Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Can you please explain the internal conflicts with three characters in the play Macbeth?The characters are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Banquo.

In addition to the above, in Shakespeare's
Macbeth, each of the characters has an additional internal
conflict.


Banquo also struggles with his knowledge of what
the witches told Macbeth.  He knows what the witches predicted, so he suspects Macbeth
of treachery.  Yet, Macbeth is his friend and he has no proof.  Banquo says when he
opens Act 3:


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Thou has it now--King, Cawdor, Glamis,
all


As the Weird Women promised, and I
fear


Thou played'st most foully
for't.



Lady Macbeth, too,
struggles with an additional inner conflict.  When she pleads with the "spirits" to
"unsex" her, etc. (Act 1.5), to make her more aggressive and pitiless like a man, she is
actually revealing an inner conflict.  As evil as she seems to be, she doubts her own
ability to go through with the assassination.  The fact that she feels the need to plead
to be changed in order to kill Duncan, suggests that she actually doubts her own ability
to do so.  And, if fact, she can't go through with it.  Even though she doubts her
husband's ability to go through with the murder, when she has a chance to do it herself
she cannot--the sleeping Duncan reminds her of her father:  pretty sentimental for
someone thought of as so evil, as Lady Macbeth often
is.


Finally, Macbeth struggles with Duncan's humble nature
and his fairness as a king (Act 1.7).  At one point, he decides not to kill Duncan
because of the kind of ruler Duncan has been.  Of course, the threat of eternal
damnation plays a part in his decision, too.  Either way, however, Macbeth suffers from
a specific inner conflict in Act 1.7.

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