Were it not for outside forces, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an illustrious title in itself. Macbeth does not even want to kill King Duncan. He says “chance may crown me without my stir.” Fearing the withes message means that he will kill the king in the future, he says “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.” Macbeth writes to his wife, telling her about the withes and how one prophecy has already come true. As soon as she hears about it, she calls on evil spirits to fill her full of cruelty so that she will the King if necessary. Macbeth, on the other hand, does not like a possible future by the withes prophecy: that he will kill his King.
By the time he became king, he was so paranoid about the people around him that he could not even enjoy being the king. Banquo is Macbeth’s right hand man and he too was there when the three witches prophesied that Macbeth would be king. They told him that although he would not be king, his son would start a long line of rulers. Macbeth kills Banquo because he is nervous that he will tell the others about him becoming king. In the end, the sons of the old king and Macduff, enemy of Macbeth, join forces to defeat Macbeth and take the throne.
<br> Macbeth will be the first one discussed, since he was the <br>main character. The play’s problems start when he kills Duncan. <br>This is done because he has a flaw; he is too determined. He <br>doesn’t let anything in his way of the goal, to be king, proven <br>here: <br> The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On <br> which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For <br> in my way it lies.
However, Macbeth’s indecision on whether he should kill Duncan or not shows us that ruthless aggression does not come that easily to them. When the witches predict that he shall be king, Macbeth does not think he should do anything to make the prophecy come true “If Chance will have me king, why Chance may crown me without my stir”. However when Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm, will become the next king, Macbeth soon realises that he must kill Duncan if he is to become king. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else oerleap for in my way it lies.
That all changes when he returns home after telling his wife what had happened. She says “ Make thick my blood/ Stop up th’access and passage to remorse” (1.5 33-34) Lady Macbeth is the one who encourages Macbeth to become King. Now that they both believe that Macbeth is going to become king, there is nothing that will get in their way. Soon after, Macbeth decides that one of the only ways that he is going to become king, is to kill the current king, Duncan. He realized that the plan might not be reasonable and he started to second guess himself.
After the first part of the prophecy comes true, Macbeth starts to seek the kingship. After King Duncan names his son Malcolm as heir to the throne, Macbeth starts to think that he must take action. On the subject of killing King Duncan, Macbeth is unsure about what to do. As he tries to reason with himself, he thinks, “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.” (I. 7.
So he is thinking about killing the king to become king but his mind is telling him that it’s a bad idea so he is confused about what to do. In Scene 4, Macbeth finds out that Malcolm has been made Prince, so to Macbeth has to either give up or get rid of him in order to become King. He then decides that he is going to do it eventually even though he kind of doesn’t want to, so he will do it but he won’t look at his hand while he does it to try and relieve some of the guilt. In Scene 5, Lady Macbeth talks about her husband, Macbeth. She says that he will be King as he was promised, but she doesn’t know if he has what it takes to take the crown.
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores the destruction of innocence demonstrated by a man’s need of power. Throughout the play, the need and want of supremacy takes over his characters and guides them towards their own obliteration of innocence. In order to get what he wants, the main character in Macbeth does whatever possible to achieve it. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both strive for power, so when Macbeth is foretold that he will be king, Lady Macbeth sways him into killing King Duncan so that he, the honorable Macbeth, would become king while she would become queen. As the play goes on, Macbeth slowly looses his morality as he strives for more control whilst Lady Macbeth steps into a frantic stage of guilt.
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, a thane usurps the throne and gains an illegitimate image of authority through his thirst for power. Power corrupts Macbeth and it results in leading to his ultimate downfall. Even though he appeared to be a king, he was never fit to rule in reality. Macduff, a thane, eventually takes the ultimate stand against Macbeth by defeating him. By defeating Macbeth, the land of Scotland is cured from the disease of tyranny, the people of Scotland are no longer confined to live in fear, and the crown is restored to the rightful king; restoring the sense of equilibrium.
With the witches’ prophecies mulling over in his mind, and knowing that he was not the successor of the throne, he knew he had to take matters into his own hands. With the support and persuasion of Lady Macbeth, he kills King Duncan and gains his kingship. When Banquo makes his vow to find out who killed Duncan, Macbeth knew he had to silence him. After Macbeth is named king, he seeks out hired murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Macbeth does this because he is afraid that Banquo will get in the way of his new title and Fleance, because he is prophesied to be king.