Macbeth kills his own friend Banquo because he was afraid that Banquo's children would eventually take over the throne. His original plan to kill Banquo and Fleance was to have them murdered while they were riding together. It didn't work as Fleance was lucky to escape. Macbeth's madness increases greatly and there is no choice but death. Fleance ran away and was never heard from again. Macbeth quickly changed and became even crazier with his power, and feared that Banquo would take the throne away from him. The heirs were afraid, thinking that they would be responsible for their father's death or that they would die afterwards. That's when they ran away, so there were no more heirs to the throne. Lady Macbeth had nothing to do with Banquo's murder. Macbeth decided to start making his own decision because he was changing and it was no longer his wife telling him what to do. Instead of revealing his plans to Lady Macbeth, he kept the secret from her until the murder was committed and completed. Macbeth has killed, so he thinks he might just keep killing. Macbeth gained his power by becoming king and he no longer feels guilty about murder like he did when he killed Duncan. Now he thinks it's okay to continue killing people to ensure his place on the throne, and he no longer lets any guilt haunt him. He tries to establish his manhood by killing Banquo and Macduff's family. The witches told Macbeth to be wary of Macduff, so Macbeth wanted to make sure he couldn't get in the way of his throne. Macbeth sent his soldiers to kill Macduff, but when they arrived at his castle, they realized that only his family was there, not himself. Instead, the soldiers killed his family. The soldiers returned to Macbeth, and Macduff no longer remembered... middle of paper ... for so many of the good things in life. Instead, he will be seen as someone selfish and evil who only wanted to harm everyone except himself. He cared so much about everyone and ended up developing a hatred towards everyone, even though he had no reason to hate them. Instead of taking matters into his own hands to become king, he completely destroyed his life. He couldn't even live happily when he became king because he had to suffer from guilty thoughts for the rest of his life. His wife, Lady Macbeth, even suffered for the simple fact of contributing to someone's death early on in her journey to kingship. I guess his journey to becoming royal wasn't what they thought it would be; it just made Macbeth change drastically and ruin his life. Work cited Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. New York: Washington Press, 1992.