Role Of Punishment In Macbeth

Ladies and gentlemen of the court, the evidence shows that, Macbeth is not an evil man; he is a good man who let his ambition get the best of him. He made a terrible mistake that anyone could make. Macbeth is responsible for the death of King Duncan, Banquo, the Macduffs, and the attempted murder of Fleance. His reasoning for killing King Duncan is so that he can become king, and he wanted to kill Banquo, Fleance and the Macduffs to protect his spot as king. Anyone else given the opportunity to have this power would have done the same thing. Lady Macbeth, the witches, and the amount of power he was promised, made his ambition grow and get the best of him therefore he should not have as harsh of a punishment.
One reason that Macbeth should have a less harsh punishment is because Lady Macbeth pressured him into killing the king. When Macbeth was told by the witches that he …show more content…
The amount of power Macbeth was promised would have made any man kill for what was his. Macbeth first murdered King Duncan to get the spot as king. He proceeded to kill Banqo because he needed to kill Fleance, Banquo’s son, who was supposed to get the spot as king when Macbeth died, and Macbeth did not want anyone to reign as king after him. He then killed the Macduffs because he believed that they suspected that Macbeth was responsible for the murder of King Duncan. Them knowing this could hurt his spot as king, and Macbeth could not have this.
Many may believe that Macbeth deserves to serve his whole sentence because murder is murder no matter the reason, but for one Macbeth is our king and we know him as a good man, that just let his ambition get the best of him. It must be understood that Macbeth was only trying to protect himself. He is still guilty of his crimes but there must be some reasoning because anyone in this situation, with this level of ambition, would have acted this way and would have appreciated some