Here Banquo asks Macbeth if what they are talking about was actually there or have they eaten on the insane root and just gone mad. So even when they have heard the prophecy it shows you how shocked they are if they are questioning their own sanity.
Macbeth may take the bait from the witches but Banquo tries to worn Macbeth that there must be evil forces at work and that it may seem in his favour now but there is something sinister in the predictions,
'What, can the devil speak true?'
Banquo here tries to convince Macbeth that can these witches related to the devil speak truth and so he tries to over throw Macbeth's thoughts to forget about the prophesies and just to carry on as normal.
The first seed of ambition that is thrown to Macbeth came from the witches' prophecy of Macbeth becoming King. However the seed did not start to grow until Macbeth hears that he is going to become the new Thane of Cawdor this being the first prophecy made by the witches come true. At this point Macbeth and Banquo had decided to let the future take care of itself. However when he was told that he would be the new Thane of Cawdor a bell started to ring in his head. Soon after this, Duncan makes his son Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland and Duncan invites himself to Macbeth's Castle. Everything is falling into place for Macbeth and he sees his chance to become King; obviously Duncan was not planning on making Macbeth the next King.
However Macbeth then had a problem and that was Malcolm,
'The Prince of Cumberland _ that is a step,
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleep,
For in my way it lies.'
This is where Macbeth realises that he has a hurdle to overleap in order to for fulfil his ambition to become King of Scotland. This is where Shakespeare tries to explain Macbeths' situation in a simple way by creating an image of a staircase, Malcolm on the step above him and the King 'Duncan' above that. This is where he has a choice of whether to get rid of Malcolm or some how get him out of the way so that he could fall into the place or step that he was on and then he would be another step closer to becoming the King.
Duncan appears to continuously present Macbeth with gifts and titles. This fuels Macbeth's ambition and makes him yearn for more authority, such as to be the King of Scotland. Presenting Macbeth with gifts and titles led to Macbeths' transition or you could say his tragedy, but Duncan cannot be entirely to blame because he was simply rewarding Macbeth for his triumphs and bravery on the battlefield over much larger armies,
'What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.'
Here we get a great feeling that Macbeth is a very strong and powerful soldier on the battlefield. Here it says that what other soldiers have lost, such as a battle or war, Macbeth will definitely win.
Lady Macbeth latches on to the idea of Macbeth being King as soon as she reads his letter describing the prophesy. She has no doubt that the prophecy will come true, but she does fear that her husband is,
'to full o'
'the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.'
Lady Macbeth immediately sees that killing Duncan is necessary for Macbeth to become King, and she has no concern for how evil that plan is. As soon as she sees him, she begins convincing him that he should kill the King. Macbeth does not agree, but later in scene seven, he tells Lady Macbeth:
'We will proceed no further in this business'.
She responds by attacking his manhood, calling him a coward and referring to a promise she never made.
'I would while it was smiling in my face
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have you done to this'.
Macbeth never made a promise to kill Duncan but Lady Macbeth is trying to manipulate him by saying if she had made a promise to kill her child she would, Macbeth has sworn to kill Duncan but she is simply playing with his mind and trying to get him to go along with the murder.
Later on in scene seven Macbeth tells his wife that he doesn't want to take the positions away from the soldiers or Thanes because they have earned their position and clothes that hey wear, he just wanted to become King the easiest and quickest way. Lady Macbeth tries to explain to her husband that there will be an obstacle or downside along the way,
'Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' th' adage?'
Lady Macbeth here tries to be persuasive by telling Macbeth that she would not let fear get the better of her as he was starting to do. She then uses the proverb an 'adage' to try and explain that obstacles often occur when someone really wants something and puts his situation into a way that he could relate to. Lady Macbeth said to Macbeth the cat wanted the fish but would not get her paws wet, translating into Macbeths' case, he wanted to become King but didn't want to kill for it.
After the murder of Duncan Lady Macbeth has to assure Macbeth that what is done is done and not to think about it as it will drive him insane. Macbeth was still shaken after the murder and took the daggers, that he killed the guards with, back with him. Lady Macbeth then had to take charge,
'Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers.'
Lady Macbeth even after the murder is still insulting her husband and calls him weak minded.
Lady Macbeth plays an important role in Macbeths’ transition. Lady Macbeth is like her husbands bad conscience, there were many points in the play where Macbeth would have pulled out from murdering Duncan but his wife tried her best and seceded in convincing Macbeth that he should murder Duncan. However I do not think that she can be held entirely to blame; Macbeth had free will to do what he wanted; Lady Macbeth simply backed him up.
Therefore it was through Macbeths’ decisions he became the man he was at the end of the play. You could say that he was some what forced into murdering Banquo.
‘It is concluded!
Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
If it find heaven, must find it tonight.’
Here Macbeth has plotted the death of Banquo, and is pleased that his friend would soon be dead. He does all this without any prompting at all from Lady Macbeth; he does this simply because the witches had said that Banquo’s descendants would be Kings.
Macbeth furthers his own transition by having Macduff’s family killed.
‘The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to the edge o’ the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate sould
That trace him in his line.’
Straight after the second prophesy, which warns him to beware the Thane of Fife, that being Macduff. Lennox brings word that Macduff has fled to England. Angered, and the words from the prophesy that he has interpreted to mean that Macduff may be a threat, Macbeth orders the household of Macduff slaughtered. When Macduff had found this out he was truly convinced that Macbeth is evil, and rallied the armies of proud England to march against the sick Scotland. Therefore, by destroying the Macduff household, Macbeth brung about his own downfall or transition by the end of the play.
Prior to this Macbeth once again made another step towards his own transition. He yearned for the knowledge that the witches possessed and he couldn’t do anything without knowing what was going to happen in the future. The second time Macbeth went to visit the witches they had three new prophecies for him,
‘The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth’
This first prophesy is simply saying that the person born not of a woman shall harm Macbeth. Macbeth thinks that this is impossible, what he doesn’t realise is that Macduff was born by a suzerain
‘Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.’
Here the witches say that only harm will come to Macbeth when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, which Macbeth thinks is impossible.
The other prophesy was,
‘Beware Macduff,
Beware the Thane of Fife.’
Here the witches are simply telling Macbeth to beware Macduff. As he believed all the prophesies he made them come true, so we don’t actually know whether they simply fed him a line and influenced his thinking knowing that he was ambitious and would make these prophesies come true. This is yet another factor in Macbeths’ downfall.
Macbeth surprisingly actually tries to comfort himself and in a way he tries to justify what he has done,
‘I am in blood stepped in so far that
returning were as tedious as go o’er.’
Macbeth here is trying to say that going back from what he had done would be as tedious as it was committing the murder, he seems to think that because he is so far stepped in blood and cannot turn back that it makes everything alright which it certainly doesn’t.
Even though Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost he doesn’t seem to show any remorse. However the ghost does startled him and he doesn’t feel like a man when the ghost is there,
‘Enter GHOST, And to our dear friend Banquo whom we miss;
Would he were here. To all, and him we thirst
And all to all.’
Banquo’s ghost enters the banquet and Macbeth decides to propose a toast to Banquo, it’s as if Macbeth is tying taunt Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth is not really sorry and he wouldn’t rather Banquo be there he is simply boasting to the ghost that he had him killed.
However at the point when the armies of England are closing in on Dunsinane, where Macbeth‘s castle is, Macbeth seems remorseful. It seems that his darker side was turning towards the light, but still, Macbeth refused to let anyone or anything threat his reign, except his death.
‘But get thee back my soul is too much charged
With the blood of thine already.’
Shakespeare uses imagery here to show how Macbeths’ soul is fully charged like a battery but with all the bad deeds he had committed. This part of the play is where Macbeth is confronted by Macduff and he is remorseful that he has killed Macduff’s household. But nevertheless the deed was done and Macbeth could only blame himself for it.
In conclusion I think that Macbeth was more so to blame for his own transition. He may have been pushed into the murdering of Duncan but everything else he made his own mind up about. Sure there where many limiting factors in Macbeths’ transition such as Lady Macbeth, the witches and another big factor being his ambition which was probably reflecting his decision making but this cannot be excused as he knew exactly what he was doing and what his aim was, to become the King of Scotland. However he does show some remorse before he is killed. Before Macbeth was killed Macduff started to fight with him but Macbeth could fight no more and so Macbeth was beheaded. This does show that he may have finally realised what he had done or that he was blinded from the truth by his ambitions.
