Macebeth Text Response

"The murder of King Duncan has unanticipated consequences for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Discuss."

‘Macbeth’, a dramatic play written by William Shakespeare is a tale of a man – Macbeth – and his wife – Lady Macbeth – who both have an ambition for power. Influenced by his cold-hearted wife, Macbeth kills King Duncan in order to gain the throne. This deed has consequences for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth which were in no way anticipated and eventually leads to their demise.
The murder of King Duncan creates somewhat of a snowball destined to roll down a very high and steep mountain for Macbeth. To cover his tracks, multiple subsequent murders are carried out. Shortly after killing Duncan, Macbeth kills both men guarding Duncan’s room. Although this was convenient for Macbeth it was also very unnecessary – the guards were two innocent men merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. When his best friend, Banquo, starts to suspect Macbeth, Macbeth feels very paranoid and threatened and orders for Banquo along with his son, Fleance, to be killed. While Banquo is murdered, Fleance escapes. Macbeth at first appears to be delighted by the news that Banquo is dead but come time for the banquet, his guilty conscience takes over and Macbeth loses all composure in front of his guests when he sees Banquo’s ghost. Later in the play, Lennox informs Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth resolves to attack Macduff’s castle and have everyone, including Macduff’s family, killed. The murder of King Duncan is the initial birth of Macbeth’s greed for power and not only are these subsequent murders unanticipated consequences, but the guilt and stress that comes with it.

The deed has consequences for Macbeth, but he does not stand alone; Lady Macbeth was the initial influence on Macbeth’s act of killing King Duncan. At first she does not care for what happened, this is proven when she says to Macbeth “a little water will wash away this blood”, but when Lady Macbeth starts noticing the transformation in her husband’s persona and the reoccurring losses of innocent lives, she feels extraordinarily guilty as she realises the monster she has created and eventually rids herself of this guilt by committing suicide: the biggest consequence above all.

When Macbeth committed the crime of murder, he destroyed his innocence, which is symbolised by his use of the word ‘sleep’. “I thought I heard a voice cry, ‘sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,’ – the innocent sleep” Only the innocent can have an undisturbed wholesome sleep. Since Macbeth murdered his innocence along with Duncan, he shall sleep no more, the only sleeps he will have are full of twisted nightmares that will wake him nightly. The destroying of his innocence awakened something in him; a conscious never-sleeping awareness of what he has done. Unfortunately for Macbeth, once this conscious side that knows murder is awakened, it does not leave, it does not sleep. After the guilt hits her, Lady Macbeth too is ridded of undisturbed sleep. She endures sleep walking/talking which disallows her to forget and move on from the murder, she is only tortured with guilt. Sleep deprivation was not an anticipated consequence by Macbeth or Lady Macbeth but was definitely one of the most severe leaving them with anxiety, stress and paranoia.

The death of King Duncan has consequences for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth which were not at all considered by either. These consequences lead to actions that neither of them thought would ever be carried out by their own hands but eventually lead to the end of their “promising” lives consumed with greed and lust for the best life possible but are never truly satisfied.