However, Macbeth also has some weaknesses which Lady Macbeth takes advantage of. Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to murder Duncan but he would not do it, so Lady Macbeth gets round this problem by talking about his manhood on page 20 line 49, where she says “When you durst do it, then you were a man; who dares do more is none.” Macbeth does not like being accused of him having a lack of manhood and so his wife easily persuades him into doing the murder. Macbeth is also very weak minded because he has an inability to make a decision because on page 19 line 1 he says “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well if it were done quickly.” From this we can see that he is having doubts about whether to go along with the murder or not. By the end of Act 1 Scene 7 he is definitely going to carry out the murder because of what Lady Macbeth said about his manhood. He also goes to pieces at the murder because he is very nervous about killing Duncan. He is so nervous that he starts to hallucinate when he sees a dagger which is not really there, “is this a dagger which I see before me…”
We also see that he is easily influenced by the supernatural. In Act 1 Scene 3 the witches call Macbeth the “Thane of Cawdor.” He is very shocked by this and doesn’t say anything. Macbeth runs after them, as they disappear, asking questions. He says “Tell me more.” The fact that is struck by the comment means that he has been thinking about this before. When he is told that he is the “Thane of Cawdor” he is not really bothered but when he really begins to think that he will become king it has an even bigger impact on him after being told he is “Cawdor.” Banquo tries to persuade that Macbeth that the witches are trying to trick him and that he should be very cautious because on page 9 line 123 Banquo calls the witches “The instruments of darkness.” Macbeth is also delusional because he sees a dagger infront of him, which is not really there. Also whilst carrying out the murder he hears a voice because he asks Lady Macbeth, after he has murdered Duncan, “didst thou hear a noise?” He is also a religious man because when he was praying when carrying out the murder he could not say Amen at the end of it because he thinks that there are supernatural forces controlling him, i.e. the three witches. He also talks about, in a soliloquy, his fear of hell on page 19 line 7, “We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases, we still have judgement here that we but teach bloody instructions…”
Macbeth has a secret character which no one except his wife knows about. On page 22 line 82 he says “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” In a way Macbeth is an equivocal character. On one face he shows that he is loyal to Duncan but he nurses his private thought of killing him. He is cunning in hiding his secret thoughts because he never lets them show in any way. He is also ambitious for power which can be seen from the speech that he makes on page 9 line 126 – 144. He wants to desperately become king and “Thane of Cawdor” and so he will go as far as to kill Duncan to succeed in his ambitions.
There are also a number of different effects on Macbeth after doing the murder. After he has committed the murder he has a sense of no turning back. He is very shocked at what he has done; he feels very guilty and is paralysed with fear. He is so full of guilt and shame that he wants to disown himself. Macbeth was standing, frozen, outside the chamber in which Duncan was lying dead, with the dagger in his hand. He was covered in blood. He would have been caught “red handed” if it wasn’t for Lady Macbeth who snapped Macbeth out of his terrified state.
From all these different aspects of Macbeths’ character, we can see that he is a brave man but when it comes to power and success, he will do anything to achieve it.