An Interview with the Main Character of Macbeth

Why did you let the witches and your wife influence you?

Well, you have to understand that she IS my wife and she wanted the best for me it seemed. But now I realize that I never should have listened to her. I should have left it to fate and been content with the position of Thane of Cawdor for the time. The witches also were only playing with my mind and making me believe that I had to kill to become king when it would have happened eventually. The witches wanted all of this to happen, because they wanted to create havoc and misery. By telling me I was to be king, it set off a whole chain of events that resulted in my life being destroyed.

When King Duncan declared his eldest son, Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland, the next king, how did you feel?

I was confused. I started to think of all the ways I could become king when King Duncan had already declared Malcolm to become king. I could not think of a suitable way then my wife came to me with the idea to murder Duncan. I was unsure, this was not the way the witches told it, but she said she would commit the murder herself. When Duncan arrived, I hated the idea of killing my king and cousin and tried to make he see sense but in the end it was I who killed Duncan.

Why were you not satisfied with being Thane of Cawdor and wait on fate, rather than forcing fortune by taking so much action yourself?

Well, I suppose that it was because power is so tempting. I wanted everything that I could possibly have at that time, and I was willing to get it in any way possible, even though it drove me wild. Thane of Cawdor is a very high position and I was satisfied with it but the prospect of being king was there and I wanted it all.

What was it like to kill someone? What went through y...

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... them so much and wanted to keep them. Both of these people did it for their own gain, jus like me. Tanya had people to influence her, like Lady Macbeth did to me. We all fell prey to ambition, greed and jealousy.

Why, when you showed reluctance to act, you allowed Lady Macbeth to pressure you into acts of cupidity as she accuses you of being less than a man.

Of that, I am not entirely sure. I believe that it is because she is my wife and I trusted her. I thought that she could be an advisor for me, someone who could help me make that right choices for myself, and my country. I showed reluctance, but she told me I had to, that great rewards would come from killing Duncan. I wish that I had gone with my first instinct, what I thought then, because it would have made my life so much easier, and I may have come to have the position of king in a non-brutal way.