urder of King Duncan?Macbeth’s feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis” (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor” (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying “All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter” (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn’t need to do anything to become the king saying “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.”, showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth’s doubt. An argument can be made that “the weird sisters do not in fact tempt Macbeth to evil designs upon Duncan, but only prophesy a future in which he rises to the kingship.”(Sisson 117). Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth her thoughts on the matter and he tries to refuse. Though with his own ambition to succeed and his wife’s persuasion he is convinced that King Duncan needs to die for the prophecy to become a reality. Macbeth, and wife, decides that he must make this prophecy come true and does so by murdering King Duncan, showing his desire for power. Was it not his destiny to kill King Duncan and take the c...
