How is Macbeth persuaded to kill Duncan?

Macbeth was written in about 1605 and performed at Hampton Court in 1606 for King James I and his brother-in-law, King Christian of Denmark. It was premiered at The Globe Theatre like most of Shakespeare's plays. There can be little doubt that aspects of the play were intended to please James I, who was by this time the patron of Shakespeare's theatre group. For example, the character of Banquo, the legendary root of the Stuart family tree, is depicted very favourably, perhaps to please the king (a Stuart). The play is quite short, possibly because Shakespeare knew that James preferred short plays, and contains a supernatural element that James, who himself published a book on witches and how to detect them, would have appreciated.

The material for the play was drawn from a real account in Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, but Shakespeare and subsequent readers and editors classified it as a tragedy, not a history. This is perhaps due to the fact that the story contains many fabrications, including the entirely fictional character of Banquo. In addition to these fictionalizations, Shakespeare took many liberties with the original story, including manipulating the characters of Macbeth and Duncan to suit his purposes – pleasing King James. In Holinshed's account, Macbeth is a ruthless and valiant leader who, after killing Duncan, rules competently and fairly for many years, while Duncan is a young and soft-willed man, not a particularly good ruler. Shakespeare heightens certain aspects of these characters in order to create a polarity between them, making Duncan out to be a respected, kindly older king and changing Macbeth into a younger, indecisive, troubled man who could not possibly rule well.

Macbeth is certainly full of fabrications. However, there are other reasons why this play is considered a tragedy rather than a history. Rather than illustrating a specific historical moment, Macbeth presents a human drama of ambition, desire, and guilt. In the play, Macbeth speaks soliloquies that articulate the emotional and intellectual anxieties that all readers have felt at times. For all his lack of values and "vaulting ambition," Macbeth is a character who seems infinitely real to audience members. This power to reach viewers is perhaps what has made Macbeth such a popular play for centuries of viewers.

Before I Analyse the persuasion of Macbeth, I shall take the time to summarise the occurrences leading up to the killing of Duncan. By doing this I hope to set the scene for the issues I plan to raise.

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The play takes place in Scotland. Duncan, the king of Scotland, is at war with the king of Norway, and as the play opens, he learns of Macbeth's bravery in battle against a Scot who sided with Norway. At the same time, he hears of the treachery of the Thane of Cawdor, who was arrested. Duncan decides to give the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth. Macbeth and Banquo, traveling home from the battle, meet three witches, who predict that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland, and that Banquo will be the father of kings. The witches disappear, and Macbeth and Banquo meet up with two nobles who inform them of Macbeth's new title. Hearing this, Macbeth begins to contemplate murdering Duncan in order to realize the witches' second prophecy.

Macbeth and Banquo meet up with Duncan, who tells them he is going to pay Macbeth a visit at his home at Inverness. Macbeth rides ahead to prepare his household. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth informing her of the witches' prophesy and Macbeth's subsequent new title. A servant appears and tells her of Duncan's approach. Energized, she invokes supernatural powers to strip her of her feminine softness and prepare her to murder Duncan. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, Lady Macbeth tells him that she will take care of all the details of Duncan's murder.

Duncan arrives at Inverness, and Lady Macbeth greets him. Macbeth fails to appear, and Lady Macbeth goes to find him. He is in his room, contemplating the weighty and evil step of killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth taunts him, telling him he will only be a man when he kills Duncan, and that she herself has less softness in her character than he does. She then tells him her plan for the murder, and Macbeth accepts it: they will kill him while his drunken bodyguards sleep, then plant incriminating evidence on the bodyguards.

In act 2, Macbeth has a vision of a bloody dagger floating before him and leading him to Duncan's room. When he hears Lady Macbeth ring the bell to signal the completion of her preparations, Macbeth follows through with his part of the plan and leaves for Duncan's room.

We certainly know that the direct responsible for Duncan’s death is Macbeth. However this does not necessarily mean he is to blame, for his violent death is obviously the consequence of certain influences that forced Macbeth to perform his fatal deed. Furthermore, to unearth the truth about who is really the guilty for Duncan’s murder we must explore the influences the different characters have on Macbeth’s impulses and the overall scenario of the slaying.

Firstly, we shall consider Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, as they are the two who planned and performed the murder. Although after the witches told Macbeth that he was to be king and he was burning in desire to be so he, on first instance, decided that if fate had determined that he was to be the sovereign of Scotland he shouldn’t try to be reach the throne by his own actions, that it would come eventually: “If Chance will have me king, why, Chance may crown me, without my stir”. However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility on Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status of woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not being the strong, valiant man he is on battle with her wife and standing before those childish yet effective arguments she used, Lady Macbeth is the immediate cause for Macbeth’s actions.

Nonetheless we must do the same with Lady Macbeth as we did for his husband, look at the causes for her actions. When we meet Lady Macbeth after she finishes reading Macbeth’s letter we know immediately that she is determined to be the queen of Scotland (“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised.”) So at the same time the cause for Macbeth’s action of killing the king was caused directly by Lady Macbeth, the reason for her wish is because of Macbeth. Even thou it seems like a circular argument we find an outlet for it when we consider the responsibility of the witches.

An important question every serious reader of Macbeth will probably ask himself at one point is, would Macbeth have killed Duncan and become king if the witches hadn’t tell him he would? Even though we do not get to know Macbeth before he is revealed such crucial prophecy we have no indication to think that he had serious aspirations to the throne before that. Yet it seems as if “The Sisters of Destiny” knew that if they made Macbeth aware of his fate he would by instinct seek for the throne. This means their prophecy cannot be considered a true, complete one, as it needs its own existence to be fulfilled. If we try to look, once again, for the motive of the witches’ revelation we reach a dead end. Apparently the witches do so without an aim or reason at all, fact which adds to the great mystery of the witches sensed both by the readers and the characters in the play itself. We find in the witches’ attitude to twist things around, in this case Macbeth’s honourable arms man life, the start of the chain of events that lead to Duncan’s death as Banquo did foresee: “The instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence.”

The other side of the coin must also be explored in order to get a broader idea of who is to blame for the regicide that is perpetrated, this is, the reasons why the murder was not avoided.

Banquo can be held partially responsible for the death of Duncan because even though he knew about the prophecy and had conscience of Macbeth’s desire for the throne he did nothing to either change Macbeth’s attitude or protect the king, reaching the point of even disguising Macbeth’s ambitious stand: “New honours come upon him like our strange garments, cleave nor to their mould but with the aid of use”, excusing Macbeth’s seemingly awkward attitude to Angus and Rosse.

Finally, one last culpable for Duncan’s death is Duncan himself. His own blind trust in the members of his court even though one of them had all ready betrayed him is what doomed him. Ironically when Duncan refers to the original Thane of Cawdor after he was told of his execution: “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face: he was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust”, he is unconsciously referring to other Thane of Cawdor as well, this is, Macbeth, as if this was what he would have said after his own murder. The crucial mistake Duncan made was to trust “the same person” twice, the Thane of Cawdor. This fault was fatal as it proved to be later on.

In conclusion we can say that the witches are the main individuals to blame for the regicide as they started the series of events that eventually lead to the death of King Duncan by hand of Macbeth, induced by her wife who was blinded by her thirst for power. In addition Duncan is also responsible for his own decease for he wasn’t able to learn from his previous error of trusting the Thane of Cawdor who finds the avengement of his death when Macbeth takes the life of his executioner by decree.