As the witches are leaving MacBeth demands “stay you imperfect speaker, tell me more!” the imperfect sums up the witches speech as it doesn’t make complete sense in MacBeth’s mind, the quote also tells us me that MacBeth must be interested in what the witches have to say and wants to now more about it because MacBeth has always wanted to be king. I think that because he is so intrigued in what the witches have to say that he is actually serious enough about being king that he might do it, it is as if the witches have predicted everything MacBeth has ever wanted.
Now the strong image of MacBeth being an untouchable, brave, hero is starting to diminish. We are now starting to see flaws in his character that could have dramatic changes in what happens to Duncan. At this point in the play we are starting to wonder if MacBeth is strong enough to fight for what he feels is right. MacBeth is unsure on whether to believe the witches or not. The witches told him that he was the thane of Glamis that he will soon become the thane of Cawdor and then that he will be the king thereafter. MacBeth was told by Duncan that he was to be knighted as the than of Cawdor meaning that all that is left for him which was predicted be the witches is to become king. Maybe the becoming of thane of Cawdor was a coincidence to what the witches said or maybe they really were predicting the future MacBeth doesn’t know.
In scene four Duncan tells us that he thinks “there’s no art to find the minds construction in the face”. Meaning that he trusted in the previous thane of Cawdor, this is also ironic because Duncan is not leaving from his mistakes and being to trusting of people, and now we as the audience know that the chances are that MacBeth is going to end up killing Duncan and he doesn’t have the faintest idea of what is going to happen. Duncan greets MacBeth with great admiration but MacBeth’s response is greatly overdone, almost acted out to try and slow as much thanks as possible, when really MacBeth isn’t thinking of how great it will be to be the thane of Cawdor, he is thinking of what it will be like to be King. Duncan promises MacBeth that he will have the utmost respect foe MacBeth and that he will always be grateful for all that he had done for him in battle. MacBeth accepts this even though he knows that Duncan will soon regret making the promises. Once MacBeth is declared the ** of Cawdor he is excited because he knows that he is working his way up the ladder and becoming closer to being King. MacBeth now seems almost determined to be King even if he has to kill Duncan to get there. When he is saying “star hide your fires!” he is finally coming to terms with what he is thinking of doing and is slightly startled by it.
When we first meet lady MacBeth she is reading his letter that he sent her, telling her of the encounter with the witches. This is showing that they have a very trusting relationship and that they tell each other everything. “This have I thought good to deliver thee my dearest partner of greatness” this is the quote taken from the letter which proves how close they are to each other. This letter tells of their secret, which they could have shared together, bringing them together and making them closer. The letter of tragedy (Death of Duncan) leads them both to misery “ Glamis thou art, and Cawdor and shalt be what thou art promised” the first suggestion of what MacBeth have been told to happen, as he progresses through the stages leading up to be King. In this quote lady MacBeth is referring to ‘the promise’ that MacBeth will kill Duncan although he really only suggests it. “Yet do fear thy nature, it is too full of the milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way” MacBeth admits he doesn’t think he can do it because he believes in the kindness of human nature. He doesn’t know if he is actually capable of doing such a thing. Lady MacBeth knows this because loves him for his kindness and the fact that he is a gentleman. This also means that she is now going to have to influence him or he may not go though with the killing. This is big change of attitude from Lady MacBeth. Before she read the letter she loved him for what he was, but now she loves him even more for what he will be. She will still have to manipulate him into doing something he doesn’t really want to do, “Hie the hither that I pour my spirits in thine ear” she replies. Meaning that she wants him to come home so can start persuading him to go though with the killing of Duncan. She thinks that he will listen to her and do anything she says because he loves her and she is convinced she can even persuade him to kill. Lady MacBeth wants to be queen so much that she is prepared to take away all of her womanly qualities to get what she wants. She quotes “Come you spirits that tend as mortal thoughts unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top milk of the direst cruelty”. Here she sounds like the evil witches who also put evil thoughts into MacBeth’s head and not at all like his wife. Lady MacBeth now knows that without all of her normal womanly qualities she wouldn’t be able to plan and help carry out the murder of Duncan.
As they greet each other “great Glamis” “My dearest love” it shows they are missing each other and having feelings for each other but also they are expressing their optimism of what is going to happen in the future. I think that when lady MacBeth says, “shall sun that morrow see! Your face my there is a book where men may read strange matter” she is saying excitedly to keep your cool because your face is like an open book so not to give the game away, but the what that she is saying it is as if she is more excited and more determined than MacBeth. When lady MacBeth starts to try to tell MacBeth the plan “you shall put these nights great business into my dispatch” and later she also tells him to “leave the rest to me” these are definite facts that lady MacBeth is in charge and calling the shots. Even now MacBeth still has minor doubts “we will speak further” he says showing that he is uncertain of what to do and needs think about it more. This is now the difference between them, lady MacBeth is certain this is what she wants to do but MacBeth is not.
The words of Duncan as he is entering the castle are that of “this castle haveth a pleasant seat, the air nimberly and sweet recommends itself into our gently senses” this is an example of dramatic irony because we as the audience know what MacBeth is planning but Duncan does not. There is also dramatic irony when lady MacBeth greets Duncan “all our service in every point twice done, and then done double” this is leading Duncan into a false sense of security and even though she is saying that she will treat him with respect and welcome him to stay in her and MacBeth’s castle she is really thinking of killing him. This makes us feel that lady MacBeth is sly, sneaky and devious. Duncan talks to lady MacBeth about MacBeth saying that he should be rewarded with highest honours by saying “we love him highly and shall continue our graces towards him”, lady MacBeth should be pleased by this but isn’t because all she can think about is her end target of her becoming Queen.
In the seventh scene MacBeth is discussing the reasons why he shouldn’t kill Duncan. He would do it if he thought it would be the end of it “but this blow might be the be-all and end-all here” but evidently he doesn’t think that it will be. He is considering the point of if its good enough for Duncan it must be good enough for him so he is wondering if someone would take revenge on him. “that we but teach bloody instructions” he would have taught his assassin. He feels that he is going against the rules of society by breaking Duncan’s trust for him as friend and family “he is here in double trust”, “I am his Kingsman and his subject” he should protect him as he is his guest. He knows that he shouldn’t kill Duncan because he is a good king “hath been so clear in his great office”. Back in the period when Shakespeare wrote this play people were very religious so the fact that MacBeth is going against the word of god would have caused a dramatic effect on the audience. “Upon the sightless couriers of the air shall blow the horrid deed in one’s eye” and finally the last reason why he believes that he shouldn’t kill Duncan is that there is no justification other than his own desire to be king “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself”. All of this makes us feel as if MacBeth does have a conscious and common sense, just that he is choosing to ignore them. MacBeth doesn’t seem to be ruthless he just seems to be confused and misled by the witches and lady MacBeth. Now Shakespeare is making the audience feel almost sorry for MacBeth because he is confused at this point and unsure about what to do but he is still being pressured by lady MacBeth into murdering Duncan when it is obvious that really he doesn’t want to. MacBeth is also confused because he is still wondering whether what the witches have said is true and if what they have predicted will come true.
After all of his consideration MacBeth tells lady MacBeth “we will proceed no further in this business” he seems sure that he isn’t going to go through with it however, lady MacBeth has other ideas. She is sure enough that Duncan should die for both them. She does several different things to change MacBeth’s mind, firstly she calls him a drunk “was the hope drunk” this is saying that he is a liar and only that he would go through with it if he was drunk, this is one of the many verbal attacks she makes on his manhood. She goes on to challenge his love for her “from this time such I account thy love” by saying that it means if he doesn’t go through with it that he doesn’t love him. She rhetorically asks him if he’s afraid “art thou afraid” this makes him want to kill Duncan to prove him wrong, he is a brave soldier that led his army to victory and he shouldn’t have to prove himself to anyone. She says this because she knows that it will hit a nerve with MacBeth and make him want to kill him. Lady MacBeth believes that if she had made such a promise she would never have gone back on it, she uses the outrageous example of, if she said that she would do it she would “have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed his brains out, had I so sworn as you” this crazy and very doubtful that she would have done this. She uses positive language to describe the end goal and not failing, she asks him another rhetorical question “we fail” as if there is no possible chance of it happening, as well as that the question is reflecting on what she really feels as if she is saying “if we fail we fail” because it is not her that will get the blame for it, straight after that to reinforce her it by telling him “and we’ll not fail” this is again the positive language coming through to give MacBeth confidence. Then to reinsure him again even further she suggests that they are a team “what cannot you and I perform upon th’unguarded Duncan?” she is doing this to lead him into a false sense of security because they aren’t a team because he is the one doing the killing. This tells us of what lady MacBeth has become and how manipulative she has become, she is again sounding evil like the witches. I think that MacBeth gives in too easy; all she has done is call him a coward and challenged his love for her. It is obvious that she is the stronger character. “I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat”. This is the weakest part of MacBeth and his motivation has now changed he is doing it because he is being challenged to do so. In his final line in the scene he says false face must hide what the false heart doth know” this is a reminder of lady MacBeth in when she asked spirits to take her milk.
MacBeth now in scene one act two is changing from the honourable hero to the assassin that will kill Duncan. He was once unable to lie and now his face is like an open book and can easily lie to Banquo “I think not of them” speaking of the witches when he has definitely been thinking about them. When Banquo speaks of the king, MacBeth is not affected by it at all. MacBeth is still troubled by what he is going to do because he is hallucinating about the dagger that he will use to stab Duncan. “Is that a dagger I see before me? The handle before my hand” it is as if the better side of him his good nature is trapped beneath his ambition of being king. He knows that what he’s is going to do is against all that is right because he calls it the “bloody business” because he doesn’t really want to think about it, but despite of this he drives himself on to kill Duncan against everything he used to believe in.
Considering all of the points that I have discussed in this essay I personally think that it could have only been MacBeth’s responsibility for Duncan’s death. Although he isn’t totally to blame he is the person that committed the offence, he didn’t have to listen to lady MacBeth’s persuasion tactics and could have stood up to her. He didn’t have to listen to the witches and take in their ideas for the future so that is why I would place the blame completely on him.
