He was so self-consumed in the idea of becoming King he took drastic measures to make sure his plan to become King were certain therefore he had to make the difficult decision of killing King Duncan. In the end he had based his decision on his priorities and murdered Duncan. He had then murdered the guard to conceal his actions and make sure that his chances of becoming King were not jeopardised but this ultimately had driven him insane. In this action it is clear that the quality that he possessed at this point in time was desire. Other factors to his personality did play a part in his fate and this did include confidence where he didn’t show as much as he should from the battle field to the predicament he was in. The audience could understand how mentally unconfident he was when talking to his wife who had made Macbeth feel that it was mandatory to do what the needed to do to reach his goals. This was all because of what the three witches had declared Macbeths future which had tested Macbeths confidence when he confronted with this information. They also played a part in making Macbeth feel that is was his obligation to become the King.
Macbeth had another weakness which was love where he was passionate about Lady Macbeth and admired her greatly. Lady Macbeth also played a big role in convincing Macbeth about the deeds that he would have to carry out to excel his current status to King. His conscience didn’t play a large part in his scheme until he had killed Duncan where the then felt remorse for his wrong doings. His conscience was one of the main factors that had driven him to his insanity and eventually his guilt. Macbeth states ‘We still have judgement here’ this does give the audience that there is an element of true guilt as he was concerned about the aftermath of what he had done. Soon after he had reached the status of King he was being haunted by the spirit of Banquo at the banquette and this is the part where it is obvious that the pressure and insecurity of the murder of Duncan had made Macbeth insane.
Macbeth has a various number of features which had helped him to become King but at the cost of his dearest friend but it can be seen that he had no ethics in what he did. He was in a state of a rampage when killing one person after another. For example giving the order to kill the guard’s who had the king’s blood on his hands to cover up the murder he had committed. He didn’t stop at anything to make sure that he wasn’t suspected of murder. The audience can understand that Macbeth is the type who is reckless in his actions and cold in his actions. This can be backed up by his comment ‘O, yet I do repent of my fury that I did kill them’. He then continued his unforgiving behaviour by executing any of those who he felt were not loyal to him. His best friend was then becoming suspicious of Macbeth therefore he did not hesitate eliminating him to make sure there were not any complications in his actions. But all of this was climaxing to a great ending where the audience were thinking was there ever going to be an end to his terrible actions. But Macbeth made a huge mistake in killing Macduff’s wife and child which indisputably made Macduff angry and lusted for revenge. Macduff who was a worthy opponent for Macbeth challenged him to a battle to seek revenge for what Macbeth had done to him. Macduff showed no mercy and then beheaded Macbeth.
In my opinion I do believe that it is very hard to predict whether Macbeth would have killed Duncan in the first place as it was is ambition in the first place to become king. The prophecy from the three witches could have jus sped p the thought process of the scheme of becoming king as soon as possible. In conclusion it can be argued that the death of Duncan might not have stemmed from what the witches had said but could have arisen from Macbeth’s inner feelings. But the witches did give Macbeth false hope when they said to him ‘The power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth’. There was another point where the witches had given Macbeth hope but knew it meant something totally different to what Macbeth had interpreted it as. The witches then had said that ‘Macbeth shall never be vanquish’d until great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him’. Macbeth naturally had thought how can a forest come against him but it was in fact a clever plot constructed by Macduff to conceal how many men were actually coming towards Macbeth’s castle. Macduff had done this by cutting parts of the wood and making his soldiers hold them as they approached the castle to make sure that neither Macbeth nor any of his men could figure out how many soldiers there were.
Macbeth is seen to be an over confident man as he didn’t completely contemplate what the witches had meant by what they said and this then led Macbeth to his death. The audience are already aware that Macbeth has completely lost control to make a moral judgement as he killed Duncan who he was loyal to and respected immensely and then went crazy. But this was only half the story as his wife who was his foundation had died and he saw his foundations crumble before his feat as he wasn’t sure what the next step to take. But Macbeth felt no remorse when she had died because he had felt that life had no meaning but he had no guidance which worried him. Macbeth commented ‘we still have judgement here’ gives an idea of what was going on in Macbeth’s head as he knew that being caught was almost imminent and he was afraid of this happening. Another point where the audience can distinguish that Macbeth was feeling uncertain is when he was about to kill Duncan because he had made a remark saying ‘If we should fail?’. But he is also scared what he is about to do to Duncan someone will do to him as he says ‘his even handed justice commends th’ingredience of our poison’d chalice to our lips.’
I do believe that if Macbeth did not comprehend the consequences and the physiological that would have followed his actions and I do believe that if he did he would have reconsidered what he had done in the first place. He was feeling guilty and to back this up he had continuously said ‘sleep no more’ this gives us an indication that he knew that with all this stress on his shoulders he wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore. Macbeths continued paranoia had got the best of him as he obviously couldn’t sleep because he had thought what he had done to Duncan could happen to him while he sleeps he sees this as an area of weakness where anyone can strike. But this lack of sleep can also contribute to his paranoia as his mind hasn’t the energy to think properly in its deprived state. When someone says ‘I’m not going to get my hands dirty,’ means that they do not want anything to do with it. But Macbeth took this a step further as the blood of Duncan was on his hands until he washed them but in his mind he still cannot rid his hands which was the deceit and murder which he had committed. This comment could be backed up by Macbeth saying ‘With all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No’. As the play draws to an end Macbeth has been totally consumed by his guilt and has lost his mind he can barely make himself understand that he is in reality and he refers to himself as an ‘actor’ and nothing in life and not life itself has no meaning.
Macbeth had both the positive and negative features to his personality which had enabled him to get him where he was. His past experience on the battle field gave him that edge in killing someone but he had never been prepared for killing someone who he had held close to him as a friend and a loyal soldier to his king. But because of his ambitions and did what he did it had forced him to become paranoid, feeling guilty and mentally unstable. But it was mainly the conscience of Macbeth which had led him to his death but without this factor I do believe that he could have lived a lot longer as king. His time as king was short lived which brings me to my conclusion that it is almost inhumane to commit a murder without the side affect and Macbeth should have taken this into consideration before he killed his friend Duncan.
