One of the main messages he is trying to deliver to us is to always weigh what you achieve to what the consequences will be. This especially holds true for Macbeth, as when first contemplating if he should kill Duncan, not once did he think of how he could be punished. Also, when Macbeth first hears the witch’s prophecy of him being a king, he jumps directly to the idea of murder. This kind of thinking is exhibited in Macbeth’s monologue in scene 5 act 5, where he discus’s the uselessness of living, and this attitude towards life made him go mad. This also points to how unintelligent Macbeth really was.
49). Macbeth knows the ethics behind the murder of the King, and he knows that not only is his conscience going to suffer, but should he get caught he would lose everything. His family’s honor, his title as thane, everything he had worked so hard to accomplish gone blank at the instant his hand in the crime would be revealed. “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (I. iv. 57-58).
The characters determination for power causes them to carry out immoral acts. These actions play on the minds of the main characters as their guilty consciences torture them into madness. The text first shows that Macbeth is feeling guilty about desiring to kill Duncan in Act 1 scene 4, when Macbeth says, “Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.” This shows that he wants no one and nothing to see what he is plotting, affirming that Macbeth understands, unlike his wife, the wrong in contemplating murdering Duncan.
Even though Macbeth chose to murder Duncan, he first shows guilt and regret for it when telling his wife of the voices he heard after killing Duncan. He believes that the voices are correct and that he will never be able to sleep again so his emotions start to take over his thinking. Macbeth had killed the King so he was already headed down the slippery slope of sin, so after Macbeth killed Duncan, he killed the two King’s Chamberlains to have murderers that could not be questioned as his alibi. He was already too caught up in his future potential that he did not care anymore what he did or who he killed. It was Macbeth’s frame of mind to murder whoever so that he may be king that started his
Macbeth struggled with this concept, contemplating whether he should carry out the evil deed. He conjured up a list of reasons to avoid killing King Duncan. Lady Macbeth then challenged Macbeth’s manhood, referring to him as a coward. Only then did he take it upon himself to kill the king. Although, Macbeth takes the dagger and kills King Duncan, Lady Macbeth was the one who planned to kill him that night and frame his guards.
The murder of Duncan proves to be difficult for Macbeth to come to terms with his guilt, but he does not feel such a great deal of remorse, once Lady Macbeth reassures him. After the murder of Duncan , Macbeth puts on an extravagant show for the nobles, so as not to place blame on him, for the murder. “O horror, horror, horror, / Tongue nor heart cannot conceive, nor name thee.” (2.3.59-60). If he is truly remorseful it would prove to be very difficult to put on such a façade. His lack of a guilty conscience allows for him to go on in denial and is able to clear his mind of any remorse.
Pushed by the idea that he could be king, his growing ambition and misguided confidence in the prophecies makes Macbeth starts to ignore his conscious. After he is crowned king, Macbeth changes for the worse. He would turn into an evil, brutal killing man with no sense of morals. From the beginning to the end, it’s as if Macbeth has changed in character completely. The actions he took from killing Banquo, then having Lady Macduff and her children murdered, shows the insecurity that was present in Macbeth.
She criticizes and reproaches Macbeth about his foolish decision and eventually alters his mind by saying “What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me?” By stating such phrase, she lowers Macbeth’s self-esteem and self-worth. In addition, she also brings up the issue of love to intimidate Macbeth by stating if he does not kill Duncan, he does not truly love her. This harsh yet sly comment of her confirms Macbeth’s decision of killing Duncan. After they both decided to kill the king, it’s Lady Macbeth who specifies and sets forth the plot. This very fact further substantiates the point that although Macbeth is ruthless in some sense, Lady Macbeth is much more
The first step was to kill King Duncan, who was the current King of Scotland. After he did this, the next step was to make sure that he wouldn’t get caught. Duncan’s guards had to be framed for this to happen, and later on in some emotional rage, Macbeth kills the guards. The witches’ prophecy coming true so fast led to Banquo, Macbeth’s good friend getting suspicious. Macbeth’s greedy emotions to achieve everything without letting anything get in the way would not let this happen.
Now that Macbeth had already killed once, he feels as if it is the only way to cover up for all of his wrong doing. It was second nature for him to hire murderers to kill Banquo. This is not Lady Macbeth’s idea, however, she is the reason that Macbeth started to kill. This later came to his conscience when he is at the banquet. He sees Banquo’s bloody body and it comes at him.