Why Does Macbeth Change His Mind About Killing Duncan PDF

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Macbeth could not kill Duncan himself in the first attempt and it....

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Why Does Macbeth Change His Mind About Killing Duncan? Act I ends with Macbeth stating, "I am settled, and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat" (I, vii, ll.79-80). Considering the witches' prediction that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will murder Duncan, we have every reason to believe that they will succeed in their mission. At this point, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth to keep her mouth shut, even as she continues to argue with him about the "unmanly" inaction he's displaying in the face of the bloody business at hand. The spurs embedded in Lady Macbeth's

response

to

Macbeth's

challenge

penetrate deeply into Macbeth's psyche. Macbeth's decision to kill the king was largely attributed to Lady Macbeth's skillful manipulation and strong innuendo of sexual tension between herself and the king. While his wife is the driving force behind the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is also responsible for the murders of Banquo and MacDuff's family, which proves that he has the ability to take action on his own. While Lady Macbeth's influence acts as a catalyst, Macbeth

is a willing subject of her persuasions, but the seeds of his decision are sown well before Act I ends.

In Act I, scene ii, a wounded sergeant reports that "brave Macbeth," swathed in the blood of the rebels, "unseam'd the old Thane of Cawdor from the nave to the chops," and then impaled his head on the battlements. This is what loyal officer Rosse says about Macbeth: "Bellona's bridegroom." Bellona is "the virgin goddess of war," and Rosse says that Macbeth is "Bellona's bride." We already know that Macbeth is capable of bloody deeds (in a good cause), and the figurative reference to Bellona will soon appear in Lady Macbeth's character. As a result of these events, Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches, who predict that Macbeth will become king of Scotland in scene iii of Act I, scene 3. After becoming Thane of Cawdor by "chance," Macbeth speculates that it is possible for him to become king "without my stir" if he succeeds in his goal (I, iii, l.143).

In the very next scene, Macbeth's hopes for a passive and legitimate route to the throne are dashed. According to Macbeth's response in Act I, Scene IV, when the good King Duncan tells Macbeth that the debt he has to his loyal general exceeds his means of payment (l.20), the good King Duncan is correct in his assessment of Macbeth's financial situation. For a brief moment, it appears that Macbeth could ascend to the throne without "stirring," and that Duncan would name him as his successor. The prophecy of Macbeth becoming Scotland's king will not come to pass unless he takes action on his own, after Duncan names Malcolm as his heir apparent. Acknowledging that Duncan's murder will be necessary, he has devised an aspirational murder plan. Later, Macbeth withdraws and tells us the name Malcolm is a step that blocks his ascension to the throne in a stage aside. Because his aspirations are so great, he expresses the sentiment, "Stars, hide your fires/Let not light see my black and deep desires," when asked if anyone can see his evil intentions (I, iv, ll.5051).

"If it were done, when ti's done, then'twere well/It were done quickly" are Macbeth's technical parameters for a hypothetical murder at the beginning of Act I, scene vii (ll.1-2). He begins to list the reasons why he should not kill the king when he is afraid of the consequences of being discovered. Personal loyalty is the first thing Macbeth considers, since Duncan is Macbeth's cousin and therefore Macbeth should protect the king rather than wield it against him. On the other hand, Duncan has been an excellent monarch, and there are no grievances against him. If you don't kill someone, you're guilty of committing a morally repulsive act that deserves punishment regardless of whether or not it's discovered by human eyes. Instead, he begins compiling a list of the materials he'll require if he decides to proceed. "I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting

ambition,

which

o'erleaps

itself,"

Macbeth laments in this regard (I, vii, l.25-27). As Lady Macbeth enters the scene, the "spur" appears (almost as if Macbeth had conjured it up). First, Macbeth tells his wife that they will not go any further in this business because they both know what

must be done if he is to become Scotland's ruler. The critic's attention has been drawn to Lady Macbeth's claim that Macbeth is a coward, and she begins her argument. There's a reason why she doesn't say it outright, and it has nothing to do with her argument: she doesn't want to live like a coward. "I dare do all that may become a man;/Who dares to do more is none," Macbeth declares to Lady Macbeth (I, vii, ll.46-47).

He

then

tells

her

to

keep

quiet.

Nevertheless, Lady Macbeth's counterargument does not rest solely on her obligation to her husband; instead, she tells Macbeth that if he fails to carry out their plan, he has broken a promise to her. It begins with her questioning if he was "drunk" when he wrote to her following his encounter with the witches. Since he raised false expectations in this missive, she concludes that his declarations of love to her are just as false as they were in this missive. When Macbeth promises his wife (the throne) and then reneges on them, some "beast" must have encouraged him to break the trust of his wife.

It is at this point in the play that Lady Macbeth launches into her famous "phantom child" speech to Macbeth, saying to him, "I have given suck and know/How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me; I would have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,/And dashed the brains out, had I shown as you/Have done to this" (I, vii, ll.54-58). Even though modern critics have focused on the "desexing" soliloquy of Lady Macbeth in Act I, scene v, ll., the focus of this argument is on trust, specifically the trust that binds a husband and wife together.

Finally, Macbeth gets back to the meat and potatoes of the play's plot. When he asks Lady Macbeth, "what if we fail?" he appears to be seeking reassurance rather than an out, having already determined that his bond with her requires him to act. The details of Lady Macbeth's follow-up answer and the murder plan have been worked out. In order to prevent their plan from failing, she claims that only fear will stop them from succeeding, and then lays out a plot that revolves around blaming the king's death on "spungy

officers" (her reference to "swine" creating one of many associations between Lady Macbeth and the witches). Despite what Macbeth sees as his natural relationship with Lady Macbeth, he murders Duncan because he sees it as the only way he can fulfil his duty to his wife. However, Lady Macbeth has been stripped of her maternal gender and Macbeth has entered into an unholy relationship with the witches, which will eventually supplant his marriage to Lady Macbeth....