Thursday, January 27, 2011
Act III Question
Consider Macbeth's character after having read Act III of the play. I must point out that Macbeth is king and, in theory, should be able to do whatever he wants. In your answer, discuss whether Macbeth has any choice in his actions and explain why or why not. Make suggestions for ways that he could act differently or try to change the murderous course upon which he has set.
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Macbeth makes a huge decision in Act III of the play, and dramatically alters the flow of the play. Even after all this is done, I do believe Macbeth does have choice in his actions. Due to his insecurities of having the throne taken from him by Duncan's children, he feels he has no choice but to commit his deed. However, he actually does have the choice: he chooses to go about the situation in the most inappropriate manner possible, when all he is doing is digging his hole deeper. If he didn't want to do what he did, then he shouldn't have killed the king. But then again, his wife was the one who contorted his mind to kill him. So, in a way, his wife is the one who has put him in his predicament.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth's choice chances the course of the play extremely, and Macbeth had the choice to do this. By now Macbeth is drowning in his own guilt, and his guilt caused him to make the actions and choices, as well as his worrying. Instead of murdering everyone in his way, Macbeth could try to negotiate and befriend everyone, and eventually gain their complete trust.
ReplyDeleteAs Patrick has already stated, Macbeth is indeed drowning in his own guilt and shame for the actions that he has taken. Macbeth, however, though it may seem, does have the power over his decisions. His acts, though they seem uncontrolable, are actually quite the opposite; he CHOSE to kill Duncan and become monarch of Scotland, he CHOSE to kill Banquo, and ultimately, he did CHOOSE to follow the witches prophecy and grasp his "fate". My reasoning in saying that he chose to commit these acts, and not destiny pushing them against him, is that, he could have thought it out differently; Macbeth could have decided to let fate proceed as it would, without his intervention, howveer, he chose to take matters into his own hands and take the lives of the people around him with a clear train of thought. What Macbeth could have done to avoid the troubled situation in which he is now, would have been to allow the action of life to unfold around him, and ultimately give him the power of king. Also, he could quit listening to his wife, who has a great role in his monstrous scheme. Lastly, I think that Macbeth can o longer stop himself from committing murders, he has become a tyrant and will do anything to prevent anyone from relegating him from his position of authority. The thane of Cawdor and Glamis has turned into a runaway train on a path of self-destruction.
ReplyDeleteAs Dilian said Macbeth chose to kill the former king and his friend. Even though he is a King it doesn't make everything he does acceptable.His actions only shows his fear of being caught or Banquo's children rising to the throne. The more he continues to kill people the worse his fate will become.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth, as a king, has the power to do anything he wants. However, he carries out his plans in secretive and ingenious ways. The killing of Banquo, although Macbeth was the one behind the killing, he was not the murderer. Instead, he had murderers commit the crime as the title seems more appropriate. Macbeth, of course, has choice in his actions. However, his ambition which has lead to his delusion, causes him to distrust everyone. He's in fear of losing his title as king and wants everyone that stands in his way to be killed. Instead of murdering every possible threat, he can perform acts of kindness and respect to gain their trust. Or he can simply banish them from the kingdom, making their actions and threats ineffective.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth's decision to kill King Duncan altered his whole path. He went from a celebrated warrior, comfortable in his position in life to a suspicious, fretful, and guilty man. He allowed his wife's ambition to ruin everything he had. His extreme guilt caused him to murder his own best friend. He sensed Banquo's suspicion, and felt that he needed to kill Banquo to keep the secret. If he killed his best friend to cover his own tracks, where would it end? He'll just keep getting more and more guilty, and more and more suspicious of everyone around him. Eventually, he will end up killing everyone around him to cover all the murders that he committed before that.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth killing Banquo doesn't show that he has the power to do anything. He didn't himself kill Banquo he ordered others to do so because he couldn't. Yes, he had a choice, there is always a choice. He was under suspicion and felt that it was the only way for him to cover up his tracks. He cant change any of it because it has already been done. Killing King Duncan set of a sort of chain reaction of killing. Now that Macbeth is king on top of having to cover up his tracks he feels threatened of his position, which also leads to violence.
ReplyDeleteSince Macbeth is king and is able to do whatever he wants, his character has changed. Macbeth is now the decision-maker and acts upon his choices yet he could have chosen differently. For example, his attitude towards Banquo has changed a great deal because in the beginning of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Banquo and Macbeth seem to be best friends. If the audience were to read on, readers can infer that Macbeth and Banquo became enemies. Banquo became suspicious of Macbeth and vice versa. However, Macbeth became greedy and convinced three people to attempt to murder Banquo and his son, Fleance because Macbeth was afraid that his descendents would not be kings after him. Macbeth used the same persuading techniques like his wife used on him by questioning manhood and masculinity. But in spite of this, Macbeth could have chosen not to meet with the three murderers and let fate take its role. However, he did not and then, Fleance ended up escaping from the murderers. Macbeth could have acted differently by changing the murderous course upon which he set. Macbeth could have gotten the murderers to kill Banquo and their sons in their sleep as King Duncan was killed. Another way Macbeth could have gotten the murderers to kill Banquo and his son could have been to poison their drinks or their food. If one of those suggestions were to happen, then it would be less on Macbeth to have to worry about what Fleance might do because Fleance would not have escaped, or ran away. Nevertheless, Macbeth did have choice in his actions because he is King and is able to do whatever he wants.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth has full control over his actions. Every one has a choice of what they want to do. If Macbeth wants out of this murderous sequence, all he had to do is hand over kingship to Banquo's son, to complete his half of the destiny, as foretold by the witches.
ReplyDeleteBecause Macbeth is king, and can do whatever he wants, he does have a choice in his actions, but he could've chosen them differently. Macbeth's decision to murder Banquo altered the flow of the story line, but he did it out of pure guilt, and he suspected Banquo was suspecting him. Macbeth's ambition is now controlling all of his actions, him not even needing his wife's decision anymore. Macbeth could've let fate take over his life, but instead he chose to kill the kill the king, which led to him killing Banquo. I'm not going to say it was all his fault though, because the witches and his wife played a major role in his decisions. Before he still had his wife and Banquo, whom he could trust with his life, but now in Act three he cannot trust anyone and he is going mad.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth has total control over his actions because he uses his mind and his heart in every one of his situations. Because he is king, Macbeth has full power to do what he wants. I believe that Macbeth's fate determines the outcome of things. (As TJR said, I agree) In order for Macbeth to try to change the murderous course upon which he has set he could have handed over kingship to Banquo's son. Or he could have murdered Banquo in a different way. (As Cara said--> I agree, also)
ReplyDeleteMacbeth has control over his actions but is loosing it slowly due to guilt and nervousness. His emotions are slowly creeping up on him and the guilt is beginning to be unbearable. But killing Banquo was all him no emotion was behind it. He chose to kill him even when there was an easier way of going about things. His actions shifted the action of this play and we are seeing the true nature of Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteby Wesley
As King, Macbeth does have control over his decisions. However, the decisions he makes are slowly killing off his allies. With every new decision, Macbeth backs himself further into a corner until he has nowhere else to go with his decisions because now the kingdom he killed to rule is at stake. He never predicted or noticed that because he killed Duncan, Scotland would fall into madness. Macbeth is distracted because every day he has to make sure that no one knows that he killed the king. Every waking moment, he has to be sure that no one is standing over him with a knife. In order to keep is kingship safe, he has to kill people who are potential threats.
ReplyDelete