Conflict in Macbeth

Conflict is the clash of opposing forces, and without conflict there is no drama, and the story would be less interesting. There are many important conflicts in Macbeth, like the conflict between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, the conflict between the good which is represented by Macduff and the evil which is represented by Macbeth, and Macbeth vs. himself, his inner struggle, and all of those conflicts will lead to Macbeth’s down fall.

The relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth may seem like a health one at the beginning, but we quickly learned that there is a conflict between the two. Macbeth was not sure about murdering Duncan, but Lady Macbeth convinced him to murder him by saying “was the hope drunk wherein you dress’d yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale at what it did so freely? From this time such I account thy love. Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou in desire? Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting “I dare not “wait upon “I would,” like the poor cat in the adage” (1, 7, 38- 48) She tries to convince him by calling him a coward and unmanly. Macbeth is convinced enough to murder Duncan which then caused more death and eventually his own down fall.

Another conflict in the book is the conflict between Macduff and Macbeth. They don’t really have a problem with each other at the beginning, but things changed when Macduff Fled to England. Macbeth then decided to murder Macduff’s wife and son. After Macduff got the news that his wife and son are murdered by Macbeth he said "O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, and braggart with my tongue! But , gentle heavens, cut short all intermission; front to front, bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape, heaven forgive him too.” (4, 3, 267- 274) Macduff is saying that he will get revenge on Macbeth, this eventually led to Macbeth’s down fall because Macduff is the only one that can kill him.

Another conflict in the book is Macbeth’s inner struggle. He struggles at making tough decisions like whether to kill Duncan or not. He knew the pros and cons for murdering Duncan and In act 1 scene 7 line 1 to 28 he said “if it were done, when ‘tis done, the ‘twere well it were done quickly: if the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch, with his surcease, success; that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all here, but here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we’d jump the life to come. But in these cases, we still have judgment here: that we but teach bloody instructions, which being taught return to plague the inventor.” (1, 7, 1-28) this quote reveals that he is afraid that the deed will eventually come back to haunt him, it suggests the Macbeth is aware of how the murder would lead him to darkness, and he admits that his only reason for committing murder is ambition. With the influence of Lady Macbeth, he decided to murder Duncan and by the end of the book, we knew that he made the wrong choice.