Duncan announces that he is going to Macbeth's castle. Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth that he has to fulfill his prophecy himself and kill Dunncan. Duncan's sons leave the country believing they will be killed next and Macbeth becomes king. Macbeth remembers the witches prediction to Banquo. He wants to solidify his power so he kills Banquo and attempts to kill Banquo's son Fleance, but fails.
Macbeth says, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me/Without my stir.” (1.3.143).This is significant because Macbeth still has a sense of right and wrong. These bad thoughts eventually come back when King Duncan states that Malcolm will be the next king. Scared that his second prophecy would not come true, fear leads him to make rash decisions. As Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth to kill King Duncan, paranoia takes over Macbeth. When people find out that the king is murdered they accuse the guards.
This is right before Macbeth will kill Duncan. On his way to murder King Duncan, Macbeth sees the vision of the bloody dagger leading the way. Significance: It is clear that Macbeth is insane. Macbeth has been convinced into the action not by his own reasoning, but by his personal insecurities, played upon by his wife, the witches, and his own ambition. By the time Macbeth’s mind conjures up a dagger for him, he can see the murder as a conclusion, not a question for his consideration.
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.
“More is thy due than more than all can pay” (1.4.21). King Duncan says this to show how he is grateful of Macbeth for wining the war. As events unfold, Macbeth shows his true character when he kills Duncan to become king. This shows he has a false appearance because Duncan thought the two were friends and Macbeth would not kill a relative. Towards the end of the play Macbeth gets caught up in a killing spree by hiring people to murder Banquo and his son, and by having everybody in Macduff’s castle killed: The castle of Macduff I will surprise, Seize upon fife: give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate
Macbeth agrees, and betrays the king’s trust by plotting his murder. He and Lady Macbeth plan to blame the murder on the king’s two chamberlains. Another act of betrayal is when Macbeth hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo, Macbeth’s friend, and Banquo’s son. Macbeth was trusted by both the king and Banquo. However, the need and urge for power overcame his senses and he was disloyal to both of them.
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
He is already Thane of Glamis. What he doesn’t know is that the current Thane of Cawdor is about to be killed and the title will be turned over to Macbeth. After pondering for a little while Macbeth no knows that in order for him to become king, King Duncan has to die or be killed, showing the evil side of Macbeth. The good side of Macbeth came out just before he decided he was going to kill King Duncan. Macbeth thought, “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly: if th’ assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success; that but thus blow might be the be-all and the end-all.” Macbeth shows his indecision about killing Duncan in this quote.
Throughout the play Lady Macbeth is the driving influence behind Macbeth and the immoral path that he chose to follow. To put it simply Lady Macbeth started the rot and persuaded the hesitant and indecisive Macbeth to “be a man” and do the deed of killing Duncan. Macbeth initially decided to “proceed no further” in the matter of killing Duncan because he had been kind to him of late bestowing the position of Thane of Cawdor on him. She responds to this by saying that if he can lose his ambition so readily, his love for her must also be changeable. Then she insults his masculinity and questions his courage.
When she says "Come you spirits that tend on murderous thoughts, unsex me," and "make thick my blood, stop th'access and passage to remorse," she is already calling on evil spirits to take away her feminine nature, and to stop her feeling any pity, remorse or compassion; Lady Macbeth is determined to assist Macbeth in murdering Duncan. From this early point, it is already evident that she is contemplating, and intends to take part in a murder so that her husband could have the status he had always wanted, but had been too weak to obtain. When Macbeth enters, Lady Macbeth replies: "O never shall sun that morrow see." When Macbeth informs her Duncan will be leaving the following day. Here, she blatantly reveals that she intends to murder Duncan, saying he won't live to see another day.