Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare telling the audience the importance of king and at the same time defines the right “King”. This is the main theme about the extract where Macbeth is outpouring of confusion and conscience about killing Duncan– “with his surcease, success”, he is not sure about what he wants or whether this is the kind of success he wants. He is concerned that the consequences he would face would be vast, and that there are many reasons why he should not carry “the deed” of murdering Duncan. This is Macbeth’s first soliloquy exploring his character on the basis of the judgments but through out the soliloquy he is very undeceive. Shakespeare depicts the moral decline of Macbeth. We know his first thoughts on the matter, because of the haphazard way in which they are expressed. I will show how the language used provides imagery and detailed analysis of Macbeth’s state of mind.

After listening to witches prophecies and realizing that they come true, Macbeth’s ambition of becoming a king tries to overshadow his morals. He starts having thoughts of achieving his ambition by killing King Duncan. He thinks that if there would be no problems or consequence of killing Duncan then it was the right time to kill him and he needs to it quickly. However, Macbeth is not sure about doing it and says “ if it were done” which is a strong euphemism for murder that is different from what he has been doing on the battlefield. This euphemism shows that the “horrid deed” abhors him, as he knows that regicide is a sin. He wants to “trammel up the consequences” along with Duncan’s death and get the glory of becoming the king. The mere obstacle he faces in making a decision about “the deed” is the fact that he is familiar with the consequences. He wants to “trammel up” which is a metaphor for entangling in a net or killing the consequences along with King Duncan. Macbeth just wants to avoid the consequences of murdering the king, but he is then reminded by his conscience that although he might succeed in getting away with want he wants “here” on Earth but he will have to pay the cost in “ the life to come”.  Macbeth says that afterlife is like an ocean whereas compared to it life is merely a “bank” or “shoal”. Metaphors like “bank and shoal” and euphemism of afterlife through “jump the life to come” show the presence of Macbeth’s conscience and fears. Macbeth finds himself in dilemma where he has to choose between his ambitions of becoming a king and his morals which tells him that a regicide is a sin. He thinks that if chooses to kill Duncan and favors violence than it might come back “to plague” him, so that he who kills a king to gain the throne teaches his “bloody instructions” to others -- a method that will return to hurt the one who first decided to commit regicide. He realizes that if he kills King Duncan to fulfill his greed for power and becoming a king than someone else might do the same with him while he governs the throne. He understands that by poisoning Duncan he would poison himself indirectly. He refers to a “chalice” which is an image for life, light, good. However, Macbeth talks about a “poisoned chalice,” which leads to the opposite connotations: death as opposed to life, darkness as compared to light, evil instead of good.

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Another reason for Macbeth to not murder Duncan is because Duncan double trusts Macbeth- as “his kinsman and his subject” and as a host it is his duty to “shut the door” against murderers and protect Duncan, not to “bear the knife [him] self.” He struggles in particular with the idea of murdering a man—a relative, no less—who trusts and loves him.

 During Macbeth’s battle with his conscience and morals, we come across one of the important themes of the play that is what and who makes a right king. Macbeth tells the audience that Duncan is born with ...

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