Lady Macbeth is probably one of the most influential on Macbeth. She persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Even when Macbeth doesn't want to go through with the killing Lady Macbeth is pushing him to do it. She tells him that they were only altering fate and it was going to happen anyway, they were just quickening things up. She also tells him that she shall do all the planning all Macbeth had to do was do the actual killing because. When she came to murdering King Duncan she discovered she didn't want to go through with it as the king reminded her of her father.
"Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me."
When king Duncan tells Lady Macbeth that he want to stay at the castle Lady Macbeth welcomes him. She is more ambitious for Macbeth than himself. To go through with the murdering of King Duncan Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to defeminise her,
"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts,
unsex me here…"
Lady Macbeth also calls Macbeth a coward when he doesn't want to go through with the killing,
"And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting I dare not wait upon I would…"
She thinks he is less of a man, as he is a great warrior but he won't kill someone.
Macbeth was obviously responsible for the death of King Duncan as he did the actual murder but as I have already mentioned there were other people playing very strong roles in the murder. When Macbeth meets the witches he is already thinking about being the king and the witches support his feelings with the predictions and because he is superstitious he believes it will happen, but he didn't at the time think about murdering King Duncan too seriously but when he tells Lady Macbeth she thinks he should. King Duncan gives the title Prince of Cumberland to his son Malcom, this annoys Macbeth as he has won the king many battles and he thinks he should be awarded more substantially. Macbeth seems to be a strong warrior and has had many battle and killed many men, but these warriors are nothing compared to the taunts that Macbeth's wife makes when he doesn't want carry out the murder.
Although King Duncan himself obviously didn't want to be murdered he played quite a big role in his own murder. He was naive and trusted people too much. He could not see through Lady Macbeth and he didn't have any idea he was going to be assassinated. He also trusted Macbeth. He thought that Macbeth wouldn't be annoyed by the fact that he didn't reward him as much as Macbeth had liked but did make his son Prince of Cumberland and consequently hier to the thrown. King Duncan also went to the castle just when Macbeth was thinking of murdering him, which seems very coincidental, and so if King Duncan hadn't of done this maybe he would not have been murdered.
Banquo was probably, along with King Duncan, the least responsible for the death of the King and probably didn't feel any guilt for the death. However, he did have a minor role in the death. Banquo was with Macbeth when the witches gave their predictions, Macbeth told Banquo that he believed them, but Banquo said that he didn't believe it. Banquo indicates his suspicions yet he doesn't act on them if he had told Macbeth that he thought it was a bad idea maybe Macbeth might not have gone through with it, but still his wife could have persuaded him otherwise.
There were other contributing factors and circumstances that were also responsible for the death of King Duncan. Immediately after the witches predict that Macbeth shall be thane of cawdor, Macbeth is awarded that title. Malcom becomes heir to the thrown, this makes Macbeth angry and he wants to get revenge on King Duncan for doing this, this is again King Duncan fault. King Duncan visits the castle just as Macbeth is having these feelings, this is the perfect opportunity for Macbeth to do killing.
So coming back to the question 'Who do you think is responsible for the death of King Duncan' my answer is that not just one single person was responsible it had to do with a lot of people that were influencing Macbeth. I feel that Macbeth wouldn't have done it if his wife hadn't of pushed him to do it, she seemed most influential and so I think she is the most responsible for the death. On the other hand the murder wouldn't have taken place if it weren't for Macbeth.
