The hired murderers kill Banquo but mistakenly allow Fleance to escape. At a celebratory banquet that night, Macbeth is thrown into a state of horror when the ghost of the murdered Banquo appears at the dining table. Again, his wife tries to strengthen Macbeth, but the strain is clearly beginning to show. The following day, Macbeth returns to the same Witches who initially foretold his destiny. This time, the Witches not only confirm that the sons of Banquo will rule in Scotland, but they also add a new prophecy: Macbeth will be invincible in battle until the time when the forest of Birnam moves towards his stronghold at Dunsinane and until he meets an enemy "not born of woman."
Macbeth first takes this in a joking manner, but soon begins to take it very seriously. When he came home to his wife, he shared the witches’ prediction with her and she encourages Macbeth to quicken the process by murdering the current king, King Duncan. After murdering the king, Macbeth soon finds himself needing to kill many more in order to keep his secret. His kingship comes into jeopardy when he hears of someone named Macduff who is foretold to have the power to defeat him. Macbeth hears some juxtapose news that gives him a reckless attitude.
We know that it isn’t right for Macbeth to become the king, as Malcolm is the heir to the throne. If Macbeth uses brutal force against nature to become king, there will be retribution. Because of Macbeth’s ambition to start his journey of becoming king, he decides to kill King Duncan. Macbeth, through Lady Macbeth’s persuasions and the witches’ prophecies, decides his very first step of becoming
This is shown, also, when Macbeth begins to keep his wife out from his life. He begins killing and ordering murders without informing her, and she feels that she has a right to know. After all, she is the one who assisted him in the murder of King Duncan. “Macbeth’s self-centered ambitions and desires prevent
In the play Macbeth is persuaded by Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to get the “ornament of life,” which would be taking the thrown. Before the murder of Duncan Lady Macbeth says that, “Glamis thou art and Cawdor; and shalt be what, not without ambition, but without the illness that should attend it,” in order to show that Macbeth must turn to murder as a way to gain power after Macbeth has heard the predictions of the weird sisters. Lady Macbeth explains that murder is the answer to the obstacle of Ducan, but she fears that Macbeth is much too kind to do such a thing. Because Macbeth is a genuine person, Lady Macbeth must manipulate him into the murder to achieve power for her and her husband. Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth look vulnerable which makes Macbeth feel pressured into the killing of Duncan.
He is then encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth, that in order to become king he must kill the king; so, Macbeth in the act of greed and selfishness, goes into a pursuit of power and murders the king. In Act 2 scenes 1, Macbeth begins setting out to kill the king. He shows an increasing desire to kill him. Before he does how ever, him and Banquo; another soldier of the king; have a conversation. “I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters- to you they have shown some truth.” Banquo says to Macbeth that the witches’ prediction about Macbeth becoming Thane of Cawdor came true.
Lady Macbeth is a victim of her uncontrolled ambition.This ambition causes her to push herself and Macbeth to the very edge. She convinced Macbeth to kill Duncan by questioning his manliness. Lady Macbeth shows her negative ambition and ruthlessness while speaking to Macbeth in this quote: "Was the hope drunk?...Like the poor cat I' th' adage." (Act I, Scene vii, Lines 35-45) In this quote Lady Macbeth is asking Macbeth if he is afraid to kill Duncan, and if he has enough courage to say so. She is asking him if he wants to be king or not, and if he is to be king he must commit regicide.
Once the witches show him his future, he becomes obsessed with speeding up the anticipated coming into power. He is told he will be King of Scotland, so Macbeth makes it happen by killing the King, which casts a shadow of doubt on his two sons, thereby allowing Macbeth to ascend to the throne. Once Macbeth seizes power through violence and murder, his life is darkened with the crime of regicide, he has killed a rightful, good and much loved king. His life begins to fall apart after this because he develops a serious case of paranoia over having the crown stolen from him. He becomes a slash and burn murderer and he loses sight of his humanity, he has no morality governing his actions.
“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.” (1.7.13-17). Macbeth came up with many reasons on why he should not assassinate King Duncan. One of them was that Duncan was in his house as a guess, and as a host Macbeth is supposed to protect him against his murderer, instead of killing him himself. “We will proceed no further in this business. / He hath honored me of late…” (1.7.35-36).
In this play, Oedipus unknowingly fulfilled a prophecy saying that he would kill his father and marry his mother, which also brought disaster on his city and triggered his downfall. Whereas Macbeth, was an Elizabethan play written by William Shakespeare and depicted the tragic hero, Macbeth. Throughout the play, Macbeth is also subjected to prophecies told to him by three ruthless witches. He, different from Oedipus, willingly fulfills his prophecies to obtain the power the witches foresee him earning. There are many similarities between Oedipus and Macbeth.