In Shakespeare's MacBeth, a Scottish thane fights his way to becoming king by killing everyone in his way. MacBeth's first victim, and the hardest to kill, was King Duncan. The reason why killing King Duncan was more difficult for MacBeth than killing other victims was that MacBeth had never committed such a crime, and he wasn't sure whether he wanted to carry out his plan or not. He had promised his ambitious wife, Lady MacBeth, that he would kill Duncan, although he later reconsiders the idea. If it were not for Lady MacBeth's persuasion, Duncan most likely would not have been killed. In Act 1, scene 7 of this play, MacBeth begins a monologue. In this soliloquy, the character shows, as Shakespeare's characters are known, a human truth: he is in conflict with the morality of killing his king; the battle of the mind between personal desires and acting ethically. He makes an ethical appeal to himself, saying, "First, since I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the action," meaning that he should act as a dutiful subject and not slaughter his good king. MacBeth is aware that his only motivation for killing the king is his ambition, and that ambition leads people to disaster. At the end of MacBeth's monologue, he chose not to kill King Duncan and shares his decision with his wife Lady Macbeth once she enters. Lady MacBeth, a power-hungry woman, convinces her husband to go back to his plan to assassinate their king. . The first ploy he used to persuade MacBeth was an emotional appeal, making him feel bad about himself by calling him a coward. She asks him, "Would you have what you consider the ornaments of life, and live like a coward in your own esteem," calling him a coward for backing out of the originally agreed plan... middle of paper......l he obvious human truth is the manipulative power women have over men making them feel unmasculine. If MacBeth had never been persuaded to kill Duncan, MacBeth probably would not have committed other murder crimes in the rest of the world. play. One could blame Lady MacBeth for persuading her husband to become a murderer: blame women's ability to manipulate men into having bad character. However, one could also blame MacBeth since he was responsible for his own decisions. MacBeth had the choice of how strongly he opposed his wife's moral beliefs, and he chose to barely defend his opinion. It is clear that neither MacBeth nor his wife were solely responsible for the final decision to kill King Duncan. Without his wife's persuasion, MacBeth would not have killed the king, but MacBeth could have chosen not to be persuaded so easily by his wife..