and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should, by doing every thing Safe toward your love and honour." Is this an inclination of his virtue, or is it hypocrisy? .
* Conscience? - We can see the moral struggle within him when Duncan nominates Malcolm as his successor. He calls on the stars to hide their fires so that his evil thoughts will not be seen. Is this a sign of a delicate conscience? Is he a victim of circumstance in that Duncan announces his successor and indicates his intention to visit Macbeth's castle almost in a single breath? Remember he is still in the throes of temptation: he has not yet committed wrong. .
* Compassionate - Lady Macbeth, who knows him best of all people, says in soliloquy that he is "too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way". Does this suggest that he is compassionate? She says he is ambitious but "without the illness (the badness)" that should accompany ambition. Although this is a contrast to the picture of the bloody and ferocious warrior of whom we have been told in Act I, Sc.ii, yet it may still be true. When she says "what thou wouldst highly that wouldst thou holily" does she mean that he would not commit evil to achieve his ambition? Does this suggest nobility? Yet when she adds, "wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win", is there an indication of moral weakness in him? Is her determination to persuade him to the murder another circumstance that helps towards his downfall? .
* As a Husband - What is his relationship with Lady Macbeth at this time? Does his letter to her show a deep affection - an anxiety to share his good news - "my dearest partner of greatness"? Or might he be trying to impress her with his bravery and achievement - to prove her that he is a man? At he end of this scene (Act I, Sc.v) he is not committal to her proposal - he says, "We shall speak further".
