The scene in which Macbeth consults with the murderers,
Act III scene 1, is actually a very important scene in terms of the moral decline of
Macbeth. Having allowed his wife to do the dirty work and the manipulation before, here
Macbeth shows that he is capable of doing such acts by himself without his wife's
knowledge. His conversation with the murderers is an excellent example of how one man
can manipulate and distort the truth for his own purposes to persuade others to do what
he wants them to do. It is clear that Macbeth has met with these murderers before, and
he has sown the idea that it is Banquo who is responsible for their misfortunes, as is
made clear in his first speech to them:
readability="12">Have you consider'd of my
speeches?--knowThat it was he, in the times past, which
held youSo under fortunes, which you thought had
beenOur innocent
self?We don't know the
truth, but Macbeth may have actually been the one who disadvantaged these men and now he
has seized this opportunity to conveniently blame it upon Banquo to raise the ire of the
murderers against him and manipulate them to achieve his
purpose.
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