The King represents the highest position of power that Macbeth can hope to achieve. The King is also a father figure, patronizing to his subjects and expectant of total servitude. When King Duncan thanks Macbeth for his heroic service in battle, Macbeth replies, " The service and the loyalty I owe, in doing it, pays itself. Your Highness’ part is to receive our duties: and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants; Which do but what they should, by doing everything Safe toward your love and honour." (1.4.22-28). Here Macbeth tells us of how a King cares for his people as a father cares for his children; and the people are supposed to act like obedient children. In this way, Duncan’s very position is likely to grate against Macbeth. While Macbeth is being honoured for his bravery and courage in the battle, fighting for Duncan against a rebel Lord, Duncan comes along and steals his stoplight by proclaiming Malcolm, Duncan’s son as the heir-apparent. Macbeth feels that this belittles his achievements, as the procession of the throne is not necessarily dedicated by bloodlines. Duncan is basically announcing that Macbeth is inferior to his son and so this provokes Macbeth to hate Duncan and points out what must be done in order for him to become king.
The other side of Duncan’s murder is due to the contribution of Lady Macbeth, who begins plotting as soon as she finds out Duncan is coming to stay. Macbeth truly found his soul mate in this sense. Towards the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king, "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.’’ Lady Macbeth, on receiving the letter telling her about the witches' prophecies, she immediately thinks that she and Macbeth will have to kill king Duncan. Although Lady Macbeth feels Macbeth is not man enough to commit the murder of Duncan. She then also taunts him. ‘Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o'th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.’ Here we see just how powerful she is for a woman at this time and also how ambitious, controlling and how she can be such a driving force behind Macbeth. Her influence is completely self-motivated and originated in her own mind. She takes advantage of Macbeth’s original motivation, his ambition, and uses that to decide what he must do. Macbeth does not decide to murder Duncan; Lady Macbeth does it for him. He was still not completely convinced of performing the murder but Lady Macbeth told him he must commit murder in order to fulfil his destiny. Every time he reconsiders, she gives him a pep talk. She even instructs him during the murder, drugs Duncan’s guards, and advises him on every detail of his behaviour once the deed has been done. She is the foundation of all of Macbeth’s actions in this matter. Lady Macbeth uses Duncan’s presence and the opportunity to take his life to influence Macbeth into fulfilling the witches’ prophecy and sealing his destiny.
The witches are the physical manifestation of evil itself, and they bring temptation, malice and disaster with their visits. In act one scene one the three witches say together, ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair.’ I think that the prophecy set forth by the witches could be the single cause for the entire story of Macbeth. Without the witches, Macbeth may never have thought of taking Duncan’s life at all. Without the prophecy, even Lady Macbeth probably would not have thought of doing such a thing. It is not that the desire for Macbeth to become king would not have existed if the witches had not talked to Macbeth. The desire existed in both Macbeth and his wife naturally in their position as nobles. The significance of the prophecy is that it brought this desire to the foreground and made it reality. Without the witches’ suggestion of the course of action to be taken by Macbeth, I don’t think that he would have be so bold as of to pursue his ambition. The witches’ prophecy is self-fulfilling. And so this leads me to believe that every person relies on the influences of those around him or her in order to form conceptions and decisions.
