Who is responsible for the death of Duncan?

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'Macbeth'

By William Shakespeare

Essay- who is responsible for the death of Duncan?

In this essay, I set out to evaluate the killing of Duncan and find out who is responsible. I will expose the role of each character during the killing and develop this further. The characters I will be assessing are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the three witches. The witches play an important role in the play and put a lot of impact on Macbeth towards the killing.

The opening scene of Macbeth implies evil and the word evil, is bonded to the whole play. Shakespeare opens the play dramatically and with great intensity. This easy for Shakespeare as his audience would believe the witches to be agents of the devil. To prove that Shakespeare's audience did believe in witches, they had regular witch-hunts to get rid of their 'evil influence.' Many innocent women were accused of being witches and burnt at the stake. Also, the audience see the witches before the humans, which sets the evil mood/atmosphere throughout the play. The witches are strong and powerful by the way the witches speak they speak in verse. Their lines sound like chants, for example, the first section in scene three is wound up with a charm...

'Thrice to thine and thrice to mine

And thrice again, to make up nine.'

The number three and multiples have a magical significance in demonology.

They speak in riddles and paradoxes, for example, 'Fair is foul and foul is fair.' We are convinced by this by the way Shakespeare uses his language and the great impact the witches have on the audience when they enter the scene. The witches are so powerful, that in scene 3, they can even control the weather ('I'll give thee a wind') and they hint at things to come...

'Sleep shall neither night or day

Hang upon his penthouse lid.'

When the first audience see the witches in scene one, they are shocked and to a certain extent, are scared.

When the stage first opens, there is thunder and lightning, and the air is not only 'foggy', but also 'filthy'. Then the three witches appear. They plan to meet again...

'In thunder, lightning or in rain.'

They will meet...

'When the hurlyburly's done,

When the battle is lost and won.'

How can this be, the battle can either be lost or it can either be won, it cannot be both. They decide to meet with Macbeth upon the heath.
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The witches mention Macbeth in line 8, so early in the play, which clearly states that the witches are up to no good and they are set out to cause chaos and disorder. We know not know why Macbeth is mentioned, why they plan to meet him or what they want from him but we do know that somehow he is connected to the witches and will end in doing no good.

Shakespeare creates a hero in scene two who is praised by the Sergeant, the lords and none other than the king himself. Duncan awaits news ...

This is a preview of the whole essay