ISC Macbeth Workbook Answers : Act 1 Scene 7

After the banquet in the castle in honour of the King, Macbeth ponders over the risks involved in the assassination of Duncan. He feels that if the matter of the crime were to close as soon as the murder is committed, it should be done without any delay. If the murder could arrest its consequences and make him King, he would not hesitate to commit the crime.

Macbeth’s Decision to Drop the Plan

If he would be secure after the murder, Macbeth would not bother about the life come in the next world. At the same time, he knows that crime follows mental punishment in this world itself. Furthermore, he feels that Duncan is his kinsman, King and a guest, therefore, he should be protected and not murdered. Besides, after the proposed murder, pity will rise in every heart. After viewing the planned murder in all its aspects, Macbeth comes to the conclusion that there is no other reason to go ahead with the crime. However, there is his inordinate ambition, which like an eager horseman who misses his seat and falls on the other side as he tries to leap into the saddle.

Lady Macbeth’s Efforts

Lady Macbeth chides her husband for his lack of determination to execute his plan to attain his aim. First, she asks him if his desire of getting the throne was sleeping after they last talked about it. She compares Macbeth to a drunkard who boasts much in his inebriated condition, but after becoming sober, begins to regret his folly. She declares that by his lack of determination he reveals his true self.
He is like the proverbial cat, that desires to catch fish but would not venture to wet its feet. Lady Macbeth says that when he dared to think of murdering the King, he acted with ambition. Then when he made his plan, neither time nor place were favourable. But now that the opportunity has come, Macbeth is unnerved and feels himself unfit for the action.

Goading on by Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth gives her own example of determination. She says that she would never hesitate from doing something even if it was against feminine nature to uphold a pledge. As a mother she knows what it is to suckle a child at its mother’s breast. But if she had made a pledge to kill her own child, she would pluck it from her breast and dash out its brains.

Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth by divulging her plan of action. She plans that when the King is fast asleep she will make his two chamberlains drunk with wine. They will fall into a drunken sleep and be unable to understand what takes place around them. Thus, Lady Macbeth succeeds in transforming the wavering Macbeth into a man of determination. He now proposes that they should try to deceive all people with an appearance of joy so that nobody can get a hint of their criminal designs.