"if I had died but an hour before this chance, I had liv'd a blessed time"
At this point he feels that his life is very bleak and he is generally feeling very awful and worthless. However, almost immediately after he says this he manages to cover up for the murder of Duncan by lying to Macduff about the killing of the stableboys who he alleged had murdered Duncan:
"those of his chamber, as it seem'd had done't:
their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood;
so were their daggers, which unwiped we found
upon their pillows: they star'd and were distracted;
no man's life was to be trusted with them"
By lying to Macduff it shows that he still wants to fulfill his side of the prophecy by becoming the King of Scotland. This means that Macbeth is no longer so devastated about the killing of the King as was first indicated in the play and demonstrates the alluring sexual power of Lady Macbeth who is ambitious to become the Queen. Macbeth is easily led by his wife, because had she not been there to push him along with the murder then in all probability, Macbeth would not have killed Duncan. His actions also show his greed and ambition by killing someone he apparently dearly loved. By Act 3 Scene 1, Macbeth is becoming more ruthless and determined, in that he is wanting to kill Banquo, as Banquo is the only person who could possibly suspect Macbeth as the killer of Duncan. In my view his actions may point towards Macbeth having an inferiority complex. A fantasy of his is that he is trying to create a safe world for himself whereby he is completely in control of Scotland. His idea is to form an autocracy and to fit that fantasy Macbeth has tried to become more pompous and divine and basically become a better version of Duncan. Duncan's main weakness was that he was too trusting, whereas it can be noticed that Macbeth is not trusting at all, for example, he does not trust the murderers. Macbeth used to be very humble to everybody and that was noted by all around him but later he acts more like a dictator. A quote that exemplifies the above observation is:
"Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father's"
He is trying to be ruthless and demonstrate his greatness.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Lady Macbeth's dominance over Macbeth is demonstrated because even though Macbeth likes to think of himself as a great dictator he still succumbs to the power of his wife. Lady Macbeth shows this when she says to the servant:
"Say to the King, I would attend his leisure
For a few words"
This demonstrates that his fantasy of being all great and powerful is untrue, because he still basically prepared to listen to her advice and is not completely dismissive of her opinions. In addition, he is influenced by his wife at the banquet, who does not wish him to appear to the others as strange after he saw the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth was fearful at the sight of Banquo's ghost and pretended to appear brave by saying:
" Thou cans't not say I did it: never shake
Thy gory locks at me."
It can be seen that in this passage Macbeth is showing signs of paranoia as a truly fearless general would not be suffering from fearful visions of someone that they have murdered.
Macbeth overcame his good nature and as a result no longer needed to be with his friend Banquo. He was determined to protect his ambition by killing the King and then hired three murderers to kill Banquo who was a fellow commander of the Scottish army. He hired the three murderers to do the killing for fear of Banquo's suspicion in the murder of Duncan, he killed Banquo due to the prediction by the witches who had said about Banquo's son becoming the King. Macbeth wanted to ensure that he would realise his ambition without problems. It is to be noted that the more Macbeth tried to cover things up, the more powerless he became as King and he did not succeed in killing Fleance. Macbeth was powerless to stop Fleance's escape and this is an indication that Macbeth by Act 3 Scene 4 is starting to become out of control. In addition, Macbeth has begun to ignore his wife, not consulting her on any of the decisions that he has taken in the later scenes whereas at the beginning of the play he consults her on everything, even writing home about his first meeting with the witches. This is because of a natural role-reversal, in other words at the start of the play, Macbeth depended heavily on his wife for support and she very much dominated him in the earlier scenes being able to manipulate him as she wanted, yet as the play progresses, Lady Macbeth starts to become more and more dependent upon Macbeth as he demonstrates his "dictator fantasy" at all times, so becoming very dominant and ruthless, even in his home.
In Act 4 Scene 1, it becomes apparent that Macbeth has now become the most evil character in the play. This is demonstrated by the witches:
"something wicked this way comes"
This is ironic as the witches, who are evil, are calling Macbeth evil, thus as above making him the most evil character in the play. Macbeth is also becoming more attached to the witches, as the play nears the end, Macbeth starts to speak in rhyme as the witches do. This may be because by that point in the play Macbeth has come to a point where he thinks of nothing else. At Act 4, Scene 1 from line fifty onwards, Macbeth is willing to sacrifice anything to get an answer about his future and it is considered that the prophecies give Macbeth a false sense of security. Macbeth is very insecure, which is an explanation as to why he feels he has to kill anyone who he remotely views as a threat to his reign including his plan to murder Macduff:
"I'll make assurance double sure"
I think this is because he is so insecure that he feels he needs to kill Macduff to make the prophecy come true. The multiple roles of Macbeth in the play demonstrate his changing character and portrays the complete evolution of Macbeth's personality. Macbeth begins as a respectable person and gradually his personality descends until he eventually falls apart and loses control. It is considered that the message that Shakespeare is portraying is that no good will come from destroying rivals on the way to the top even if it appears that you will not be found out.