duncan. Macbeth also understands that the witches are not to be trusted as “This supernatural soliciting/ Cannot be ill; cannot be good” (I.iii.27). Regardless, Macbeth decides ignore his reasoning that the witches cannot be trust and decides to trust the prophecies and the witches. This leads to Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan. Similarly, Macbeth also understands that “Bloody instructions, which being taught return/ To plague the inventor” (I.vii.9). He understands that there will be consequences for his actions. Although Macbeth realizes other reasons why not to kill Duncan, facing the consequences is his biggest concern. When Lady Macbeth proposes a plan in which they will not have to face consequences, Macbeth ignores all his other reasons not to kill Duncan. It is clearly demonstrated that although Macbeth is a capable of reason and knows right from wrong, Macbeth chooses to ignore this and allows emotions to rule over his reasoning. This leads to Macbeth’s decision to assassinate King Duncan and shows that Macbeth is the one primarily responsible for Duncan’s murder. Macbeth’s internal forces, external influences, and decision to ignore reason all help to prove that although many other characters could have influenced Macbeth’s decision to assassinate King Duncan, Macbeth is primarily responsible for Duncan’s death. Besides than the fact that Macbeth was the one who

physically committed the crime and murdered Duncan in his bed, Macbeth’s internal ambitions was the reason why the idea of killing Duncan came up in the first place. Allowing external forces like Lady Macbeth to influence Macbeth’s decision making pushed Macbeth to follow through with his plan to end Duncan’s life. Finally, Macbeth is capable of reason and knowing what is right and wrong, but he chooses to ignore his reasoning and allows emotions to rule over him. It is clear that of all the characters, Macbeth is most responsible for the assassination of King Duncan.