Macbeth says, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me/Without my stir.” (1.3.143).This is significant because Macbeth still has a sense of right and wrong. These bad thoughts eventually come back when King Duncan states that Malcolm will be the next king. Scared that his second prophecy would not come true, fear leads him to make rash decisions. As Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth to kill King Duncan, paranoia takes over Macbeth. When people find out that the king is murdered they accuse the guards.
Hamlet was destined to be damned the moment he was asked to avenge his father. There is the argument that it was Hamlet’s free will to kill Claudius based on the quote, “my thoughts be bloody or nothing worth.” Killing a King is punishable by lifetime imprisonment or even death. By killing Claudius, Hamlet will be admonished by the court and either consequence that he will receive is awful. The other option instead of taking Claudius’ life would be to disregard his father’s ghost and go on with life as normal. This option seems prime to many, yet when Hamlet dies he will be stuck in purgatory for not avenging his father.
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores the destruction of innocence demonstrated by a man’s need of power. Throughout the play, the need and want of supremacy takes over his characters and guides them towards their own obliteration of innocence. In order to get what he wants, the main character in Macbeth does whatever possible to achieve it. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both strive for power, so when Macbeth is foretold that he will be king, Lady Macbeth sways him into killing King Duncan so that he, the honorable Macbeth, would become king while she would become queen. As the play goes on, Macbeth slowly looses his morality as he strives for more control whilst Lady Macbeth steps into a frantic stage of guilt.
Once he was crowned King, he became paranoid and ceased trusting anyone which had led him to killing several other lives. His paranoia was ambushed by his fear of losing the throne. Macbeth “fears in Banquo” for multiple reasons; he is naturally more superior, he had heard the prophecy and his sons were said to be Kings. In his paranoia, he sends murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Furthermore, Banquo was murdered under Macbeth’s commands.
showing us that the thought of murder was already at the back of his mind. Macbeth could not have been as honourable and trustworthy as people believed him to be, given that if he had had but a shred of integrity, murder would have been the last thing on his mind. Macbeth is given prophecies by the witches and he is encouraged to act on these suggestions by Lady Macbeth, but he ultimately makes the choices to murder Duncan, Macduff's family and Banquo. The fact that Macbeth feels guilt, fears being caught and fears losing the throne reveals he has hidden anxiety. If Macbeth was truly at the mercy of fate, following the prophesise that was “set out”, he would have no difficulties in carrying out his crimes.
Who do you trust, your king or your conscious? Many characters in Macbeth had to make this very choice as there kingdom was slowly deteriorating because of a tyrant of a king. Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is the story of a brave honourable soldier who ruins his life due to his own greed for power, respect and wealth. This play begins with three witches who inform Macbeth that he will become king. It is clear to all readers that Macbeth is not simply going to wait for these prophecies to come true, after the previous king Duncan is murdered.
Macbeth responds, in brief, as a loyal thane to the Scottish king, but the prospect unnerves him. * The audience could see Macbeth’s ambition leading him to cursed thoughts which has been greatly *enforced and twisted* by the* malicious* witches. *The caution from the first apparition causes Macbeth to start a bloody massacre across England, killing families of people who may threaten his position. After this point in the play, we see *that *Macbeth* has* turn*ed* into a ruthless tyrant* in the hope of avoiding fate*, so desensitized to humanity that even the suicide of his wife *could not arouse grief from him. * All he could muster was* “She should have died hereafter”.
With the witches’ prophecies mulling over in his mind, and knowing that he was not the successor of the throne, he knew he had to take matters into his own hands. With the support and persuasion of Lady Macbeth, he kills King Duncan and gains his kingship. When Banquo makes his vow to find out who killed Duncan, Macbeth knew he had to silence him. After Macbeth is named king, he seeks out hired murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Macbeth does this because he is afraid that Banquo will get in the way of his new title and Fleance, because he is prophesied to be king.
Through analysis of Macbeth’s choices in the play, it is evident that his ruthless ambition, blind trust in the witches, cowardice towards his wife’s demands and overconfidence were the key faults that led to his demise. One of the reasons Macbeth meets his untimely tragic defeat is due to his ruthless ambition. From the moment Macbeth hears the witches’ prophecy and the first of them is realized (becoming Thane of Cawdor), Macbeth begins to seek out future ambitions: becoming the King. His personal ambition, fortified by his wife’s drive for power makes him blind to the man he was before he met the witches and before he became Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth debates with himself regarding the pros and cons of killing Duncan he states: “I go, and it is done.
Instead , he murdered the king to take his place. Opting not to wait to see if Banquo would be loyal to him, Macbeth had his companion murdered. His impatience led Macbeth to listen to his wife, the witches , and his darker side. He again informed people what a good man was not. In the end, Macbeth did regain a shred of his previous distinction when he faced his adversaries like a true warrior.