Thursday, 12 February 2009

Why does Macbeth express doubt about murdering Duncan in Act I Scene 7?

In hisat
the beginning of Scene 7,is vacillating over whether or not to go through with the murder of .
He considers several reasons against killing him. The first is that Duncan is in his house in
"double trust," both as his "kinsman" (they are cousins) and his
"subject." So to kill him would be to betray that trust in the eyes of God. The second
reason is that Duncan has been a good king, admired by his subjects:


Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
So clear
in his great office, that his virtues 
Will plead like angels trumpet-tongued
against 
The deep damnation of his taking-off.


Finally,admits that he really has no reason to kill Duncan other than his own
"vaulting ambition," which "spurs" him to the crime. By the end of his
soliloquy he has decided not to go through with the murder, at least not in his own castle. It
is only the intervention of his wife that changes his mind.

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