Imagery on the Foils of Macbeth
... his sons will be kings. Macbeth starts to get greedy and jealous over Banquo’s prophecy. He wants his own kid to become king so he can start a family line of kings. This is why Macbeth plans to kill Banquo and Fleance. At the end of Act 3 Scene 2 Macbeth explains to Lady Macbeth his plan. He tells her that he has sent three murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. He tells her “Whiles night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.”(3.2.53) Meaning that he has sent three murderers or black agents to kill his enemy the prey. The three murders return only to have Banquo’s blood on their faces. Fleance flees to England where he can escape Macbeth’s men. Once friends, greed becomes a factor and turns them into mortal enemies. This proves that throughout the story “Banquo is a foil to Macbeth in that both are the subjects of prophecies concerning the future kingship of Scotland, but they react to these prophecies differently.” (Macbeth:Study Questions) In this play, Macbeth’s relationship with Lady Macbeth was based on equal opportunity. This was very uncommon during this time when most men took control and were considered to have power over the women. Macbeth’s character is gullible in that he is tricked several times into doing something he wouldn’t normally do. Lady Macbeth was able to make him do what she wanted by manipulating him into killing King Duncan. Even though she did this, it was out of love because she wanted to help Macbeth get what he really wants, the crown. She tells him “look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.”(1.5,63-64) Which means be nice to King Duncan when he comes, even though we are planning to kill him. After the killing, Macbeth feels really guilty. He tells Lady Macbeth “Will all great Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red.”(2.2, 59-62) This means that his hands are so bloody that even if he put them in the ocean it would not wash his hands, but turn the whole ocean red. Then Lady Macbeth replies with “A little water clears us of this deed.”(2.2, 66) This shows that Lady Macbeth is not thinking much of it. Her conscience is clean and she wants to forget it and put it behind her. Things begin changing throughout the play when Macbeth starts getting used to the killing and is trapped into thinking that the only way to stay king, the only way to survive is to keep killing. He begins to lose all of his moral values. Lady Macbeth starts thinking the opposite. Her guilt starts to catch up to her and she finally commits suicide. In all “The main difference between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth lies in Lady Macbeth’s utter refusal to listen to her conscience at the beginning of the play.”(Character Analysis) Most people would say that Macbeth is evil. He killed King Duncan. He killed Banquo and attempted to murder Fleance. Macbeth even killed Macduff’s wife and child after he abandoned them just so he could get back at Macduff for fleeing to England. Even after all this, he loved his wife and was a good husband. He was a heroic warrior who helped withstand Norway’s attack. All during the beginning of the play he did what ever was in his power to do the best he could for Scotland. Macduff felt Macbeth earned his crown the wrong way. So he flees to England to find Malcolm and convince him that he needs to go into Scotland and force Macbeth off his throne. Malcolm decides to put him to a test thinking that Macduff could be there to capture and take him to Macbeth. He tells him that he is the worst person for th...