When Macbeth first receives the prophecy predicting he will be king and Banquo's heirs will be kings, he is satisfied with the idea of being king. Banquo's heirs do not concern him at this point. Once he assassinates Duncan and is crowned king, however, this isn't enough. Now he wants his heirs to be king. He asks himself, why should he have taken all this risk just to put Banquo's heirs on the throne? Unsatisfied with just ruling himself, he plots to kill not only Banquo, but Fleance. His ambition has grown and become even more menacing.
Banquo's murder without consulting his wife because he wants to protect her from the corruption that he has involved himself with.
His role is now completely changed and there is no turning back
…show more content…
At the beginning of the play, they treat each other as equals. They have great concern for each other, as illustrated when Macbeth races to tell Lady Macbeth the news about the witches and she immediately begins plotting how to gain for her husband his desire to be king. At this point, Lady Macbeth is the resolute, strong woman, while Macbeth is portrayed as her indecisive, cowardly husband. He does have ambition, but at this point, his conscience is stronger than that ambition. Lady Macbeth explains this characteristic of her husband in Act I, Scene v, when she says, Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. The next stage of change developing in the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is in Act II. This is the act in which Macbeth kills King Duncan. Macbeth's character change is apparent because it is obvious that he has given in to his ambition and has murdered the king. He is not entirely changed, though, because he is almost delirious after he has committed the crime. He exclaims, Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red. He believes that instead of the ocean cleaning his hands, his hands would turn the ocean red. Macbeth's role has changed somewhat but not entirely, since he has committed the crime but his conscience is still apparent after the murder. Lady
After everyone has found out that the king is dead Banquo suspects Macbeth of doing something to make the witches predictions that they ways saying to become true. At that time Macbeth is king so he turns on his best friend Banquo and has him and all of his family including Fleance killed because he was the only person there when the predictions of Macbeth becoming king and also the witches said that Banquos son Fleance would become king too. So this shows that that Macbeth is getting over protective of his crown to the throne so he will do anything to stop people becoming king. So he will kill he’s best friend and his family only because the three withes said that predictions of Macbeth becoming king. So Macbeth is going into a downward spiral towards great darkness and becoming ever more evil from every action he makes and does to protect the crown.
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.
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.
Banquo’s ambition is unlike Macbeths and Lady Macbeths, his ambition does not drive him to kill. His ambition is he wants his son to become king, and he wants his son’s son to become king and so on. He does not quite know how to make his ambition successful but he knows that it is not worth killing for. Macbeth becomes jealous of Banquo’s ambition and Macbeths ambition drives him tell people to kill Banquo.
Like Lady Macbeth, other people deserve a present from Duncan. One person who should get a present is Banquo because he fought in the war with Macbeth, and Macbeth gets the title Thane of Cawdor from fighting in the war. Banquo also deserves a present because he is and will always be a loyal subject of Duncan: “So I lose none in seeking to augment it, but still keep my bosom franchised and allegiance clear, I shall be counseled (Macbeth Act 2 Sc 1 li. 26-29). Banquo deserves a large amount of money, or a higher rank in society because he puts in the same amount of effort as Macbeth. Another person who should get a present is Fleance because like Banquo, Fleance is related to the king. He does not need anything big, so he should get a small
After killing the king, Macbeth is seen to be embracing evil over and over again when he decides to murder Banquo. Having already gained the crown of Scotland, he now wants further security and believes that Banquo will disrupt that. Although at first manipulated by his wife to
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.
Macbeth made the decision to have Banquo and his son killed as a result of his anger and desire to prevent Banquo’s bloodline from taking the throne away from him, and he expresses this in the lines “the seeds of Banquo kings! / Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, / And champion to me to th’ utterance!” (3.1.70-72). Macbeth would rather challenge fate than see his title taken away from him by Banquo’s bloodline. Therefore, he orchestrated Banquo’s and Fleance’s demise in order to protect his own personal self-interest, and he do so out of his own free will.
In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, two main characters experience a change that alters their roles and brings out the worst in them. After Macbeth is promised greatness by three witches on a heath, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth try to achieve his prophecy. Because of their over-reaching ambition, they commit numerous murders to obtain their goal of becoming royalty. In order to cope with the guilt, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth undergo a role reversal, where they exchange characters and amount of ambition.
After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is titled the King of Scotland. Having Macbeth murder Duncan to become King makes it seem to Macbeth that he can control his own fate. This only makes it worse for Macbeth, because it is now engraved in his mind that murder can change fate. Now that Duncan is taken care of, it is Banquo that Macbeth is worried about, for Macbeth is convinced that Banquo knows too much because he was the only other person with him when the witches prophesized his fate. It’s not only Banquo that Macbeth wants to murder, he also wants to change the prophecy of Banquo’s descendants becoming Kings by murdering them as well, as he states “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!;/ Rather than so, come fate into the list,;/ And champion me to th’ utterance.” (III, I, 70-73). This line directly shows that Macbeth now thinks he is in control, and that he can challenge fate by murdering the sons of Banquo to change what the witch’s prophesized for the descendants of Banquo to become kings.
Macbeth shows his desire for power, he was friendly to Banquo before he became the king, but after he became the king, he let three murderers to kill Banquo and his son. “So is he mine, and is such bloody distance That every minute of his being thrusts against my near ‘st of life”(3.1 line 116-118). Macbeth sent three murderers to kill Banquo and his son since they ran away. All he thinks about is to kill more people in order to gain more power. Macbeth didn’t just kill Banquo only, he also killed Macduff’s whole family. “Murderer. What your egg! Stabbing him. Young fry of treachery! Son. He has killed me, mother: Run away, I pray you”(4.3 line 84-87). He killed Macduff’s whole family, he just wanted to make sure he doesn’t lose his power, so he just killed anyone who against him, he’s obsessed with his power, he never cares about breaking other people’s family.
Shakespeare introduces Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the beginning of the play as a couple who are unique, but functional. As Macbeth continues to debate murder, Lady Macbeth pushes him and spoils his innocence. In Act I, when Macbeth learns that he will become king, he heavily debates whether or not to take action on his prophecy, on the other hand, Lady Macbeth takes no time for consideration when she reads Macbeth’s letter about his news. Her desire and drive clashes with Macbeth’s calm and equivocating demeanor.When
After killing King Duncan , Macbeth is starting to realize what it is that he has done, and becomes suspicious and paranoid of everyone around him by puting spy's in every castle and killing those who are any treat to him what so ever. Banquo is the only other person who knows of the meeting with the witches and he would assume that it was Macbeth who killed the King. The witches also said that Banquo would beget kings but he himself would never be king after Macbeth, and so Macbeth decides that Banquo is a threat to him. To get rid of the treat with banquo he decides to kill him and his son Fleance.
However once they accomplish the deed, the torment that the guilt brings is too much for Macbeth but he gets used to the evil of killing people meanwhile the opposite happens to Lady Macbeth who becomes paranoid about killing Duncan. Shakespeare presents the play in such a way that the audience sees how more and more their relationship changes dramatically as a result of how they each handle their emotions following the murder of King Duncan. Although Macbeth was weak at first, it was the strong Lady Macbeth who helped him through the first murder, but in sacrifice to controlling Macbeth and his conscience, she lost control of her own and consequently became insane and committed suicide. Lady Macbeth repeatedly convinced her husband by questioning his manhood “When you durst do it, then you were a man, / And, to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man” (Shakespeare 1.7.54-56). She is a strong, powerful character in comparison to her easily influenced husband, until towards the end of the play where he seems to take on her role.
Macbeth has to murder more people to cover his tracks and secure his place as king (III, iiii, 135-140). He seems to value others lives much less than his own. Macbeth has already said that life is just a game and there is nothing serious in life (II, iii, 92-95). Macbeth orders assassins to kill Banquo and Fleance (III, I, 126-128) to try and secure his place as king.