Macbeth Essay
Who is Responsible for the Death of King Duncan in the Play Macbeth? – Essay
The play Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare between the years 1603 and 1607.
The main themes are ambition, magic and the supernatural, murder, temptation and jealousy.
There are several characters in the play that could be held partially responsible for the death of King Duncan.
Firstly, and most obviously, Macbeth. He is responsible because he physically wielded the knife that stabbed King Duncan. However, there have been many cases where somebody has killed somebody else but was not held responsible (e.g. because they were threatened into doing it or were declared insane).
Despite that, Macbeth was neither of those things and did the murder upon his own free will. Furthermore, the play shows us that Macbeth is a very ambitious character, as he is always talking about how he would be rule the country so much better if he were king of Scotland.
As soon as Macbeth hears the prophecy from the witches, he is immediately thinking about killing the king – “Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair… make my seated heart knock at my ribs…” (A1; S3; L134/135) He is anxious as he questions if this is the right thing to do. Therefore, the murder of Duncan was pre-meditated.
However, Macbeth had decided not to kill Duncan, and Lady Macbeth persuaded him to continue, so she, and a many other characters could also be responsible. One could argue that Lady Macbeth is responsible for the murder. This is because she planned out the whole murder – “Leave all the rest to me.” (A1; S5; L73) Lady Macbeth has just told Macbeth that all he has to do is act welcoming to Duncan but to remember that he must be taken care of, and that she will take care of everything else.
In addition, she uses a large variety of persuasive techniques to convince Macbeth to continue with their plan, when he had had a change of heart in the soliloquy at the beginning of Act 1 Scene 7. For example she
The play Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare between the years 1603 and 1607.
The main themes are ambition, magic and the supernatural, murder, temptation and jealousy.
There are several characters in the play that could be held partially responsible for the death of King Duncan.
Firstly, and most obviously, Macbeth. He is responsible because he physically wielded the knife that stabbed King Duncan. However, there have been many cases where somebody has killed somebody else but was not held responsible (e.g. because they were threatened into doing it or were declared insane).
Despite that, Macbeth was neither of those things and did the murder upon his own free will. Furthermore, the play shows us that Macbeth is a very ambitious character, as he is always talking about how he would be rule the country so much better if he were king of Scotland.
As soon as Macbeth hears the prophecy from the witches, he is immediately thinking about killing the king – “Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair… make my seated heart knock at my ribs…” (A1; S3; L134/135) He is anxious as he questions if this is the right thing to do. Therefore, the murder of Duncan was pre-meditated.
However, Macbeth had decided not to kill Duncan, and Lady Macbeth persuaded him to continue, so she, and a many other characters could also be responsible. One could argue that Lady Macbeth is responsible for the murder. This is because she planned out the whole murder – “Leave all the rest to me.” (A1; S5; L73) Lady Macbeth has just told Macbeth that all he has to do is act welcoming to Duncan but to remember that he must be taken care of, and that she will take care of everything else.
In addition, she uses a large variety of persuasive techniques to convince Macbeth to continue with their plan, when he had had a change of heart in the soliloquy at the beginning of Act 1 Scene 7. For example she