Banquo Half Suspects Macbeth Of Duncan's Murder example essay topic

The play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare in the beginning of the 17th century, deals with a man's turn from the king's most glorious, brave and courageous general into a traitor and murderer influenced by evil forces. In the following I am going to describe the play briefly and explain the theme of it. Furthermore I will discuss Macbeth's character and his internal conflict. While the general Macbeth and his friend Banquo are returning from a victorious battle, King Duncan hears of their courage and bestows the title of Cawdor on the still absent Macbeth.

The two warriors encounter three witches who greet Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and " (... ) King hereafter'. They that Banquo will become king though he will not himself be one. Macbeth, who is already Thane of Glamis, is startled when two messengers from the king greet him as the new Thane of Cawdor, thus fulfilling the witches' prophecy in part.

When Macbeth learns that Duncan's son Malcolm has been appointed Prince of Cumberland, automatic successor to the throne, he momentarily entertains the idea of killing the king and so begins the ultimate prediction of the witches. Banquo resists any thoughts that might hasten the witches' prophecy that his children will be kings. Lady Macbeth, however, strengthens her husband to kill the king and they accomplish it. When the murder is discovered, the king's sons, Malcolm and Donal bain, seeing a similar fate for themselves, flee Scotland. Macbeth proceeds to Scone, where he is crowned as Duncan's successor to the throne. Banquo half-suspects Macbeth of Duncan's murder but accepts an invitation at the new king's first and attends it with his son Fleance.

Macbeth employs two murderers to kill both in an attempt to avoid the second part of the witches' prophecies. They kill Banquo but Fleance escapes. Macbeth decides to find the witches to demand further assurances. They answer him with a procession of ghostly appearances: an armed head which warns him against Macduff; a child covered in blood which says that " (... ) none of a woman born shall harm Macbeth'; a child holding a tree, who says Macbeth will be safe until " (... ) Birnam Wood (... ) ' comes to Dunsinane; and eight kings followed by Banquo's ghost, which, with a smile, points to them as his descendants. Leaving, Macbeth encounters the nobleman Lennox, who tells him that Macduff has fled to England.

Macbeth vows to kill Macduff's wife and children. A messenger arrives at Macduff's castle to warn her, but it is too late and Macbeth's assassins kill Lady Macduff and her children. When Macduff hears the terrible news, he swears to kill Macbeth with his own sword. At Macbeth's castle, Dunsinane, Lady Macbeth has begun to go insane. She walks in her sleep and while her doctor and a waiting lady watch in horror, she relieves her guilt and, unconscious of the others, speaks about the crimes she and her husband have committed. Macbeth is deeply alarmed about her disorder, but, nevertheless, is preparing for the attack by the English invaders under Malcolm, who has joined with rebellious Scottish forces.

Malcolm has his soldiers cut branches from Birnam Wood to carry as camouflage in the assault. Thus the prophecy " (... ) till Birnam Wood to high to Dunsinane hill (... ) ' begins to be fulfilled. Macbeth learns that Lady Macbeth has died, possibly by suicide. In despair, he goes forth to battle and encounters Macduff, who destroys his last confidence by admitting that he was " (... ) from his mother's womb untimely rip'd (... ) ' - he " (... ) was not of woman born (...

) '. With this part of the prophecy no longer the protection it seemed, Macbeth dies at Macduff's hands. Macduff brings the head of Macbeth to Malcolm and hails the son of the murdered Duncan as the new King of Scotland. By " the theme' of Macbeth one means the principal idea of the play, an idea that is seen in dramatic setting probably in every act of the play.

Abstracting a theme from a play is not identical to establishing a point as fact. In Macbeth, as in other Shakespearean plays, we find that appearances are one thing, reality another. A more specific configuration of the main theme (there are also minor themes) is that only a deluded person thinks that playing with evil can leave him or her unchanged and that humanity, yielding to evil, is led to destruction. In Act I, this idea is embodied in Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's responses to the salutations of the witches.

Macbeth and his lady regard the greetings as Thane of Cawdor and future king as prophecies. Furthermore, with respect to the throne, they contemplate murder of the incumbent Duncan, although Macbeth is not told by the witches to kill Duncan for his crown. In Act II, the Macbeth are deceived by the apparent ease and subsequent guiltlessness with which they can achieve Duncan's death. In Act, Macbeth arranges the murder of Banquo and Fleance; but Fleance, who mainly intends to continue Banquo's line, escapes. The murder of Banquo and Fleance had seemed to be assured, but the reality is otherwise. In Act IV and Act V, Macbeth wrongly reads the sayings of the second and the third apparitions - the prophecies that " none of woman born (... ) shall harm Macbeth' and that he is safe " (... ) till Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill (... ) shall come against him'.

Significantly, he takes no particular notice of the saying of the first apparition to " Beware Macduff'. In Act V, these three prophecies come true, as Macbeth learns to his horror, when Malcolm's army, disguised by branches from Birnam Wood, comes against his castle and when Macduff, confronting Macbeth, informs him that he " (... ) was from his mother's womb (... ) untimely rip'd (... ) ' in Caesarean birth. Macbeth learns in death that appearances pointed one way, but reality, rock-hard, lay in the opposite direction. Against these rocks he is crushed.

The question why Macbeth has done all this and why the terrifying experience with Banquo's ghost did not warn him is answered by Macbeth himself: " I am in blood (... ) step'd in so far', he says", that, should I wade no more, (... ) returning were as tedious as go o'er'. He says that he finds it too tiresome to repent. What has happened is that in making his first decision for evil instead of good, he has confused these two values. He has confused fair and foul, which confusion has all along been the devil's aim. Macbeth cannot return, even though returning means the difference between failure and success.

Foremost, Macbeth is a brave and courageous man; he is much honored by his compatriots for his leading part in defense of his good king and native land. However, almost as soon as we meet him, we realize that he is both ambitious and murderous and fears to accept the real and also the supernatural consequences of his actions. Early in the play, Shakespeare concentrates on Macbeth's courage so that he can contrast it later on with the terror and panic of Macbeth's psychological anguish. Lady Macbeth is certainly aware of her husband's fame as a fearless soldier, and she uses dazzling psychology to tempt her husband to kill Duncan: she " dares'; him to do " (... ) all that may become a man'. Macbeth accepts her challenge; no one calls him a coward.

Part of Macbeth's actions, of course, can be traced to envy. Early in the play when Macbeth hears the witches, he envies Banquo's having heirs, as much as he fears, later, those same heirs as rivals for the throne. We feel pity, ultimately, for Macbeth, not hatred and disgust. This is the key to the tragedy: Macbeth's suffering is a result of his self-destructive behavior by leaving all his good qualities behind and eliminating his potentials and possibilities in an attempt to claim a fate that is not his.