King Duncan and Macbeth Essay

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the story of an ambitious royal turns into the followings of a murderous tyrant. The Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth, is motivated by his fear that his deep desires will not come true, and his tyrant, gender role-breaking wife, Lady Macbeth, to kill off various successors to the throne. Macbeth is introduced as an ambitious heir to the the throne, but is quickly displayed as a raging king. In William E. Cain’s essay “Murderous Thinking in Macbeth”, he describes the relationship between the audience and Macbeth as “sympathetically connected.” Macbeth is seen as a vicious tyrant to the rest of the characters, but his deep desires are seen by the audience or readers. The audience is shown Macbeth’s guilt and remorse throughout the play, up until he kills Macduff’s family. Macbeth obtains the mindset of a power hungry, murderous tyrant when he kills Macduff’s family.

     In Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of Macbeth the main character Macbeth is driven from his status as a well respected warrior and lord of not one, but two Scottish regions to a dishonest, unloyal murderer. Macbeth gets caught in a web of lies and vile acts of murder in which he brings about his own demise. His criminal actions lead up to his tragic ending of life. ‘ They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But bearlike I must fight the course.’ His great ambition and gullibility of the witches predictions are two of the biggest factors of his downfall;however, Lady Macbeth was probably the biggest influence in the whole tragedy.

Thane of Cawdor to me promise no less to them' (act 1, scene 3, page

In Act I Macbeth is very uneasy in his and Lady Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan. He says, “We shall proceed no further in

"Macbeth" is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600’s. It revolved around the character Macbeth and his urge to become king of Scotland. Macbeth had to do anything possible to become the king including murder, lying, and deception. However, Macbeth committed these evil deeds due to some influential people in his life. Between Macbeth’s wife persuading him to do anything to become king and the witches prophesying over him causes Macbeth to try and bury the past and control the future.

     A Shakespearean tragic hero starts out as a noble person; a great exceptional being who stands out. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw of an exaggerated trait that leads to their downfall and eventually to death. William Shakespeare often made his main characters tragic heroes in his plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the role of the tragic hero is given to the main character: Macbeth. This is because he starts off as a loyal and well liked man in the beginning, but has a tragic flaw of ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall.

Initially, Macbeth is viewed as a brave and loyal soldier, with Duncan praising him by expressing that “More is thy due than more than all can pay” (1.4.21). At this point, he has not been influenced by the three witches. Yet, by Duncan implying his importance, Macbeth gains a sense of self-worth and this arouses power within. His clear desire to be titled Thane of Cawdor while then having a growing temptation to commit regicide clearly demonstrate the early stages of his corruption and forms a basis for utilizing illegitimate power.

Macbeth replies that he owes everything to _____________________ and would give his life to keeping Duncan “[s]afe.”

Duncan’s character backed up his status– he was very generous, such as in giving Macbeth the title of the Thane of Cawdor. But his naivety was his fault as a King, and it is partially what led to his downfall. When Macbeth defends him on the battlefield, he describes Macbeth as a “Valiant cousin…Worthy gentleman” (Act 1 Scene 2 L.24). He praises Macbeth in a regal way – “More is thy due than more than all can pay…I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing” (Act 1 Scene 4 L.21, 28). By nurturing Macbeth in this way, he builds up his confidence, and gives him the confidence to carry out his ambitions. Horror is built up here through Macbeth taking advantage of the King’s solitary weakness – naivety.

In life, there are two types of people: those who do the right thing and those who don’t. In the play Macbeth, by Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth is given a prophecy by three witches that says he will become king; however, there is no descending line of kings of his own blood. With the knowledge of the Witches’ prophecy, Macbeth’s ambition, and manipulation from his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is quickly dragged into a never-ending, bloody murder rampage to obtain the crown and get rid of those who stand in the way of obtaining it as well. Macbeth constantly battles with his moral dilemmas; however, he easily falls victim to influences that go against his morals. Influences on major characters emphasize how easily one’s decision making can be negatively affected, resulting in one going against his or her morals/integrity.

This quote indicates the realism of Macbeth's beginning state dealing with his heroism and loyalty to his people. And by Macbeth serving the crown, he is rewarding himself by King Duncan gladly giving

The witches and their prophecies are the first major influence on Macbeth's actions. Macbeth seems happy and content with himself until the witches tell him he will be king. He begins immediately to consider murdering Duncan. "If good, why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, / Against

His infidelity breaks the trust between him and Duncan because of his immense betrayal to not only the King, but to the country of Scotland. He quickly becomes a man whom Duncan could no longer rely upon, for this reason, Duncan awards the title to a noble and courageous soldier, Macbeth. Dramatic irony is presented in this line because as Duncan is addressing the unfaithfulness of the old thane, it is followed by the entry of Macbeth to the scene, a man who later misuses his power to betray the King. To Duncan, Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, is appeared to be virtuous and courageous because of his heroic performance in the battle for defeating the opponent, Macdonwald. The King demonstrates his satisfaction towards Macbeth through a conversation with Banquo. He describes Macbeth as “full so valiant, And in his commendations [King Duncan is] fed; It is a banquet to [him]… It is a peerless kinsman.” (1.4.56-60). In this speech, King Duncan truly admires Macbeth’s valiancy and describes him as a man without equal. He congratulates Macbeth for his courage on the battlefield and as followed by the witches’ prophecies of Macbeth, “...All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor…” (1.3.50), he replaces and becomes the new Thane of Cawdor. This speech reveals the gullible nature of Duncan who once trusted the old thane and anew, believes the new thane will be loyal to the country. By all means, Duncan is clueless of

Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.

     King Duncan trusts Macbeth too much. Macbeth appears as a super hero and faithful to King Duncan. He fights against the traitor Macdonwald, and he helps the king to solve a