To Believe, or Not to Believe

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, trust becomes a hard thing to come by. Shortly after the witches speak to Macbeth and Banquo of their prophecies, the element of trust begins to degenerate until it becomes completely abolished. Characters that demonstrate good faith are no longer trustworthy unbeknownst to the person who has trust in them. These different extremes of trust clash, resulting in undesirable consequences for a multitude of characters.

King Duncan and Macbeth’s relationship is a prominent circumstance in which the disintegration of trust is apparent. Soon after Macbeth hears his prophecy of becoming Thane of Cawdor and king, Macbeth moves up in nobility when King Duncan promotes him to Thane of Cawdor. “What, can the devil speak true?” (Act 1, Scene 2) Exclaimed by Banquo, he is surprised the witches, devilish creatures, told them the truth. In the beginning of the play, the element of trust is consistent and how it should be, but as time goes on, things begin to change. While promoting Macbeth establishes Duncan’s growing trust in Macbeth and further cements his relationship with him, it does not do the same for Macbeth. For Macbeth, this becomes an opportunity to get rid of the King so that he may sit upon the throne just as the prophecy states. To ensure his future, Macbeth finds an opportune moment to murder the king when he stays in his home. Almost immediately, a disturbance in trust becomes apparent. Not only are people panicking, but they are also aghast by whom could commit such a heinous crime. When people begin to become suspicious of Duncan’s sons, because they are next in line for the throne, they flee. Even though they have done nothing previously to warrant these assumptions, they are now untrustworthy. ...

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...e is evolving and becoming more confident in himself. Similar to the situation with Banquo, Macbeth alone makes the decision to slaughter Macduff’s family. The more Macbeth kills, the surer of himself he becomes. By the end of the play, Macbeth has completely changed. The trust he has in himself drastically parallels his sense of self he had in the beginning. Relying less on others, most notably his wife, and more on himself, Macbeth becomes self-reliant.

Giving prophecies to Macbeth and Banquo is the catalyst of the disruption of trust. In relation to trust: King Duncan’s trust in Macbeth is not reciprocated resulting in his death, Banquo’s mistrust in Macbeth results in his own death, and Macbeth’s increased trust in himself leads to many deaths, including his own. The witches’ prophecies have a ripple effect of detriment to all the relationships within Macbeth.