At the end of act 1 scene 1 the witches use opposites: “fair is foul and foul is fair “, this is known as a paradox; the use of opposites to create an effect on the reader or audience. This introduces us to the idea that good characters may be good on the outside but on the outside they may have bad intentions. This is used to prepare us for the characters of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth who lead Duncan to believe they care for him just before they kill him. Shakespeare uses this theme of appearance versus reality in a lot of his plays.
Just before Macbeth enters the stage the witches are seen chanting a spell on Macbeth’s future: “Peace! The charm’s wound up”, this consolidates the connection between Macbeth and the witches. The use of the word ‘peace’ is ironic because the information the witches give to Macbeth causes a lot of chaos and havoc, it definitely doesn’t give him peace.
In act 1 scene 3 the witches meet Macbeth, they mention three prophecies which confuse Macbeth! “all hail Macbeth! Hail to thee thane of Glamis”, “all hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor. “All hail Macbeth! Thou shalt be king here after”. This confuses Macbeth because he doesn’t understand how he can be Thane of Cawdor or King because they both already are alive. The language the witches use is known as the language of equivocation because it is purposefully misleading, they probably did this on purpose to get him thinking about killing the king.
The witches are to blame for the death of Duncan because they give him the idea that he could become king and also because they might have already had Macbeth’s future mapped out for him.
Lady Macbeth is the boss of the two in the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, she is the one that devises all of their plans to kill King Duncan: “O never shall sun that morrow see”. This shows that Lady Macbeth has made the decision that king Duncan will die that day. Shakespeare uses sibilance to show Lady Macbeth’s sly and sinister plans for the death of King Duncan.
Part of Lady Macbeth’s plan is to criticise Macbeth by telling him he is a ‘coward’. It dents his confidence and makes him feel weak and useless, which pushes him towards killing Duncan.
Lady Macbeth has ruthless ambitions, which means she will do anything to get what she wants, for example: “I’d pluck my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash the brains out”. This provides evidence that Lady Macbeth would kill her own child, just to become queen. This shows how evil she is. The violent imagery is just as shocking to today’s audience as what it was to Shakespeare’s.
Lady Macbeth is to blame for the death of Duncan because she forces Macbeth to do something that he thinks is wrong. She knows that men don’t like people calling them cowards because they look weak and powerless.
At the start of the play Macbeth is introduced in the opening scene by the witches announcing their intentions to meet Macbeth, this makes the audience suspicious before we even meet Macbeth. In act 1 scene 2 Macbeth is praised by king Duncan who refers to him as “brave” and “worthy”, this gives us a mixed view on the character before we even meet him. The captain describes Macbeth as a “courageous” soldier who is ruthless on the battlefield: “disdaining fortune, with his brandish steel”. This shows that Macbeth was a violent soldier in the war and was unafraid to use his sword to kill. This also shows that he has the potential and ability to kill men quite easily.
Macbeth has to accept some blame for the death of Duncan, not only because he killed him but also because of his inquisitive reaction to the witches’ prophecies: “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more”. This demanding reaction contrasts with Banquo’s, because Banquo is suspicious of the witches’ intentions. Whereas Macbeth is very aggressive demanding they stay to tell him more details.
Shakespeare presents Macbeth as an unusual character because while he is strong and ruthless on the battlefield he cannot stand up to his wife. When Macbeth decides, “we will proceed no further in this business”. He shows strength but is easily manipulated by Lady Macbeth. If he refused to listen to his wife and continued doing what he thought was right then King Duncan may have survived.
Shakespeare uses the dramatic device, a soliloquy, to allow the character Macbeth to reveal his feelings to the audience. In act 1 scene 7 we learn about Macbeth’s reasons for killing Duncan. He tells us “I have no spur to prik the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition”. This shows he has nothing to spur his intention except the ambition and it is this ambition that drives him to kill Duncan. This shows that he is becoming more ruthless as he is willing to kill somebody just for ambition.
In act 2 scene 1 Shakespeare uses the soliloquy again to show Macbeth’s procrastination: “Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand?”. This shows his uncertainty because he doesn’t know whether the dagger is a supernatural omen guiding him towards king Duncan, or a symbol of his guilty conscience reminding him that it is the wrong thing to do.
The most obvious reason for Macbeth being the one to blame for the death of Duncan is because he is the one that physically kills him.
I think that all of the characters above are to blame for the death of king Duncan because the witches lead Macbeth to believe he can be king and give him confidence. I think lady Macbeth is to blame because she was telling Macbeth to kill king Duncan, then calling him a coward when he mentioned not wanting to kill Duncan. Finally Macbeth is to blame the most because he is the one in the end that physically killed Duncan.
