Ambition and Paranoia
...tement, the success of his surcease(death), was the beginning of all the bad things of the play and brought Macbeth's downfall in the end. When he decides that he would kill the king if he would not have to face the consequences, he also states the extent of his dedication to the cause of becoming the king, by saying: “But here upon this bank and shoal of time, - / We'd jump the life to come, ” (lines 6-7). He is willing to give up the change of salvation to be king if it were as simple as killing Duncan, which shows he only has mortal ambitions and little respect for the Laws and Kingdom of God. With his newly formed dedication comes other new thoughts. He had used the word shoal which is defined as an area of shallow water, and with that definition shoal is related to rain which symbolizes change and is used here to introduce the change in Macbeth's attitude toward the killing and what his fears now are. He then addresses his new fears, that he may be killed for retribution for Duncan's death. “We still have judgment here; that we but teach / Bloody instructions, which being taught, return / to plague the inventor:” (lines 8-10). He also is afraid that if he gets the crown by killing the king, someone may decide to do the same thing to him. He shows his paranoia by comparing death to a poisoned chalice in line eleven, and also saying ”this even-handed justice / Commands the ingredients of our poison'd chalice / To our own lips, “ (lines 10-12). Macbeth's paranoia is important to the play because it causes him to have Banquo and his son murdered and later question the information of the three witches. Not only does this show his paranoia but it foreshadows Macbeth's death at the end of the play when the prince comes back to claim his rightful crown, and Macduff defeats Macbeth. After he thinks about his own death, he realizes that he can't trust the people he thought he could because Duncan trusts him and he is plotting to murder Duncan. He thinks of all the ways he is betraying Duncan's trust in lines twelve through sixteen: “...He is here in double trust: First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong, both against the deed: then as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself.” Then he begins to worry about how other people would react to Duncan's death because he was such a good king: he “...hath been / so clear in his great office, that his virtues / will plead like angels, trumpet-tounged, against / the deep damnation of his taking-off:” (lines 17-20). Macbeth thinks that because Duncan was such a good king, all his good deeds and just rules would appeal to God, like angels would, to convince Him to that Duncan's murder was inexcusable and God should punish Macbeth for committing such an appalling act. Although Macbeth believed God would be vengeful toward him for killing Duncan, it did not make him change his mind. He had already said he would give up his afterlife. Now he worries not about God, but about the people close to the king finding out it was he who killed Duncan. He is afraid the word would spread to everyone in the kingdom: ”Upon th...