Macbeth Is A Butcher And Lady Macbeth Is A Fiend-like Queen Essay

    In the third scene of the first act, Banquo** asks, "...have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?" in response to the witches' prophecies.  Banquo is partly right in the assumption that Macbeth's mind is not pure.  When Macbeth says "The Prince of Cumberland!  That is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap" (Act 1, Scene 4, 48-49), we see that Macbeth may have already the idea of killing Duncan.  Macbeth's ultimate goal is to become king; he does this with a certain amount of ease, but the process somehow awakens his tragic flaw, the ruthlessness with which he destroys his own reign.  After he kills the dead king's servents, his targets are Banquo and Fleance, who have heard or are involved in the third prophecy.  Macbeth sends the three murderers who stab the famous dying words out of Banquo's mouth: "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! (Act 3, Scene 3, 17).  Macbeth must crush dissent  he kills Macduff's wife and children.  Macbeth's reign of non-stop killing erodes Scotland's confidence in him and he has no chance

Macbeth’s first attempt at manipulation was unsuccessful. “If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis/ it shall make honor for you.” (II, i). Macbeth is trying to get Banquo to join him because he suspects Banquo may know about the murder of Duncan. Banquo is decent and doesn’t trust the witches’ prophecies so he chooses not to join Macbeth. Banquo shows his courage by standing up to Macbeth and doing what is right, not what is easy. Because Macbeth has failed to manipulate Banquo he decides to have him killed by two henchmen. In addition, he tells them to kill Banquo’s son,

He realizes that if he want to start his own dynasty, then he will have to have control of all the variables. Then Macbeth began to think, “For Banquo’s issues have I filed my mind;/ For them the gracious Duncan I have murdered” (Shakespeare 85). He realizes that he has set himself up to fail. He is cleared a path to the crown for Banquo’s kin. Macbeth goes on to state, “He chid the sisters/ When first they put the name of king upon me” (Shakespeare 85). This give the readers the thought that Banquo is jealous of the king. Macbeth, not wanting to risk his crown, calls for some outside murderers. As I stated earlier, Macbeth knew he must get rid of Banquo and his sons. He succeeds in having Banquo killed, but Banquo’s son, Fleance (the one person Macbeth needed to kill), escapes.

After he had attained his destiny, Macbeth felt that Banquo would become a serious threat. He did not like the fact that Banquo was destined to be a father to a whole line of kings. "Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared...If `t be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered..."(85). The path Macbeth chooses to take in order to stay at the throne was to have Banquo killed. But, Macbeth was never destined to kill anyone. Killing Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's whole household were all his decisions to attain his destiny.

his wife. In my opinion he does this so that Lady Macbeth is ready to

In extent Malcolm is referring to Macbeth as the “dead butcher” and to Lady Macbeth as “his fiend-like queen.” A butcher in the use of this play is a person who kills showing no regret for their actions or reason for the killings. The fiend as Lady Macbeth is to say she is very evil and has no morals, able to bend other’s wills to equal her own giving them a confused air of what they really want. On the other hand to say Macbeth was always a butcher is an unfair evaluation of him, as it doesn’t reflect the views that the whole of Scotland had at the beginning of the play. Fiend is a brilliant way to describe Lady Macbeth as she is the one who initially introduced the feeling of evil into the play and into Macbeth leading him to commit the

Lady Macbeth also feels that Banquo was a threat to their rule. She asks, "Is Banquo gone from court?" (3.2.1). Lady Macbeth also thinks that it is necessary to kill Banquo and Fleance (3.2.38). Later on in this scene, she wants to know her role when she asks Macbeth, "What's to be done?" (3.2.44). Her intentions of joining the other two murderers are so that the plan is carried out and no mistake is made in the process. This explains why Lady Macbeth could be a possible candidate for being the third murderer.

     After Duncan’s murder, Macbeth realizes that the witches’ prophecy about him becoming king has come true, and he feels that it is his destiny to be the king of Scotland. Macbeth begins to believe in everything the witches say. Macbeth, however, does not want to risk giving up his crown to the son of Banquo like the prophecy said. Thus, Macbeth hires three murderers to kill both Banquo and his son. He tells the hired murderers to "leave no rubs nor botches in the work . " (Act III: ii: 133). By having both men killed, no one will be in line to take the crown from Macbeth, and he will secure his position has king.

Lady Macbeth Is A Fiend - Like Queen In William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" the audience sees two very different sides of Lady Macbeth. At the start of the play Lady Macbeth is shown to be ruthless, conniving, fiend-like and remorseless. The phrase fiend-like conjures up an image of a cruel, evil and wicked person. In the play the audience sees that Lady Macbeth has a lust for power.

But, later on in the play we learn by the witched that Banquo's descendants will become King and that they will prosper. It says “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”, when Macbeth learns about this and hears about it he is scared and then eventually considers Banquo as a threat to him to become King. So Macbeth has to come up with a solution to this and eventually comes up with the solution that he must murder Banquo and his son Fleance. He gets two murders to go out and murder Banquo and his son while they are walking so that his promise of becoming king will not be in jeopardy. This is an ironic act of betrayal because Macbeth and Banquo have been friends for a long time and have done everything together. Banquo was not just his friend he was also the co-commander of the army and had some power in Scotland.

Not only did attempt to kill Banquo and Fleance with murderers, but Macduff’s family. Like Banquo, Macduff’s family received a knife to the body. All this was done to make sure Macbeth kept his spot on the throne, but it was done like a weakling, not face to face like a strong and proud man would.

Macbeth’s desire leads him to murder Duncan in his sleep. Macbeth has committed violence, with desire as its cause, which has put him in a situation where there is no turning back because he has already committed one act of violence. The one act will lead to more.

Act 3 is the most brutal and violent scene in Macbeth. Banquo, the general of King Duncan's army, is murdered. However, this wasn't an accident as it was planned by Macbeth prior to it happening. It all started when Macbeth explained to his servants why killing Banquo is a necessity, and he expounds on his reasons in a speech that he recently wrote. The motive behind this erratic idea is that Banquo's kids will eventually take over the throne because that’s what the witches predicted, and they were not wrong the first time. Anyhow, Macbeth calls in two men and orders them to kill Banquo. Of course the men question Macbeth's orders and explain to him that “We are men, my liege”(Line 94), meaning they aren’t use to killing and doing such things.

In the beginning, Macbeth has great trouble with the concept of murder, and he regrets killing Duncan - "Wake Duncan with thoust knocking, I would thou couldst"(II.ii.96)!  However, by the end of the play, Macbeth shows no sign of his human qualities. He has in fact become quite inhuman and foul.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606) is a Jacobean era tragedy set in Scotland which centres around the tragic hero’s rise and fall to the throne through the murder of others. Contextually when this play was written there was unrest with a King, which links to the unrest after a new King in Macbeth. The statement “fiend-like queen and the dead butcher,” refers to the protagonists due to their heavily flawed characteristics in regards to their murderous decisions. The issues supporting this are ambition and evil, both which they possess as character traits.