This assumption is clarified in the next scene at a camp near the battlefield. A wounded captain and the Thane of Ross enter in turn to report to King Duncan the outcome of the battles. In both battles, the opposing forces have the Scottish outnumbered, but Macbeth almost single-handedly wins the War for Scotland. The Thane of Cawdor is later discovered to be a traitor so is captured and executed in a further scene; what remains of the opposing forces are either driven off or killed. King Duncan tells Ross to award the courageous fighter Macbeth with the title, Thane of Cawdor.
In the next scene Macbeth and Banquo, on their way to the king’s court at Forres, come upon the sight of the 3 witches. The witches hail Macbeth as thane of Glamis (his original title) and as thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is confused but intrigued by this second title, as (at this point) he had not yet heard of Duncan’s decision. The witches also declare that Macbeth will be king one day. The audience will probably now wonder how he will achieve this, either by him gaining the crown due to the king’s unforeseen death or by the kings deliberate murder.
Macbeth then presses the witches for more information, showing anxiety or the need to know more about his power fuelled future, but they have turned their attention to Banquo, speaking in yet more riddles. They call Banquo “lesser than Macbeth, and greater,” and “not so happy, yet much happier”; then they tell him that he will never be king but that his children will sit upon the throne (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 63–65). Macbeth implores the witches to explain what they meant by calling him thane of Cawdor, but they vanish into thin air.
Macbeth and Banquo, in disbelief, discuss the strange encounter but their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Ross and Angus. Ross tells Macbeth that the king has made him thane of Cawdor (as the former thane is to be executed for treason). Macbeth, amazed that the witches’ prophecy has come true, begins to ponder. He wonders whether the reign will simply fall to him or whether he will have to perform a completely immoral act in order to gain the crown. This causes the audience to simply question their previous assumption of Macbeth, whether he is going to kill the king and go against the will of god or whether he will gain the throne through random chance. The audience may also begin to wonder how Macbeth and Banquo’s relationship will change due to this and how this will affect Macbeth’s character.
The next key moment where Macbeth’s character begins to change again is shown by the speech at the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7. Macbeth paces by himself, pondering his idea of assassinating Duncan. He says that the deed would be easy if there were no consequences. He shows he is willing to risk it but realises that; in his words, “Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return. To plague the inventor” (Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 9–10). This shows that he has the ability and the willpower to kill Duncan but at this point is still scared of the consequences.
He then considers the reasons why he ought not to kill Duncan: Macbeth is Duncan’s kinsman, subject, and host; in addition to this he has just won a battle for him. The King has presented him with a new title and as Macbeth says, “He hath honour'd me of late”. The king is also universally admired as a virtuous ruler. Macbeth compiles the evidence and decides to face the fact that there is no reason to kill the king other than his own ambition. This gives the audience a temporary restoration of their faith in Macbeth; they would conclude he is doing the right thing, despite what the witches have said.
But just as the audience readjust, Lady Macbeth enters and tells her husband that the king has dined and has been asking for him. Macbeth then boldly and expectantly declares that he no longer intends to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth, outraged at this remark, calls him a coward and proceeds to question his manhood: “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 49) she says. He asks her what will happen if they fail; she says that if he is courageous then they shall not fail.
She then tells him her plan: while Duncan sleeps, she will give his guards wine to make them drunk, so that then Macbeth can slip in and murder Duncan. She will then smear the blood of Duncan on the sleeping guards to frame them and leave Macbeth seemingly innocent. Macbeth tells his wife that her “undaunted mettle” makes him hope that she will only give birth to male children (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 73). He then agrees to proceed with the murder. The audience’s temporary faith in Macbeth is shattered upon the clarification that he will kill Duncan. A contemporary audience would have blamed this decision on the witches influence but a modern one would blame his blatant greed for power instead.
After the murder Macbeth was distressed, he had reservations before, during, and immediately after the murder. After the deed he admitted fearing to see the corpse or even to think of what he had done (Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 51-52). The question the audience now ask themselves is this: Why did Macbeth do something that he wasn't 100% in favour of doing? Was it the influence of his and his wife's ambitions, or the witches' predictions? Whatever the answer, Macbeth has gone from being a brave and patriotic warrior to being a regicidal, cold blooded murderer in the course of a ten minute scene.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Banquo’s relationship is as friends and comrades in arms, they are both Scottish patriots and loyal defenders of King Duncan and his kingdom. The first description we hear of them as a pair tells us how fiercely they had recently fought together to defeat the enemy on the battlefield.
Shortly after this, Macbeth and Banquo, together, encounter the witches on the heath where Macbeth hears their prophecy for the first time. Banquo reacts as a friend would at the sound of Macbeth's promising future, and then seeks to know his own future. But Banquo, suspicious or possibly jealous, warns Macbeth of danger, explaining that the witches may not be trustworthy.
By the end of Act 1, Banquo still relates to Macbeth as his friend and vice versa, although Banquo does pick up on some strangeness in Macbeth's behaviour. He quite normally just assumes it is merely a reaction to his new honour (Thane of Cawdor). Macbeth and Banquo maintain their friendship into Act 2, but when Banquo says “I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters; to you they have show'd some truth”. Macbeth replies: “I think not of them”, Macbeth lies but tells Banquo that he would like to discuss them further.
Macbeth then seeks to draw Banquo closer to him, inviting him to join with him when the time comes for him to become king. The audience, knowing that Macbeth is now a liar as well as a murderer, have lost all trust in him. They wonder why Macbeth has tried to persuade Banquo to joins his royal cause. Is he using him or does he simply want to keep him quiet, whatever his reason, he has aroused suspicion with both the audience and Banquo.
Macbeth's evil deed causes him to suffer from fear and guilt, which leads to even more evil crimes. Macbeth begins to become paranoid, suffering from hallucinations and sleeplessness. He becomes even less ‘human’ as he tries to establish his manhood once again, mainly due to the pressure form Lady Macbeth before the Murder of Duncan. His ruthlessness in killing Banquo and Macduff's family shows how far he is willing to go to prove his manliness and how much of an influence Lady Macbeth really is. He has no remorse or regret when Banquo is killed but at the Banquet scene he sees his ghost, this is a sign that his mind is still troubled. Although he now has the will to kill innocents and friends, he still lacks the mind to cope with the guilt.
At this point in the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s start changing. While he grows bolder and his conscience gets a smaller influence on him, Lady Macbeth begins to despair, “Naught’s had; all’s spent,” she says (Act 3, Scene 2, Line 6). It is hard to believe that the woman who now attempts to talk her husband out of committing more murders is the same one who earlier encouraged her husband to overrule and disown the will of god. Both characters are shocked and disappointed that possessing the crown has not rid them of trouble or gained them any happiness, just caused more bloodshed. The language that they use is full to the brim with imagery suggestive of suspicion, paranoia, and inner turmoil, for example Macbeth’s line “full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife” (Act 3, Scene 2, Line 37).
The use of dramatic devices would have been excessively used in Shakespeare’s time, although the settings would not have been hugely accurate or convincing the story would incapacitate the audience due to its themes. The fact that the characters lines project so much imagery would be enough for a contemporary audience. However to a modern audience the storyline would be less believable so the use of props and special effects would be needed to enhance their experience. The main image that needed to be portrayed in 1606 was Burnham woods moving, that would have convinced an audience that Macbeth’s reign of terror was over as the Witches predictions had been fulfilled.
Nearing the end of the play, Macbeth sends murderers to kill Banquo and Macduff’s family, this shows the ‘transformation’ is complete, his conscience had been locked up and the key thrown away, nothing anyone says changes his perception of his own actions. The fact Macbeth has the brawl to send people to kill his former friends and comrades shows how brutal and perverted his thoughts are now. Lady Macbeth’s suicide seems to do nothing to Macbeth, emotionally he is unchanged, he just shrugs it off. In a way he is to blame, if at the beginning of the play he had refused to kill the king, then she would have retained her sanity and not have been driven to kill herself.
Macbeth’s death at the end of the play fulfils the witches’ prophecy. Burnham woods come to Dunsinane and ‘no man born of a women’ killed Macbeth, although Macduff did kill Macbeth, he was not ‘born’ by the literal meaning, he was born by caesarean section, he says Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb, untimely ripp'd (Act 5, Scene 8, Lines 16 and 17). Making him the only man in the play that can kill Macbeth. Personally I think the play exploits people’s beliefs at the time personally and portrays the inner turmoil of a now deranged man perfectly, as the curtains close on Macbeth’s life, the audience feel no remorse, Macbeth has finally got what he deserves, an end to his life.
