This shows me that Macbeth is becoming a more vengeful person foreshadowing more bad deeds “We are yet but young in deed”. The survival of Fleance also adds significance to the play in a dramatic fashion. Fleance’s survival plays a trivial role on Macbeth’s future as king because of the prophecies of the witches. The fact that Fleance is still alive brings fear and sleepless nights to Macbeth. This makes us readers to believe that Fleance will revenge the death of his father in the future.
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. After killing the king, Macbeth starts to plot other evil undertakings as he becomes nervous that someone will take away his power. At one point he goes from wanting to needing the sovereignty, which makes him loose sight of his integrity. As Macbeth begins to immorally act in order to achieve what he hungers, the line between good and evil starts to fade. “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him.
The other interpretation is that something supernatural and scary is at work, that the dagger is a sign from the witches Macbeth spoke to. This part of his soliloquy uses a rhetorical question, as if he is questioning his own sanity, especially when he realises that it is his own blade, ‘such an instrument I was to use’, covered in ‘gouts of blood’. This shows the reader that Macbeth is already seeing the horror of Duncan’s murder and it creates tension for the reader. It then moves onto the dagger and how it ‘marshall’st’ Macbeth towards Duncan’s chamber, suggesting that the witches are beckoning him to kill the king. This in turn makes the reader feel apprehensive and afraid of the supernatural beings corrupting Macbeth, as it gives a feeling that they are always watching, and also highlights the mystical powers they seem to have.
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.
Macbeth is a little nervous at first, but Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to agree with her to kill King Duncan. Macbeth still has a conscience because he is very hesitant about killing the King. He has a conscience throughout the entire play. It is Macbeth’s conscience talking when he sees the hallucinations of the dagger and the ghost of Banquo, and has a constant worry of being discovered. This is also evident in his terrible dreams in which he hallucinates a voice that cries “Macbeth does murder sleep...Macbeth shall sleep no more”(Shakespeare II, ii,43).
One can look at Macbeth’s actions as the play unravels and see that he is clearly headed down a path towards disaster resulting from one source: his ambition. It is his desire to become king that overpowers his good nature and pushes him to break all moral boundaries. Prior to his encounter with the three witches, Macbeth was a trustworthy man; one loyal to his King, wife and friends. But with the news of his future, a secret desire for power emerges and controls him as the play continues. For instance, in act 1, scene 7, Macbeth’s ambition has become to great for him to handle: “To prick the sides
Shakespeare does a magnificent job by using Macbeth to show the terrible consequences that can result from an unchecked ambition and a guilty conscience. Those elements, combined with a lack of strong character, distinguish Macbeth from Shakespeare's other tragic heroes, such as King Lear and Richard III, both of whom are strong enough to overcome their guilty conscience. Before Macbeth murders Duncan, he is plagued with anxiety and almost does not go along with the plan. It takes his wife, Lady Macbeth's persuasion in order to complete the plot. When is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger covered in blood floating in the air, representing the bloody course he is about to take.
As the play continues, with the foreseeing witches and the deceptive lady Macbeth, he quickly turns from a courageous strong hearted man, to a tyrant king who is willing to commit the unthinkable to withhold his royal status. In Macbeth, the prophecies foretold by the three witches about future events enflame our protagonist, driving him to make treacherous decisions that impact severely on his downfall. He is immediately taken in as the witches reveal the royal titles. Eager to unlock the secrets of these prophecies, Macbeth questions the witches, demanding them to speak. "And often to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths."
However, he does not yet have strong feelings about it and is plagued by indecision. He meets the Witches and they predict he will be Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. He demands to know more but they vanish. Macbeth said ‘Why do I yield to that suggestion?’ when he was thinking about killing Duncan was right or not. This could be interpreted as Macbeth wondering why the thoughts had come into his head.
Greed is the sin that causes Macbeth to commit murder; killing Duncan to secure the crown for his taking. Macbeth continues to make decisions based on what the witches tell him will come true. The witches’ prediction that Banquo will father a line of kings for Scotland motivates Macbeth to kill him for the same reasons at Duncan, to secure the crown. These actions played out by Macbeth are due to prophesy’s he has been told, but he is still responsible for the actions he has made. Along with greed, Macbeth’s actions are caused from his fear of losing the