Who was too blame for the murder of King Duncan?

Who was too blame for the Murder of King Duncan? There are four major factors in the murder Lady Macbeth, Fate, the Witches and Macbeth himself.

Macbeth himself committed the murder of Duncan so of course has some of the blame for the murder. His ambition and his thrust also made him do the crime. For Macbeth when the bait was dangled in front of him he could not resist taking a bite for when he knew that he had been made Thane of Cawdor and one prophecy had come true he wanted the next prophecy to also be true. At the point Macbeth is told he will be Thane of Cawdor by the witches there is dramatic irony because the audience already know Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor and he doesn’t. When Macbeth wanted to back out his wife curses him so he goes through with it. Macbeth is to blame for Duncan’s murder but not completely. After Duncan’s murder his sons flee and Macbeth is declared king, Macbeth turns untrustworthy and knowing that Banquo’s kindred will someday be king Macbeth kills him, but Banquo’s son Fleance lives and gets away. Macbeth then proceeds to kill the assassins. That night, Macbeth begins his first step in his spiral towards madness. His murderous treachery continues until he reaches the castle of Macduff. Macbeth and his soldiers butcher Macduff’s wife and children. So sealing Macbeth’s fate.

Because of the time the play was written, maybe Macbeth represents a small part in King James Ist, James’s wariness his distrusting manner, for it is common knowledge that after (and before) The Gunpowder Plot James always wore full armor under his clothes.

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The play is symbolically riddled with the phrase “Fair is foul, foul is fair.” Meaning that appearances can be deceiving e.g. Lady Macbeth hiding behind her façade of beauty and simple minded charm, when underneath she is a woman who can seize the moment, the time, a cold blooded killer. The witches also hide behind something, they refuse to hide themselves so they place hidden meaning in their words. Deceiving and destroying they are in essence everything a ‘witch’ was at the time the play was written.

Lady Macbeth is one of the main factors in Duncan’s murder as she consistently rips Macbeth apart and originally put the idea into Macbeth’s head. She consistently criticizes Macbeth and puts him down. When Macbeth originally writes to Lady Macbeth telling of the Witches and their prophecies she is full of an intense ambition and when she hears of King Duncan’s visit she is teeming with an awesome desire and urge to be Queen. She calls upon the witches of whom she has never seen nor heard speak and she tells them to fill her to the brim with evil. Later on in the play (Act 1 scene 7) when Macbeth flinches from killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth says ‘Does unmake… done to this’ lines 54-59 she says that she would rather batter her child’s brains out just after it has suckled from her. This shows how far she wishes to go to reach her ambition.

The witches are also to blame for putting the ideas and aspirations into Macbeth’s head. They manipulate him like a puppet using him for their own pleasures and plans. The witches are horrible creatures to look at and use this to their advantage. Whenever the Witches are around the weather is stormy and this represents evil. Dramatically the Witches are very important because at the time the play was written King James Ist and VIth was very into witchcraft and they represent everything people felt about the at the time, mystery, evil, destructiveness and fear.

Maybe Duncan himself is to blame for his murder because in one version of Macbeth (Macbeth on the estate) he represents a once mighty drug baron now gone completely to seed. In another version (Roman Polanski) he is depicted as an old king and in the Judi Dench version he is shown as a God worshipping old man who can barely walk by himself. Duncan also leaves himself open to attack by being to trusting, this is shown at the start of the play when Duncan is looking over the body of the Thane of Cawdor and he says that he trusted Cawdor. So Duncan doesn’t really help himself.

The witches of course

But nobody can beat fate, Macbeth is slain by the witches deception, their pure evil and his own thirst for blood. Macbeth’s wife is killed by her ambition, but how did these two people meet? Fate. Macbeth’s secret desire and savageness married with his wife’s ambition and drive brought these two to a deserved, fateful death.

By Tom Ealey