The play Macbeth is about the character Macbeth, but not just because it is his name, he is an interesting person. Macbeth is the thane of Glamis and Scottish general who is told that he will be king by three witches. He kills King Duncan to bring the prophecy to fruition. He deals with a lot of self conflict because he is not comfortable with his decision to kill King Duncan, and later on Banquo.
Macbeth and Banquo are confronted by three old witches, and they tell them of how Macbeth will become King. At first both are skeptical, but after the first part of the prediction comes true they begin to believe. This element of foreshadowing leads Macbeth to believe he must kill King Duncan. He is very uneasy with this thought, and even says that it makes him sick. In a soliloquy, Macbeth reveals that he is too kind hearted to commit such a crime.
After coming to the conclusion that he must kill King Duncan in order to become king, he informs his wife in a letter of this news. She immediately feels that he should kill the king. She tries to persuade Macbeth to do the deed. This puts more pressure and stress on Macbeth. He starts to hallucinate and imagine a floating dagger. Macbeth commits the murder and becomes the next king. All seems well so far, because Macbeth is celebrating and seems happy.
Macbeth starts to become paranoid now that he has King Duncan’s blood on his hands. Realizing that the witches predicted Banquo’s sons to be king after him, he starts to think maybe Banquo’s sons will do him the same way he did Duncan. He also knows that Banquo is a smart man and it wont take him long to figure out what he has done. These thoughts create a very nervous Macbeth.
Macbeth sets a meeting with murderers. In this meeting he tells them that Banquo was responsible for King Duncan’s death. He orders them to kill Banquo along with his son, who is said to be the next king by the witches. This shows how desperate Macbeth has become. The murderers return to Macbeth with news of their success. They inform him that they killed Banquo, but his son had escaped. The news of Banquo’s escaped son does not go well with Macbeth.
Macbeth is at a dinner when something very unusual happens. A ghost of Banquo is at the dinner sitting in his chair. Macbeth starts yelling and is terrified from the sight of his old recently deceased friend sitting in his chair. He is the only one that can see this ghost. The guests of the dinner are concerned that the king is not well. His wife tells him that he should not be afraid, because it is his fear that causes him to see such frightening things. The ghost appears once again only to show just how uneasy the new king is.
Macbeth is essential to this story simply because it revolves around him and the events in his complicated life. The witches inference caused Macbeth a great deal of trouble. They tell him future events that man should never find out ahead of time. This made Macbeth contemplate on the king’s murder, only to create some major self conflict. His wife was there to help him make the decision. Without her, he might not have had the courage or confidence to kill a king. Macbeth kills the king, but not before his hallucinations start. Macbeth becomes king, but with it comes paranoia and suspicion of his friend Banquo. He has his friend killed and attempts to have his son killed also. This only causes more hallucinations for the already anxious king. I feel that this was very interesting story; if there is a change to make it more interesting, I don’t know what it is.