Examples Of Internal Struggles In Macbeth

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In the play Macbeth, Macbeth is faced with the decision to kill King Duncan to become king or not. He first is told by the witches that it is his destiny that he will become king, but he brushes it off as nothing. This vision of him as king becomes brighter when his wife says that he should kill the king. Macbeth has many internal struggles over what he should do. Should he be morally sound and not kill the King or take the chance and do it. Macbeth is faced with three internal struggles, considering killing the King, weighing the advantages and disadvantages, and the aftermath of killing the King. The reader first sees Macbeth have an internal struggle when he’s thinking about murdering King Duncan. "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir." (I, iii, 143-144) When he says this he’s showing guilt over the immorality of his intentions. He thinks if he has the chance why should he pass it by, he wants to take advantage of his situation. He’s thinking that since the witches said it is possible it could happen, along with the their other prophecy of him becoming Thane of Cawdor coming true. Since the opportunity is now presenting itself to Macbeth he’s considering fulfilling the witches prophecies. Macbeth would have never considered killing the King if he never met the …show more content…

Macbeth experienced both guilt over the immorality of his intentions and fear over potential consequences. Both of these tortured Macbeth’s decisioning making and when it was over and done with they still bombarded his thoughts. Even after committing the murder he still doesn’t know if he made the right decision or not. He was ultimately swayed by the witches prophecy and by his wife on what to do. He wouldn’t have ever considered murdering the King if he had never talked to either of them on this