At this point, Duncan makes an important announcement “We will establish our estate upon our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter The Prince of Cumberland.” Duncan’s choice of Malcolm comes to a huge shock to Macbeth, because Macbeth was told how he will become ‘Prince of Cumberland’ by the witches and realises Malcolm is an obstacle between him and the crown. Macbeth realises how badly he wants to be King of Scotland and thinks about the bad things he could do. Quote, “Stars hide your fires, let not see my black and deep desires.” This tells me how it seems that he is thinking about killing the Heir and the King, but he is afraid to even think this through to himself let alone openly, “Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
I know think that Macbeth is slightly confused. He seems to be determined about becoming King and will be prepared to do anything for it, but even though he thinks about it and how he will have to include murder along the way he knows that it is wrong. He tries not to think about it and calls them his ‘black and deep desires.’
We first meet Lady Macbeth when she is reading the letter Macbeth had sent. Macbeth told her everything that had happened including the witches prophecies and him becoming ‘King that shalt be.’ Quote, “My dearest partner of greatness, that thou mighst not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee.” This suggests that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a close relationship and that Macbeth trusts her not to tell anyone what she had just read. After reading the letter Lady Macbeth seems to be very determined about her becoming Queen and Macbeth becoming King because she says, “Glamis thou art and Cawdor and shalt be what thou art promis’d.” This suggests that Lady Macbeth will do anything to make this prophecy come true. Lady Macbeth understands her husband well. She knows that he has great ambitions, quote “Yet do I fear thy nature, it is too full I’th’milk of human kindess to catch the nearest way.” She also knows that he is honourable and that this sense of honour will not allow him to ‘catch the nearest way’ meaning murder. She also knows that she will have to urge her husband on to do it. “Hie thee hithers that I may pour my spirits in thine ear.” This suggests that she may have to call on spirits to help her.
After the attendant informs Lady Macbeth that the king is on his way to the castle, she invokes evil spirits to help her slay Duncan. Quote, “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toes top full of the direst cruelty.” This tells me that she is prepared to give up all the qualities of a woman she has, so that she can become a sexless, pitiless fiend. Also, Lady Macbeth seems to be turning into a witch type character by how she calls on her evil spirits to help her.
When Macbeth enters they greet eachother with ‘Great Glamis’ and ‘My dearest love’ this shows us that their relationship is strong and that they seem to be rather close. Lady Macbeth seems to be the most excited “Thy letters has transported me beyond this ignorant present, and I feel now the future in the instant.” This tells us that there is nothing else on her mind except for the fact of Macbeth and herself becoming the Monarchs. Quote, “O shall sun that morrow see.” This shows that Lady Macbeth is straight to the point and that killing Duncan is no maybe. She can read Macbeth like a book, “Your face, my Thane, is a book where men may read strange matters.” She tells him to hide is feelings and be ‘th’innocent flower, but be serpent under it.’ Lady Macbeth seems to be the person in charge of their relationship. I can tell this because she says things like ‘You shall’ giving him commands. Also, she cuts Macbeth off while speaking, not knowing what was going to be said next. Quote, “Leave all the rest to me.” This shows that Lady Macbeth likes to be the one in control of everything and be the leader.
Before Lady Macbeth cuts off Macbeth he says, “We will speak further…” This suggests that he was going to tell her about Malcolm becoming the Heir, and how the quickest way becoming King is not by murder. It also shows that Macbeth seems to be more of a thinker unlike Lady Macbeth who seems to be straight to the point. He seems to like having time to think things over and to work it out in his head.
When Duncan is approaching Macbeth’s castle, he says a comment. “This castle hath a pleasant seat.! Thuis is dramatic irony because Duncan is complementing the castle saying how pleasant and nice it is yet later on in the play he actually gets killed there. So It’s not so pleasant after all. Duncan is greeted by an overflow of polite comments from Lady Macbeth that comes as a surprise to the audience. Quote, “All our services, in every point twice done and then done double.” I think this shows hat Lady Macbeth can be very false, she is a good charmer towards people and knows how to put on a face. By doing this she doesn’t make herself look suspicious in any way and the King can feel safe and relaxed about the situation they are in. Also, King Duncan tells Lady Macbeth about his promise to Macbeth to have more honours, “And shall continue our graces towards him.” Thus is also ironic. Lady Macbeth at this point might be agreeing at the fact that there will be more honours because Macbeth is actually going to take over and become King, and what an honour that would be.
At the beginning of scene seven, Macbeth in his soliloquy tells us all the reasons why he shouldn’t kill Duncan. First of all he goes on about how he would murder him if it ended all of it then. “But this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here.” But Macbeth is afraid that it would backfire on him, “We still have judgement here that we but teach blood instructions.” This tells us that if you do a crime it is only teaching others the crime that they will commit against you. So Macbeth thinks that he will be punished. Macbeth seems to start feeling guilty and sees that he is going against all the rules of society. Quote, “He’s here in double trust.” Which states that Macbeth should protect his guest and has been trusted to do so.
King Duncan has been a good King, “Hath been so clear in his great office.” This tells us that Duncan has been successful as a King and has done nothing wrong to Macbeth to deserve to die. Macbeth realises this and carries on questioning himself. He knows he is going against God and nature. Quote, “And pity, like a naked newborn babe striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin hors’d upon the sightless couriers of the air.” This tells me that Macbeth sees pity personified as a ‘naked new born babe’ who is weak which is nevertheless ‘striding the blast’ of the ‘trumpet-tongu’d angels.’ Also, by killing Duncan it ‘shall blow the dead in every eye’ meaning that the death of Duncan would be more horrid than any other bad deed done or thought before. Macbeth realises hat the only reason he wants to be King is his own ambition. “I have no spur to prick the side of my intent.” This is telling us that he doesn’t want to carry on with this plan of killing his King. Macbeth described his ambition to be like a horse that tries to jump too high and falls on the other side of the fence, “Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other.” Meaning that Macbeth thinks that killing Duncan is way out of depth and that he can’t possibly do it.
My opinion on Macbeth has changed now. Before I thought of him as a ruthless, selfish man who only wanted him and Lady Macbeth to become King and Queen. We now know that Macbeth doesn’t actually want to kill Duncan and is afraid of what might happen if he does. I think Macbeth is still loyal to Duncan because at first murder had been only a dream ‘but fantastical’ but now it is a real moral problem and he doesn’t want to break the trust bound between them.
Macbeth is confident with his decision and tells Lady Macbeth ‘We will proceed no further in this business.’ Lady Macbeth seems shocked by his remark. Quote, “Was the hope drunk where in you dress’d yourself? Heath it slept since? And wakes it now to look so green and pale.” This shows us that she doesn’t understand why he has changed his mind due to the questions she asks. Macbeth seems to be an easy target towards Lady Macbeth. She knows that Macbeth is a man who doesn’t like to be known as weak. Quote, “And live a coward in thine own esteem.” This makes Macbeth want to prove her wrong and show that he is strong not weak and cowardly. Also, she declared the show would have murdered her own child wile it was feeding at her breast, rather than break a promise as Macbeth had done. Quote, “Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this.” This probably makes Macbeth feel guilty at the fact her has broken a promise and once again insulted his manliness.
Lady Macbeth seems very confident that her plan to kill Duncan will work as she says, ‘we’ll not fail.’ Her plan is to poison the gourds so that they can’t remember anything that happened when they awake. Quote, “I with wine and wassail so convince the memory, the wonder of the brain shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a limbeck only.” That is when Macbeth should be able to get past the guards and murder King Duncan without anyone knowing. Lady Macbeth seems to be a very sick woman due to the fact that she said she would rather kill her own baby over a promise, but I think that she is very clever in the way she chooses her words. She knows Macbeth well and knows what he hates to be called. It seems Lady Macbeth has taken control once again by pressuring him. Defeated by his wife’s scorn, and persuaded by her encouragement, Macbeth agrees to murder the King. Quote, “I am settles and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” This shows that Macbeth is easily persuaded by his wife to do something he doesn’t want to do. I think that Macbeth gave in too easily because all Lady Macbeth said was that she’s stronger than him and that he’s a coward. Just because one person has called him that doesn’t mean he has to prove them wrong. He knows himself he’s strong due to the fact he’s a well-known fighter who can kill people easily. Macbeth closes the scene with the words, “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” This suggests that Macbeth knows that he has to hide his feelings and thoughts away from Duncan otherwise he will know there is something wrong. So Macbeth has to pretend to be happy by putting on a ‘false face’ when really he is quite scared and nervous about what is going to happen while he is plotting against him. When Macbeth says this line he sounds like Duncan him self from where he had said ‘there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face…’because they are both going on about not knowing what the truth is by hiding it away with the expression on the face.
At midnight in the castle, Macbeth seems to be preparing his self for the grim task when Banquo encounters him. Macbeth seems to find it quite easy to lie to his good friend Banquo, which shows that Macbeth has changed from the character whose “face is a book where men may read strange matters…” Banquo is open about the witches towards Macbeth and tells him how he had a dream about them and seems to be bothering him. Quote, “I think not of them.” This shows us that Macbeth is blatantly lying about the fact he ‘thinks not of them’ because we know that he has been thinking about them all through the play and that they have decided his future. Macbeth has learnt to conceal and not show his ‘dark and deep desires’ by not being affected by anything Banquo says about the King. Quote, “And sent forth great largess to your offices. This diamond he greets your wife withal,” I suggest that Macbeth would feel a bit guilty at this point because Duncan is being nice to them and offering them gifts of thanks and achievement but yet he knows he is going to betray Duncan by killing him, and still Macbeth seems to show any emotion and concealed his feelings and thoughts.
Macbeth is still obviously still troubled by what he is going to do because he is Hallucinating, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?” This shows me that the thought of killing Duncan has taken over his mind and he cannot control himself anymore and he starts to see a dagger with the handle pointing towards him. He realises that he is going mad, quote “a dagger on the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” This tells me that he is questioning his insanity and doesn’t know if the dagger is a ‘false creation’. By Macbeth saying ‘heat-oppressed brain’ he is suggesting that his brain has become over heated and that his thoughts are disturbed. Macbeth knows that what he is doing is wrong and that his better side of nature is trapped beneath his ambition. ‘The blood business’ Macbeth knows that what he is about to do goes against everything that is good and right and this is why he calls it the ‘blood business.’ Also, because his ambition of being king is overpowering the better side of nature it is making Macbeth feel like he is partly dead himself, quote “Now o’er the one half world Nature seems dead” This is suggesting that Macbeth seems to be thinking that by Killing Duncan it is killing half of him and when he murders him all of his life wont seem to be alive anymore. This might be mainly because King Duncan has played a big part through out Macbeth’s lifetime. As Macbeth here’s the bell ring so forth he went to do his ‘bloody business’.
I don’t think that the death of King Duncan was solely responsible to Macbeth because the witches and Lady Macbeth also contributed to this. I think all of them had a part in King Duncan’s death and all were responsible. The witches are firstly responsible for the death of the King because they put the idea of Macbeth becoming King of Scotland into his head by giving him the three prophecies. Where one of the prophecies came true, the witches made Macbeth automatically think that all three would come true and wanted to make sure they did, and that triggered his brain into thinking murder. Secondly, I think Lady Macbeth is responsible because she jumped to the conclusion that she would become Queen as soon as she read the letter. She taunted Macbeth with words such as ‘Coward’ and told him he’s too full of the milk of human kindness making him want to prove her wrong, and show her that he is not a coward. To conclude, even though the others are partly responsible for the death of Duncan I think Macbeth is most responsible because he believed what the witches had told him, so if he weren’t so gullible, then the thought of killing King Duncan wouldn’t have poisoned his mind. Also, had Macbeth not have told his wife about the witches, then he would have made his own decision about whether to kill King Duncan or not. I think Macbeth relies too much on other people’s opinion because he wanted the opinion of Lady Macbeth on what to do, but also from other people, saying that he should live the life he has and there is no need for any more power. Plus, we can’t forget that Macbeth was the actual person who plunged the dagger into King Duncan’s chest. Putting all this information together I think I can safely say it was a series of unfortunate events that lead up to the death of King Duncan.
The End.
By Zara Wines
