Macbeth

What deeds would you expect people to remember you for?

I might wish my victories as Duncan's general to stand foremost, but I gave Scotland darker deeds to remember. I murdered the king who had honoured me, then killed his attendants to silence them. I ordered Banquo and Fleance murdered because I feared their future; Banquo died, but his son escaped. I also ordered the slaughter of Macduff's household, including his wife and young son. These were not victories in battle. They were acts of fear committed to preserve my crown. Whatever courage remained in me could not undo the terror of my rule.

Why should readers still turn to your story?

I know nothing of those who might turn to my story beyond its end. What I can offer is the course of a man who gained what he wanted and found himself less secure with every step. I began with honour, heard a promise, and chose murder rather than patience. After that, each fear became a reason for another crime. The crown did not quiet my mind, and force did not make my rule safe. My story shows how ambition can consume the very life it was meant to enlarge.

What one warning would you give a reader tempted by ambition?

I would warn you not to mistake a promised greatness for permission to do wrong. The witches told me I would be king; they did not make my hand strike Duncan. I allowed the thought of a crown to outweigh the duties already before me. Once I had murdered for power, I imagined further murders would make that power secure. Instead, fear multiplied. Look closely at the first deed your ambition asks of you. I knew mine was terrible before I committed it, and gaining the throne did not make it less terrible afterward.

What did you have most reason to be proud of before you took the crown?

I had most reason to be proud of my courage in Duncan's service. Banquo and I helped overcome rebellion and an invading army, and my strength then served something beyond my own advancement. Duncan's gift of the title of Cawdor was an honour earned through that service. I already possessed rank, trust, and a name for bravery. Yet I let the promise of a greater title make those things seem small. The bitter difference is that I earned honour as a general, while I seized the crown through betrayal and could not rest beneath it.

How did your rule betray the justice a king should uphold?

I began by murdering the king I had served, a trusting guest beneath my roof. Then I killed his attendants before they could declare their innocence. Once crowned, I used power to protect that first crime rather than to uphold justice. I sent murderers after Banquo and Fleance, and ordered the destruction of Macduff's household. Innocence offered no protection when my fear demanded blood. My rule became a terror, and the nobles rose against it. I wore the crown, but made my own safety more important than the lives entrusted to a king.

Why did each attempt to make yourself safe leave you more anxious?

Each attempt to secure myself rested upon the same mistake: I believed another death could quiet the fear born from Duncan's murder. Killing his attendants silenced them, but did not make my claim innocent. Banquo's death left Fleance alive, so the future I dreaded remained beyond my reach. Even the witches' assurances could not give me true security; they only made me trust what I did not understand. Meanwhile, my cruelty drove nobles to rebel. I kept striking at danger, yet my own deeds created fresh reasons for others to oppose me.

What did gaining the crown teach you about the cost of success?

I gained the crown and lost the peace I had imagined it would bring. Before Duncan's death, I feared the deed; afterward, I feared everyone who might threaten what I had taken. Banquo's courage troubled me, and the thought of his descendants ruling made my own kingship seem empty. I answered fear with further bloodshed, yet each death left me less secure. My success cost innocent lives, my wife's peace, and my own rest. A crown gained through murder gave me power, but no safety in possessing it.

How did you change from a loyal soldier into a tyrant?

I began by fighting for Duncan, and he rewarded my service. Then the witches offered me a future I wanted too fiercely. When their words about Cawdor proved true, I began to imagine the crown within reach. My wife urged me past my doubts, but I chose to kill Duncan. Afterward, I no longer needed her urging. I arranged Banquo's death and ordered Macduff's household destroyed. Fear became my reason for cruelty. I changed through choices: first forcing my way to power, then treating every threat as permission for another murder.

What frightened you about killing Duncan before you acted?

I feared the murder even while preparing to commit it. Duncan was my king, and he came beneath my roof as a trusting guest. I had served him bravely and received his favour; now I meant to turn that trust against him while he slept. My ambition pulled me forward, but my mind would not let the act seem simple. Before the signal came, I saw a dagger hanging before me and could not tell whether it was real. The deed frightened me before my hand had done it.

Why did your efforts to secure the throne ultimately fail?

I tried to secure the throne by removing everyone I feared, but violence could not give me certainty. Banquo died, yet Fleance escaped, leaving the future I dreaded still possible. I returned to the witches and trusted promises whose meanings I did not understand. Their assurances made me bold when I should have doubted. Meanwhile, my cruelty turned Scotland's nobles against me. Malcolm and Macduff came against Dunsinane, and Macduff killed me. I had mistaken the power to destroy others for the power to make myself safe.

What did you tell Lady Macbeth in your letter?

I wrote to my wife about the meeting on the heath and the strange future the witches had set before me. I told her of their greeting, their promise of kingship, and the new title that seemed to confirm their knowledge. The letter carried the possibility of a crown into our home before Duncan arrived there. She seized upon that possibility more firmly than I had. Where I still felt doubt, she saw something to pursue. My message gave her the news from which she began to urge me toward murder.

What did you see while waiting for the signal to kill Duncan?

While I waited for my wife's signal, I saw a dagger suspended before me, with its handle turned toward my hand. It seemed to lead me toward Duncan's chamber, yet I could not tell whether anything was truly there or whether my troubled mind had shaped it. The vision became bloody, joining the weapon I imagined to the deed I intended. I was alone with that uncertainty until the bell sounded. Then I went toward the sleeping king, carrying out the murder that had already filled my thoughts with terror.

How did Lady Macbeth use Duncan's attendants to conceal the murder?

My wife made Duncan's attendants part of the concealment before I struck him. She gave the two guards wine so that they slept heavily and could not interfere. After I killed Duncan, she placed the daggers beside his attendants, turning suspicion toward the men who should have guarded him. That was the shelter we tried to build around our crime: a sleeping king murdered, his sleeping servants made to bear the blame. Yet hiding the weapons did nothing to quiet the fear that followed me.

Why did you kill Duncan's attendants afterward?

I killed Duncan's attendants because, alive, they could have declared their innocence. My wife had placed the daggers beside them, but that appearance of guilt was not enough to satisfy my fear. I wanted their voices silenced before they could disturb the concealment of Duncan's murder. It was another killing meant to secure the first. I had begun by fearing the deed that would give me the crown; afterward, I feared whatever might expose it. My answer to that fear was more blood, and it brought me no peace.

What happened when the murderers attacked Banquo and Fleance?

The murderers killed Banquo, but Fleance escaped. I had wanted both dead, because Banquo's courage and wisdom troubled me, and the witches had promised a line of kings from him. To possess the crown while believing another man's descendants would inherit it seemed a bitter reward for what I had done. Banquo's death removed the man I feared, but his son's escape left the future beyond my grasp. I had sent murderers to make my throne secure, and their work left the fear that had driven me still alive.

What happened when you saw Banquo's ghost at the banquet?

At the banquet I saw Banquo's ghost, and my fear broke through the appearance of command I wished to keep. My behaviour frightened the guests. I had ordered Banquo's death to rid myself of a danger, yet there he was before me when I should have been displaying the security of my crown. What I saw made that security crumble. I could command murderers, but I could not command my own terror. The feast became another sign that gaining the throne had not given me mastery over myself.

What warnings and assurances did the witches' apparitions give you?

The apparitions warned me about Macduff, yet they also gave assurances that made me believe I was safe from my enemies. I returned to the witches because uncertainty had become unbearable: I wanted the future settled in words I could trust. Instead, their promises carried meanings I failed to grasp. I held fast to the comfort and did not understand the danger. In the end, those assurances proved misleading, and Macduff killed me in combat. What I had taken for protection was no protection against the end that came.

How did Malcolm and Macduff bring an army against Dunsinane?

Malcolm and Macduff led an English army against my castle at Dunsinane after my rule had driven Scotland's nobles to rebellion. I had tried to hold the kingdom through fear, but terror did not make it loyal. The deaths I ordered, including the slaughter of Macduff's household, belonged to the rule they rose against. As their army came, I still leaned upon the witches' assurances. Those promises failed me. Macduff met me in single combat and killed me, and Malcolm became king after my fall.

Why did Duncan's choice of Malcolm as heir trouble you?

Duncan's choice of Malcolm troubled me because I had already begun to desire the crown the witches foretold. When their greeting as Thane of Cawdor proved true, the promise of kingship took stronger hold of me. Then Duncan named his son as heir, placing Malcolm in the path of what I wanted. I should have received that choice as a loyal servant of my king. Instead, ambition made me see it as an obstacle. The trouble was not an injury Duncan had done me, but the desire growing within me.

What obligations to Duncan did you set aside when you murdered him?

I set aside the loyalty I owed Duncan as my king and the service I owed him as his general. He had rewarded me with the title Thane of Cawdor, and I answered that trust with murder. He was also a guest beneath my roof at Inverness, where he should have been safe. I knew enough to fear what I was preparing to do, yet I accepted my wife's urging and let ambition outweigh those duties. I killed a sleeping man who trusted me, not an enemy faced openly in battle.

How did Lady Macbeth persuade you to act despite your doubts?

My wife saw a chance where I saw reasons to draw back. Duncan would sleep beneath our roof, trusting me, and I feared the murder even while I desired its reward. She answered my hesitation with a firm resolve that I did not possess. She urged me to seize the crown and took charge of the plan. Yet her urging did not take the choice out of my hands. I let my ambition outweigh my doubts, and I went to Duncan's chamber knowing what I meant to do.

Why did Lady Macbeth fear you were too kind to seize the crown?

She feared that I could desire greatness without being willing to commit the cruelty that would gain it. I had served Duncan bravely, and he had rewarded me; killing him was no simple next step for a loyal soldier. My doubts were real, though my ambition was real also. When she learned what the witches had promised, she resolved upon action more quickly than I did. She saw my hesitation as an obstacle to the crown. In the end, I overcame that hesitation, but not through any virtue.

Why did the prospect of Banquo's descendants becoming kings embitter you?

I had gained the crown through murder, yet the witches promised a royal future to Banquo's descendants rather than to mine. That thought made my victory seem bitter and insecure. I had destroyed my peace, and another man's family might receive the lasting reward. Banquo's courage and wisdom deepened my fear, for I saw in him a threat I could not dismiss. Instead of questioning what I had done, I sought to protect it with another crime. Banquo died by my order, but Fleance escaped, and my fear remained.

Why did you return to the witches instead of accepting uncertainty?

Uncertainty had become more than I could bear. I possessed the crown, but I could find no safety in it. Banquo was dead, Fleance had escaped, and my fears had not ended with the killing I had ordered. I returned to the witches because I wanted knowledge that would put those fears to rest. Their apparitions warned me about Macduff, yet also gave me promises I chose to trust. I mistook those promises for protection. What I sought as certainty became another reason to disregard the danger gathering around me.

How did you and Lady Macbeth exchange roles as the violence continued?

At first my wife supplied the resolve while I struggled with fear. She urged Duncan's murder and arranged the plan; I hesitated before carrying it out. Once I wore the crown, I no longer needed her to drive me toward violence. I arranged the attack on Banquo and Fleance myself, trying to secure what murder had won. As I answered fear with further cruelty, she became overwhelmed by guilt. We had sought the same crown, but it brought neither of us peace: she broke beneath the burden, while I pressed onward into tyranny.

What do the images of blood and sleep reveal about your guilt?

Blood marks what I have done, while sleep shows the peace my actions have destroyed. Before Duncan's murder, I saw a bloody dagger and could not tell whether it stood before me or came from my troubled mind. Duncan himself lay sleeping when I killed him. Those things bind violence to my inward fear: the crime was not merely something that happened outside me. Taking the crown did not quiet my mind. Banquo's ghost later disturbed my banquet, and power could not keep the consequences of murder from returning to trouble me.

How much did you choose your course rather than merely fulfill a prophecy?

The witches told me I would be king, but I chose to make their promise come true through murder. Their greeting stirred my ambition, especially when I learned that Duncan had indeed made me Thane of Cawdor. Yet I knew fear and doubt before killing him. My wife's urging mattered, but my hand carried out the deed. Later I chose further killings without needing her persuasion. The prophecies influenced what I hoped and feared; they did not remove my part in turning those hopes and fears into a reign of terror.

How did your reign of terror turn Scotland's nobles against you?

I tried to make my throne secure by destroying whatever I feared, and in doing so I made my rule intolerable. Banquo's murder did not bring peace, and my fear of Macduff led me to order the slaughter of his household, including his wife and young son. Such violence was no longer the service I had once given Scotland as a soldier. It was tyranny in defence of my own power. Scotland's nobles rebelled, and Malcolm and Macduff brought an army to Dunsinane. My attempts to prevent my fall helped bring it about.