Macbeth

Duncan is Macbeth's murder victim in the Shakespeare play Macbeth. Duncan is the incumbent Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth plot to kill Duncan and take over his reign, and Macbeth stabs Duncan.

Yes, Banquo suspects Macbeth in Act 3 Scene 1. He meets with Macbeth in a room of the royal palace at Forres. It's after Macbeth's coronation at Scone. Banquo comments on the truth of the three witches' three predictions for Macbeth: the thaneship of Glamis and Cawdor, and the kingship of Scotland. He concludes, '...and I fear/Thou played'st most foully for 't' [Lines 2-3].

Well, it's just an old theatrical superstition that holds that the play is cursed. People have been known to be hurt when performing in it. This is true of a lot of plays. Perhaps more than usual have hurt themselves in Macbeth, which has dark and gloomy lighting, a lot of fog and mist and a lot of people wielding swords around.

It is a very complicated tragedy, and its complexity originates from its themes and characters. You need to read the play, as its way too hard to understand in a short paragraph summary.

England, Italy, Greece and France mostly. Parts of Antony and Cleopatra are in Egypt. Parts of the Winter's Tale are in Dalmatia or somewhere thereabouts. Measure for Measure is set in Austria. Macbeth is in Scotland and Hamlet in Denmark.

Macbeth figured that if the grooms were allowed to speak, they would deny any involvement in the murder of Duncan, and this would cause people to look elsewhere for his murderer. As it is, nobody (except Macduff) seriously doubts that the grooms were the killers.

she wants to kill duncan so her husband can get his spot

The conversation he had with the murderers show that he is still trying to cloak his crime under a veneer of political necessity, by suggesting that the murderers have good reason to hate Banquo and wish him dead. In reality they are hired murderers, who would kill anyone if they were paid to do it. They are quite happy to attempt to kill Fleance, who is obviously not their enemy. So, what is Macbeth on about? He is trying to justify the murder to himself, because he still has enough conscience to think that it is wrong to kill his friend just because his decendants might become kings someday.

As supernatural beings (like witches) who could predict the future. If you believed in the supernatural (and the Elizabethans and Macbeth did) the their prophesies would inevitably come true. So the audience and Macbeth knew Macbeth would become king of Scotland, the question was how?.

The witches promised Macbeth that Dunsinane Castle would never fall until the Forest of Birnam attacked it.

Malcolm's army uses brushwood from Birnam Forest as camouflage - so that part of the prophecy is fulfilled.

The witches also promise Macbeth that no man born of woman can kill him.

Macduff was born by Caesarian section, after the death of his mother - so technically he was not born of a woman, but of a corpse.

You just can't trust these witches - though they do tell him to beware of Macduff (that part was good advice).

Firstly, you got the quote wrong. The quote actually says "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife

Answer: He means his mind full of wicked and evil ideas.

she is convinced that she sees the blood of duncan's and banquo's fammilies on her hands

The only way we can speculate on this question, and any idea that Shakespeare was trying to please the king with this play is pure speculation resting on no evidence whatsoever, is to compare the play with the account in Shakespeare's source, Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, Volume 5. If some part of the story is in Holinshed, Shakespeare did not insert it to please the king. If it is not in Holinshed, Shakespeare may have changed the story to please the king, but he may also have changed the story to improve the play. So, first of all, Shakespeare did not add the witches into the story to please the king. The witches and all of their predictions are in Holinshed. Shakespeare did not add the idea that Fleance was the ancestor of the Stuart family. The Stuart family became the house of the rulers of Scotland when one of them married Marjorie Bruce, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, and this story is told in Holinshed also. Shakespeare did change the character of Banquo who in Holinshed was Macbeth's partner in the murder of Duncan, but although possibly whitewashing Banquo may have been because Banquo was King James's ancestor supposedly, it makes more sense that Shakespeare made the change for dramatic reasons, making Macbeth's murder of Banquo more irrational and culpable, and also allowing the role of the assistant murderer to go to Lady Macbeth instead of Banquo.

because he wanted to become king. he also wanted to get rid of his kids (one of whom would be heir to the throne) but they flead making him the new king.

the above ans is does not answer the question FULLY. Macbeth is not entirely evil, he does think he shouldn't really kill Duncan. He thinks three reasons: He is his kinsman and host (therefore it is entrusted with him to look after his guest) and finally Macbeth is his subject. Lady Macbeth does however manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan as she insults and questions his manhood when he wishes to go no more in their plan. Even though there is many reasons against killing Duncan there is only one true reason his deep dark desire which was awoken be the witches in the first scene of the Scottish Play. Duncan's children fled from Scotland as they feared for their lives. They thought there was 'daggers in men's smiles'. This left Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as King and Queen of Scotland...

(cracks fingers)

Personification was used in Macbeth because Shakespeare wanted to relate to us humans with ie. nature which creates an added effect and atmosphere to the play.

Ex. After Duncan's murder, Macduff said that strange things had been happening such as earthquakes which relates to human although it is not human.

Ie. rain symbolizes sadness, despair; sun symbolizes happiness

"What are these, so wither'd and so wild in their attire that look not like th' inhabitants o' the earth, and yet are on't. . . . You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so."

Lady Macduff believes her husband is a traitor, driven mad by fear. She feels his fear led him to abandon her and their children. If Scotland was not safe for him then it was not safe for them and only a fearful man would have abandoned his family this way. She concludes he simply did not love them as even the smallest and weakest animal will fight for its children.

Well, they didn't follow very good police procedure. On discovering the murder, Macduff called the others into Duncan's room. There they found Duncan stabbed to death, and a lot of blood about. His grooms, or bodyguards, had blood on their daggers and blood smeared on their faces. Macbeth, seeing this, and without any further investigation, killed them. When he was asked why he did that he answered that he was so angered by their apparent guilt that he could not hold himself back. Only later does the nagging question of motive come up. In Act II Scene 4 Ross and Macduff have the following conversation: Ross says, "Is it known who did this more than bloody deed?" and Macduff answers "Those who Macbeth hath slain." Ross then asks, "What good could they pretend?", meaning "what good could it do them?" Macduff answers, "They were suborned", which is to say, bribed. and anticipating Ross's next question, he says that since Malcolm and Donalbain have fled the scene, they are suspected of bribing the bodyguards. The logic of all this is highly suspect, but people in general are very poor at applying logic to questions of guilt and innocence. Only after the passage of time does this picture start to appear fishy to the people in Scotland, who realize that if Malcolm and Donalbain committed the murder, it did them no good whatsoever, but seems to have benefited Macbeth immensely. In particular, Lennox expresses this doubt about the all-too-quick resolution of the murder in Act III Scene 6, and hints that he now suspects Macbeth of the murder.

She loves him very much. She knows he is a good ,brave,noble, valiant ,worthy soldier. She loves how he is very ambitious which is evident after the prophecy is given. But she sees his 'milk of human kindness' as a flaw, and she wishes to manipulate him into killing King Duncan with that 'flaw' pushed away.

At the end of the play, they feel that Macbeth is a murderous tyrant, but at the beginning they thought he was a brave and good man.

Yes they did. In celebration of Macbeth becoming king.

At the end of the Shakespearean play 'Macbeth', Scotland was at war with England. The first act had begun with the defensive war of Scotland under King Duncan I [d. August 14, 1040] against invading Norwegians and traitorous Scotsmen. So too did the last act begin with the defensive war of Scotland under Macbeth [c. 1014-August 15, 1057] against invading Englishmen and discontented Scotsmen.

Saying "Macbeth" is considered by those involved in acting to be very bad luck unless you are actually preforming the play onstage. Offstage most refer to the play as "that play" or more commonly "the Scottish Play". This tradition is thought to have started because of the countless accidents and deaths that have surrounded the play, starting with the play's premier and the death of the boy playing Lady Macbeth backstage on opening night, August 7, 1606. Some believe that Shakespeare himself wrote in actual black magic into the spells of the witches and that that has led to the "curse of Macbeth". Adding to the legend is the fact that Macbeth is a very physical play with a great deal of fighting. During a long run, it is very likely that someone will be hurt, and people automaticaly believe it to be the result of the curse.

If someone does say "Macbeth" they are supposed to run outside the theatre, spin around 3 times, spit, and then knock and ask permission to re-enter the theatre.

This curse is a tad ridiculous but what you can you expect. This is a very credible source.