In Act one Scene five, we are introduced to Lady Macbeth and we immediately see her for what she is.
After finishing the letter sent from Macbeth about the three ‘weird sisters’ Lady Macbeth’s ambition is sent into overdrive;
“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised…”
(Act one Scene five)
From this moment Lady Macbeth is intent on making Macbeth the King and she will stop at nothing to do so. Her only problem is Macbeth;
“…yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way…”
(Act one Scene five)
Lady Macbeth feels that it will only take a few short words to influence Macbeth into committing the murder of Duncan and taking over the King’s role;
“…Hie thee thither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round…”
(Act one Scene five)
Just from the first soliloquy of Lady Macbeth after the receipt of Macbeth’s letter, we can see that she will become the driving force behind the murderous goal. But, there’s more, and in my opinion, Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquy;
“…unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!..”
(Act one Scene five)
Lady Macbeth is now super-charged with evil and she releases this on the next person she meets, who, unfortunately, is Macbeth. She manages to unleash so much murderous potential that Macbeth is bullied into false agreement, while he is attempting to gather his thoughts.
Another point at which Lady Macbeth is forced to use her powers of persuasion is in Act one Scene seven. Macbeth starts the scene with a lengthy soliloquy of his own. He lists all the points why he couldn’t kill the king, they are;
- The consequences of murder, especially of high treason.
- Macbeth is Duncan’s host and his loyal subject.
- The King is much loved by his Kingdom.
- To kill the King would be going against the natural order.
- Macbeth claims to have no ‘spur’ for the murder.
We already know that Lady Macbeth is the main ‘spur’ for Duncan’s murder, but Macbeth is a little slow on the up-take. This forces Lady Macbeth to break cover and tell Macbeth directly that the murder is a good thing.
However, Macbeth takes a different view;
“We will proceed no further in this business…”
(Act one Scene seven)
This direct statement from Macbeth forces Lady Macbeth to be slightly more devious in her persuasion, so she decides to play on Macbeth’s honor and nobility;
“When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man…”
(Act one Scene seven)
As Macbeth now feels he has to kill just to be worthy of the title ‘brave and noble Macbeth’, he takes onboard Lady Macbeth’s ‘evil spirits’ carry out the deed. This is another point where Macbeth almost losses responsibility for his actions towards the King.
King Duncan
This is one of my more abstract ideas for finding out just how responsible Macbeth is for the murder.
First of all I believe Duncan is quite naïve for a King, which put him at a disadvantage with Lady Macbeth, as she was attempting to hide her murderous intentions from the first time she meets him, as was Macbeth.
In act one scene four the King makes a wise speech, including;
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face…”
(Act one scene four)
From this he means that you shouldn’t trust on appearances, but he then goes against his own advice and appoints Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor without even meeting him.
Another point is the political situation in Scotland. I think that Duncan was too focused on rooting out traitors, such as the previous Thane of Cawdor, to concentrate on what was happening within his own walls. This may have been why he given Macbeth a new title without a second thought, which ultimately brought about his own downfall.
The nature of a tragedy
The nature of a tragedy is important in discovering how responsible Macbeth is for Duncan’s murder.
In Macbeth the tragedy is of how Macbeth himself could have been a force for good, and become the King’s ‘right-hand man’.
All was well at the start and was set to continue, until the three witches appeared and upset the natural order of events. This intern set off a chain reaction resulting in the destruction of Macbeth.
It started with Macbeth’s ambition, then Lady Macbeth’s ambition. It rapidly turned into desire and there would be no turning back.
After the murder, Lady Macbeth’s feelings turned towards guilt, which caused her to commit suicide.
Around the same time Macbeth experienced three apparitions which made him stronger until Macduff uttered these words;
“Despair thy charm,
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.”
(Act five Scene seven)
To conclude, Macbeth was indeed responsible for the physical murder of Duncan, and there is no disputing that. However, the lead up to Duncan’s murder was fraught with indecision on Macbeth’s part, and it could be any or all of the points discussed above which caused Macbeth to finally commit the murder.