Taking Responsibility for the Murder of King Duncan in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Taking Responsibility for the Murder of King Duncan in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Although Macbeth did murder King Duncan, there were other people

responsible for his death. There were really 4 other people

responsible for the murder, the witches who Macbeth had communicated

with, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's wife, of course Macbeth himself, King

Duncan had some responsibility for his own death and Banquo. To show

which person was the most responsible is hard, as many people would

think that because Macbeth did the task he was the most responsible,

but other people were influencing him very strongly and maybe the key

is to see who was the most influential on Macbeth to do the task.

The witches were representing evil in this play, at the beginning of

the play they seem to have singled Macbeth out and we are drawn to the

conclusion that they have a purpose for Macbeth. They seemed to plant

the idea into Macbeth's head when they gave their predictions

"All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.

All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor

All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter."

But we don't know whether Macbeth was already thinking these thoughts

and the witches kind of supported his feelings as Macbeth was already

considering being king. Macbeth is already imaginative and

superstitious so he believes the women are really witches and he

believes their predictions are going to come true. Banquo on the other

hand doesn't believe the witches. We get the feeling that the witches´

intentions are evil as they manipulate Macbeth as he is superstitious

and we feel that the witches are 'up to something´. The first

prediction is that Macbeth will be become the Thane of Cawdor which

comes true. This sparks Macbeth to believe that he'll become king

more.

Lady Macbeth is probably one of the most influential on Macbeth. She

persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Even when Macbeth doesn't want

to go through with the killing Lady Macbeth is pushing him to do it.

She tells him that they were only altering fate and it was going to