Macbeth's initial response to the Weird Sisters' statements, compared to Banquo's, shows him to be a character who is easily led. While Banquo views the Sisters' statements and motives with some suspicion, Macbeth has already swallowed them. He says, "Two truths are told / As happy prologues to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme" (1.3.140-143). He immediately believes their statements to be "truths" and has no doubt that their "predictions" will come true. ...
Macbeth's initial response to the Weird Sisters' statements, compared to Banquo's, shows him to be a character who is easily led. While Banquo views the Sisters' statements and motives with some suspicion, Macbeth has already swallowed them. He says, "Two truths are told / As happy prologues to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme" (1.3.140-143). He immediately believes their statements to be "truths" and has no doubt that their "predictions" will come true. He never questions their truthfulness or motives.
Further, at the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth lists the great many reasons he has not to kill Duncan before landing on the one reason he believes he has to go through with it: his "Vaulting ambition" (1.7.27). However, when he tells his wife that they will not go ahead with their plan, she is able to goad him into recommitting by insulting his pride. This particular scene shows Macbeth's lack of self-awareness and how easily his wife can lead him. She says that if he does not go forward with the plan, Macbeth will have to count himself a "coward in [his] own esteem" and that when he was prepared to kill Duncan, "then [he was] a man" but not now (1.7.47, 58). It does not take long for her to convince him to do her bidding. Apparently, then, Macbeth did not realize how much of a factor his pride could be in his decision-making, indicating that lack of self-awareness, and his wife's immediate knowledge of how best to manipulate him implies that it is not hard to do.
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