His paranoia reached the point to where he was mentally unstable. One source of motivation for the killing of the king derives where most people would not most commonly suspect: his own wife. The idea of her becoming queen engulfed her mind; therefore, she urged Macbeth to proceed with the killing of King Duncan. Following Duncan’s murder, the only thing bothering Macbeth was the prophecy told by the witches about Banquou’s son becoming the king. Fearing the worst, he allowed his paranoia take over his thought process, by not it should be obvious that his paranoia played a big role in his decision making.
As Macbeth became king this prophecy began to scare him. When he discovered that Macduff had fled to England he planned to destroy Macduff's family. The witches were the start of the murders but were also a source for the murders to continue throughout the play. Macbeth played the largest role in him becoming king. He was the one who murdered Duncan.
Upon hearing of his families’ death, Macduff returns to Scotland to confront Macbeth, who is slain. The horrid acts performed by Macbeth were brought to justice through his death, and power was restored with the crowning of King Malcolm. Lady Macbeth was the driving force that kept pushing Macbeth to his terrible crimes. One crucial statement she made to her husband directly insulted Macbeth’s manhood, and manipulated him into committing heinous crimes, “What beast was't then, When you durst do it then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man..."(Shakespeare, 1.7, 47-49). In this statement Lady Macbeth resorted to
Lady Macbeth challenges him, saying that he is not a man. Macbeth becomes defensive, and to defend himself, he kills Duncan. So, in the end both are to blame. Macbeth had committed the actual murder, and Lady Macbeth made the plan and convinced her husband to commit the
Outline. The written task is about “How could a text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers based on Act 5 Scene I of the play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare”. This Scene shows the hallucinations Lady Macbeth has after influencing her husband Macbeth to kill the King, Duncan. This task corresponds to the part 4 of the course, which covers the detailed study of a text. I was interested in studying this because it caught my attention the way Lady Macbeth and her husband were punished for committing treason from Shakespeare point of view, but from a modern point of view we can read the scene differently.
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.
The actions of the witches and Macbeth result in heightening Macbeth’ desire for power resulting in his downfall. First off, the witches can see their future because they could foresee when and where they would meet Macbeth. As shown in this quote, “First Witch: where the place? / second witch: upon the heath/ Third Witch: There to meet Macbeth,” (1, 1, 6-8). Therefore the witches could foretell Macbeth’s fate and his downfall.
However, Macbeth has the ultimate decision in whether or not to commit the assassinations, but he loves Lady Macbeth and wishes to please her. After Macbeth kills Duncan, he fairly disappointed in himself for doing it. After killing Duncan, murdering others appears to be the only solution to continue to cover up his terrible actions or lose all that he has driven for. Lady Macbeth is force on Macbeth that unleashes the wicked part of him. She has a forceful impact on him and is another key character to blame for his developing desire of killing others to get away with her master plan.
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
?If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.? (1 3) Did it happen because of fate or did Macbeth make it happen? The witches tempted Macbeth to kill the King, however, it was his own ambition that led him to do that terrible thing. Macbeth, even though he was uneasy, he chose to kill King Duncan and ascend to the throne of Scotland. ?Nothing is but what is not.?