Who Really Killed King Duncan: A Closer Reading on Macbeth
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, many of characters played significant roles in the death of King Duncan. While one of these characters’ actions could not be held responsible on its own, some of the characters are more responsible than others. The witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth all contribute to the brutal slaying of the beloved King Duncan. The witches’ manipulation, and the greed for power of Macbeth and lady Macbeth made it all too easy to commit the crime. Although many people would say Macbeth or Lady Macbeth are most responsible for Duncan’s death, the witches should in fact be the characters to blame. The witches did not physically pull the trigger so to speak, but they did
Lady Macbeth creates the murderous plan of killing King Duncan after receiving Macbeth’s letter about his encounter with the witches. Lady Macbeth does not think that Macbeth is strong enough to go through was such a devious plan, so she takes direct shots at Macbeth saying that he is a coward and constantly questions his manhood. Like every noble warrior out there, Macbeth certainly was not a fan of having his masculinity being humiliated. Lady Macbeth says, “wouldst thou esteem’s the ornament of life and live a coward in thine own esteem” (I. vii. 45-47), when verbally attacking Macbeth. Macbeth has a change of mind about going through with the murder of King Duncan after thinking of the negative snow ball effect that it might present. Instead of letting Macbeth go through with his change of mind, she pushes him even more into murdering King Duncan. Lady Macbeth tells him, “when you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were you would be so much more the man” (I. vii. 56-58), while convincing him that murdering Duncan will make him more masculine and powerful than he already was. After the murder takes place, Macbeth is so rattled by his actions that Lady Macbeth has to return the daggers to the scene of the crime for
As I mentioned earlier, Macbeth entered the encounter with the witches as a noble, trustworthy man. He left as someone completely unrecognizable to the man he once was. When the witches open up Macbeth’s mind to the possibilities of becoming the new King, they corrupt him and turn him into a murderer. While Lady Macbeth was the one who coursed him into the slaying of Duncan, it would not have been possible without her knowing of Macbeths discussion with the witches. At the beginning of their conversation, the third witch says, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I. iii. 53), and turns the idea of Macbeth becoming the king into a reality for him. The witches’ prophecies easily manipulate Macbeth and even lead him to see Banquo as a threat to his reign. The First and Second Witch tell Macbeth and Banquo, “lesser than Macbeth and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier” (I. iii. 68-69), while explaining that Macbeth will become king, however, Banquo’s children will take over and follow in Macbeth’s footsteps. Banquo is later killed in an attempt to take his son’s life to stop him from becoming king. Macbeth’s naïve personality dooms him during his encounter with the witches. Macbeth is unable to flush the idea of power from his mind, and it leads to a major downfall for him and the deaths of many
He was stunned and in shock that he had killed someone like King Duncan. Guilt surrounds Macbeth for the second time when he sends out the murderers to kill Banquo, his old friend. Macbeth had no other choice but to get rid of Banquo. Banquo witnessed the three witches and the prophecies. One prophecy was that his son would become king one day "To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings"(Acts 3:1 line 70).
This immediately makes him forget all his attempts of loosing his part in the killing, and from then on there was no moans or disagreements between the two, with her clearly taking leadership. With all this evidence one could conclude that Lady Macbeth is 'partly' responsible for the death of King Duncan because she was the sole planner of his murder, but Macbeth is always going to be the one holding the knife when it pierced Duncan's throat, so he will also always be slightly responsible for the murder as he committed it. Macbeth was naive and is simple used by Lady Macbeth as a tool, which can gain access to the male dominated court of the time. ' It takes two to tango' would be an appropriate motto to this story.
Not much further in the play, we see that Macbeth decides not to murder Duncan but rather, carry on serving as his Thane. However, Lady Macbeth starts her persuasion again, but this time she questions his manhood, saying "When you durst do it, then you were a man: And to be more then what you were you would be so much more the man." (1.7.49-51). Had she not challenged his manhood and his love for her, he would not have usurped the throne and she would not have become a Queen. Not only did she get him to think about the murder, she even knew what to say after he had started thinking about the murder.
After Lady Macbeth reads his letter and Macbeth arrives home, she is excited about becoming queen. She asks Macbeth when King Duncan is to be arriving and tells Macbeth to leave the plan up to her, his only job being that he has to look innocent and hide their true intentions. Macbeth seems to be stunned and nervous, telling his wife that they will talk later when she begins to tell him of her plan. In the seventh scene, at the castle, Macbeth speaks of the intense guilt he is feeling even before he is to kill Duncan; “… this even-handed justice/ Commends the ingredients of our poisoned/ Chalice to our own lips…” (1. 7. 10-12) (Shakespeare), “… He’s here in double trust…” (1. 7. 12) (Shakespeare), “… Besides, this Duncan/ Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been/ So clear in his great office…” (1. 7. 17-19)(Shakespeare) all express Macbeth’s discomfort with murdering Duncan to steal the throne. Not only does he convey these emotions during this monologue, but he does so when Lady Macbeth enters the room, saying “We will proceed no further in this business./ He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people…” (1. 7. 32-34) (Shakespeare). To respond to this, Lady Macbeth does what she does best: emasculating her husband. She first articulates her questioning of his manhood after she reads Macbeth’s letter in the first act when she says “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness…” (1. 5. 2-3) (Shakespeare), which contrasts with the heroic description the dying Captain gives of Macbeth in the opening scene. After Macbeth tells his wife that he is calling off the plan to kill King Duncan, she
Later in the play Banquo starts to have a bad feeling about Macbeth. "Thou hast it now: King, Cowdor, Glamis, all,/ as the weird women promised, and I fear/ thou play'dst most foully for `t." III i 1-3, this is a quote from Banquo explaining how he feels about Macbeth's predictions coming true. Macbeth realizes this about Banquo and he starts to have feelings about killing Banquo. This isn't the only reason he feels this way, the witches had also made predictions for Banquo. "Thou shall get kings, though thou be none." I iii 67, Macbeth doesn't want any of Banquo's family to rule Scotland; he wants his own family to continue to rule. Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his on Fleance. The murderers end up killing Banquo, but Fleance gets away.
When Macbeth became suspicious about Banquo knowing that he had killed Duncan, Macbeth ordered him and his son Fleance to be killed. Banquo was killed and Fleance escaped, which upheld the witch’s prophecy that Banquo’s future would not be happy and that his offspring would be kings. Macbeth showed his true evil when he ordered Banquo and his son to be killed. It showed that he had the ambition to act in a way that would protect his lust for power by retaining the throne of Scotland.
Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into murdering Duncan through emotional abuse, saying that he is a coward and not a man. This abuse causes Macbeth to feel emasculated and insecure, so he wants to prove himself to his wife. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth also uses Macbeth’s promise to her, making him feel guilty about not upholding their agreement. She wants him to feel as if he was breaking the vows of their marriage if he does not go through with the murder. Finally, by drugging the guards, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband that they have gone too far to turn back. She tells him that they would be destroyed if they failed so far into their plan. Although Lady Macbeth did not physically commit the murder, she manipulated Macbeth and convinced him that killing King Duncan was the right thing to
“When you first do it, then you were a man, And to be more than what you were, you would, be so much more the man” (I. VII, 54-56). After struggling with the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth is reprimanded by Lady Macbeth for his lack of courage. She informs him that killing the king will make him a man, insinuating that he isn’t a man if he doesn’t go through with the murder. This develops Lady Macbeth as a merciless, nasty, and selfish woman. She will say, or do anything to get what she desires, even if it means harming others.
We certainly know that the direct cause of 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, in first instance, decided that if fate had determined that he was to be the sovereign of Scotland he shouldn’t try to 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”.
It all began when “three strange figures” who later turned out to be three witches “told [Macbeth] he would become king (Nuttall 1). Macbeth at this time was a loyal kinsman to Duncan, the current king. While it was a thought in the back of his mind that Macbeth would eventually like to take the throne, it never occurred to him that he would have the murder Duncan in order to do so. The witches added turmoil to this idea by talking about Banquo as well and stating that Banquo’s sons will become king as well. This prophecy made it inevitable that murder would eventually take place. Although hesitant at first, Macbeth, with the persistent help of Lady Macbeth, followed through with the murder and took the throne as King. Had the witches not told Macbeth his prophecy, Macbeth would more than likely not have resorted to the tactics and actions it took for him to in due course become king. At this point in the story, Macbeth is not a cold-blooded murderer who he is destined to become later. Duncan’s murder was Macbeth’s first time to kill another man; however, this wouldn’t be his last as a cover-up would be needed. “[Macbeth] require[ed] a clearness” so t...
People tend to point fingers at people a lot. In this case, the question is “who is to blame for all the killings?” Most say Lady Macbeth because of her disturbing thoughts, words, and actions. But Macbeth is the one who murdered. Macbeth is ambitious in killing and is well enough to make his own decisions, so putting the blame on Lady Macbeth does not make sense. In Macbeth no one is to blame and he is truly the one at fault.
Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with astonishing success, overruling all his objections. When he does not wish to murder, she frequently questions his manhood until he feels that he must kill King Duncan in order to prove himself. They are both blinded by ambition; nothing will stop them from gaining the throne. Macbeth feels remorse immediately following the murder, but Lady Macbeth assures him that everything will be fine. When he worries over his blood stained hands she tells him in Act II, Scene 2 that "A little water clears us of this deed.
When Macbeth was off at war, and told Lady Macbeth that the witches greeted him as Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland before he received those titles, she was probably scheming on how to fulfill those before he returned home. Once home, they had King Duncan stay at Dunsinane. Lady Macbeth then b-tches at her husband and ridicules his masculinity in order to make him commit murder (Friedlander). Macbeth reluctantly murders Duncan, even though he wanted to wait and have it all play out without killing anyone. When he went to the well to wash off his hands he speaks of his remorse, and lady Macbeth finds out that he did not implicate the guards, so she tells him to go do it.
Shakespeare manipulates the audience’s opinions on whom was most responsible for the death of Duncan in many ways, I feel he does this to create question and surprise to the play. Shakespeare leads you along one path of thought, to then divert your thoughts onto another. Many people have different opinions and interpretations to this play; A.C Bradley once wrote “Lady Macbeth is the most commanding and perhaps the most awe-inspiring figure that Shakespeare drew. Sharing, as we have seen, certain traits with her husband she is at once clearly distinguished from him by an inflexibility of will, which appears to hold imagination, feeling, and conscience completely in check. To her the prophecy of things that will be becomes instantaneously the determination that they shall be:
After they hear the prophecies told to them by the evil sisters, Banquo starts to worry about Macbeth and his ambitions to become king. Macbeth is thinking that he may become king without doing anything else, and Banquo thinks Macbeth does not deserve to be thane of Cawdor. At this point, the two friends start growing farther from each other because they do not trust one another. Banquo starts to fear Macbeth because he knows if his prophecy is true than he is a threat to Macbeth's throne. Macbeth realizes he must get rid of Banquo to secure his spot on the throne and make sure his sons will not take his place.