How Does Macbeth Become King

In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, chases after power by going after the king position in Scotland. In the play, Macbeth changes from basically not worrying about whether or not he will be king, to going after the king so that Macbeth will rule the kingdom. At the very beginning, Macbeth encounters the evil witches and the witches greet Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King hereafter. The funny part about this is that Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis but, not the Thane of Cawdor because the current Thane of Cawdor is still living, and Macbeth certainly is not the king of Scotland because King Duncan is king. The things the witches say to Macbeth gets into his head and this is where the desire for power originates. Macbeth decides to kill the current King and Macbeth continues to murder people. Macbeth hires goons to kill Banquo and Banquo’s son, Fleance, because the evil witches hint that Banquo will not be king but, Banquo will heir kings. Macbeth is a character that struggles to free himself from chasing after power due to him wanting to rule the kingdom and Macbeth will do whatever possible to keep the throne. Macbeth performs multiple murders just to keep his throne from falling into somebody else’s hand.

Supporting Details: here ill put in a quote from where they were talking about murdering the king and then ill put a few sentences about how lady Macbeth was crazed with power and would do anything to obtain it.

The three witches have told Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor as well as becoming king. Macbeth believes that the witches predictions will come true because he has just been announced the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is very confused. The tone of this soliloquy is one of bafflement. In fact, he proclaims that the witches’ fortune “cannot be ill, cannot be good” (130). Given that Macbeth had been told about being king, he’s had terrible thoughts about murdering Duncan which “unfix [his] hair” and “make [his] seated heart knock at [his] ribs” (135,136). Macbeth does not want to kill his friend, yet he still desires to become king. It is very ironic that his emotions and mind-set towards Duncan who is his “friend” has changed because of the fortune that the witches have given Macbeth.

Despite the manipulation from Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is the one who ultimately makes the decision to murder King Duncan in order to become king. When Macbeth is given the title of Thane of Cawdor and the witches’ prophecies come to him, the thoughts of murdering King Duncan to become King emerge in Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth has mixed-feelings about the prophecies and asks himself, “Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings: my thought, whose murder yet is

To begin, the witches are the catalyst to Macbeth’s crimes because the convince him that he will become king. Macbeth first meets the witches while returning from a gruesome battle and it is safe to say that they greet him with some audacious titles. They initially greet him as the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor, but it is their final greeting which has the greatest effect on Macbeth. The witches hail Macbeth as someone “that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53). This ignites a fire inside Macbeth, who is an immensely ambitious person. He begins to fantasize about the luxurious life he would have if he were the king of Scotland and he suddenly has the temptation to kill King Duncan. Although the witches’ prediction is favourable, Macbeth has no reason to believe them, at least until one of their other predictions turns out to be true. This

Macbeth subconsciously knows that he may have to kill Duncan in order to pursue the third prophecy, as it is Duncan who is presently king, and the only way for Macbeth to obtain Duncan’s title is if Duncan were to die and lose his title. In this scenario, Macbeth has thoughts of himself being the cause of Duncan’s death, in order to have Duncan’s title passed on to him. Macbeth is soon outraged to discover that Duncan has announced his son Malcolm as the future King of Scotland, Prince of Cumberland, as Malcolm now stands in his way of pursuing the actualization of the third prophecy. When Lady Macbeth receives news of the witches’ three prophecies and the fulfillment of the second prophecy, the enormity of her ambition to make Macbeth become King of Scotland leads her into plotting out the murder of Duncan. When Macbeth hears of Lady Macbeth’s plans to kill Duncan, he is at first unwilling to go through such horrific and drastic measures in order to obtain a royal title. Macbeth gives reasons during his soliloquy as to why he shouldn’t kill Duncan, and then says:

I don't think that Macbeth had ever thought about being king before he ran into the witches. I think this because Macbeth always had a superb reputation in Scotland and King Duncan has always thought highly of him. Before speaking with the witches, Macbeth would never let down his cousin, King Duncan. He might have fantasized once or twice about the idea of him becoming king, but I do not think the level of intenseness was nearly as profound as the thoughts he had after the witches spoke with him. The witches brought up the idea of Macbeth becoming king, but his wife, Lady Macbeth, drastically changed his views on the matter. Because of these factors, I stand by my decision of saying Macbeth did not think about becoming king after he met

He meets three witches who tell him his prophecy and that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then eventually be king. The problem was that there was already a king in power and the only way he could be king was to do things he would never have imagined to do. The witches had also said that the sons of Macbeth’s friend Banquo would be king and this was also another problem that Macbeth had. Macbeth’s ambition and superstition

When Macbeth kills Duncan, he kills him to be the heir of the throne but is full of remorse afterwards, which displays that he does not naturally have a murderous mindset like Lady Macbeth. Before he wants to kill Duncan he says to Banquo, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir” (1.3 157-159). Macbeth’s tone in this instance is hopeful, and shows that he will let chance crown him if it is meant to be. His first desire to become king is decided by fate, according to what he says to Banquo. His views change on fate when Malcolm is named as the next king. According to

In the first scenes of the book, Macbeth is portrayed as a brave and worthy warrior hero, whose victory on the battlefield has earned him great honour from the king. Although it is made clear to the audience from the beginning of the play that his private ambitions, conflict with the way others see him, meaning that he was not the person whom he made out to be, being quite the opposite in fact, as we later find out in the script. Although he appears fearless in battle, he becomes concerned about the witches prophecies and this is the first instance when his vaulting ambition becomes apparent, this causes him to begin to realise what he must do in order for the prophecies to come true and it causes him to lose control. Before the murder of King Duncan, the king announces that he intends to pass the kingdom onto his son Malcolm, which infuriates both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. We as an audience are

In the beginning of the play, the witches make three prophecies. First, that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor. The second part of the prophecy is that Macbeth will become King. The third prophecy being that Banquo will be father to future kings. When Macbeth first hears the prophecy, Duncan holds the position as king. King duncan is also a very loved king by his people. Macbeth and Duncan even have a good relationship. Macbeth is Duncan’s greatest war hero and because of Macbeth’s great success in battle, Duncan rewards him by promoting him to the position of Thane of Cawdor. With this promotion, Macbeth realizes that the witches first prophecy was true. With this realization, Macbeth’s head begins to fill with thoughts of killing King Duncan to speed up the process so that he can become king. When he tells his wife of the prophecies and his promotion, she becomes extremely

After a successful murder, Macbeth feels he is more powerful and worthy, even though he is not yet crowned King of Scotland. There is still one man in line for the throne now that Duncan is dead; Malcolm. Jealously and greed consume Macbeth as he is so close to fulfilling his prophecy. With Macbeth's great fortune, Malcolm and Donalbain decide to flee to England and Ireland, worried that their father’s killer might come after them next. This aids in Macbeth’s success in becoming King and no one is looking at Macbeth suspiciously for the murder. Powerfully, Macbeth feels as though nothing can

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An

In the next scene however, there is news of the Thane of Cawdor is to be sentenced to death, therefore Macbeth shall replace him which means the one part of the prophecy was already becoming true. Macbeth realises that the witches could be trusted of their foreseen future and becoming King could be a possibility. He speaks of how "black and deep desires" could lead to the murder of King Duncan for him to take the position, a higher status in the Great Chain of Being than Macbeth is. Already such few scenes into the play, Shakespeare creates a sense of danger as the witches influences Macbeth's decisions and thoughts of betraying the way of life that is set forward before

When Malcolm was crowned the heir, Macbeth was angry. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see“ (A1 s4). This quote shows that Macbeth plans to kill in order to achieve his goal of the throne. “Prithee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none” (A1 s7). This quote shows how Macbeth is giving into his wife’s taunts. He does not want to be seen as anything less than a man so he believes that he must kill in order to be seen that