One way of deciphering a character is to analyse what others say about them and there are many quotes concerning Macbeth’s character. The Captain calls him ‘brave Macbeth’ which suggests that he must be a good and brave warrior. It shows that people respected Macbeth because he was strong and willing to fight for the right reasons. However, we are told that Macbeth ‘unseemed him (Macdonald) from the nave to the chaps’, and this implies that he is extremely violent and very capable of performing murderous acts. The sergeant compares Macbeth to a lion and an eagle. He is suggested to have the qualities of a lion, which is the king of the jungle and a very ferocious, proud beast. Also, the eagle is the most fearful bird of prey and is thought to be the highest in the bird status scale.
When Macbeth and Banquo are on their way home from battle, they meet the witches who promise many prophecies. Firstly, they promise Macbeth that he would become the Thane of Cawdor and ‘hereafter king’. They turn to Banquo and promise that, although he won’t be king himself, his children will be. They both react quite differently to how the witches present the prophecies. Banquo seems to take it in his stride because the prophecy doesn’t directly affect him but pertains to the distant future for his children. Whereas the prophecy regarding Macbeth was more immediate and also was more fantastic in scale as a man like him wouldn’t expect to be crowned king. This shook Macbeth momentarily as it was more than he had imagined possible. Especially in the fact that the Thane of Cawdor was still alive, as was the King. Banquo noticed how Macbeth was consumed by his thoughts one minute then, in the next, inquisitive of where the information came from. Once he had been told by Ross that he was the Thane of Cawdor Macbeth seemed to accept that it was inevitable that he would be King. This suggests that Macbeth had previously dreamt about obtaining a high status and possibly even being King.
Macbeth’s first notions of murder come after he is told that he is now Thane of Cawdor. He thinks to himself what acts would be required to fulfil the second part of the prophecy and is shocked to find that he had thought murder as a way of achieving this. It shows that he does have underlying ambition and his character, on the surface, would be honourable and loyal to his King but to achieve an end he would consider any means. He also realises that he must keep his ambition secret. The witches informed him of what could have been known by them to be true i.e. him being named Thane of Cawdor, then they planted the seed of a prophecy for him to be King which inevitably become self-fulfilling, fuelled by Macbeth’s and his wife’s ambition.
Macbeth leaves the dining room because he can’t look Duncan in the eye and he talks as if to persuade himself not to kill the King. He does this by talking about the fact that it could all go wrong and he could be found out and killed for treason. Also, he’s aware of the fact that if he became King, someone could do the same to him. He says to himself that the King has been a good and honourable one and has rewarded him with title and praise and doesn’t deserve to be murdered. ‘Besides, this Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongu’d, against the deep damnation of his taking-off.’ Macbeth has second thoughts about killing Duncan, which shows he has got morals and some sort of conscience. He is torn between loyalty to the King and what he believes is his fate.
Despite all of the above, he carries out his grim task because he is easily influenced, firstly by the witches and then by his ambitious wife. His wife persuades Macbeth to go through with Duncan’s murder by manipulating his feelings. Namely, calling him a coward (‘and live a coward in thine own esteem’), threatening to leave him and attacking his masculinity. There is a fine line between her being clever enough to persuade Macbeth and him being weak enough to fall for it. I don’t think Macbeth is a weak person per se, but he obviously can’t resist the temptation of being King. It’s interesting that, considering how strong and mighty Macbeth is in battle, he is unable to contradict his wife.
Going back to the original question, I believe that Macbeth wouldn’t have killed Duncan of his own accord because of the apprehension he displayed during his soliloquy. If Lady Macbeth hadn’t intervened then I’m sure he would have backed out because he wrestled with his conscious that King Duncan was a great and kind King and did nothing but praise Macbeth.
