Macbeth Turning Point Essay

Every play has a pivot point in its narrative structure. It often comes near the middle of the play and is known as the climax. This is when the plot and characters change the most and leads into the eventual problem and solution. Act 3 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the turning point of the play. It is in act 3 when Macbeth goes way off the rails and kind of loses himself. Act 3 also marks the point where other characters start to suspect that Macbeth committed the murders. Lastly, Macbeth has a large character change during act 3.

Firstly, act 3 is the point where Macbeth goes crazy. During act 3, scene 1, Macbeth is fearful that Banquo has found out that he was the killer of King Duncan. He displays this fear during a conversation with 2

In act 3 scene 6, Lennox is talking to an unnamed lord. Both men are suspicious of Macbeth for the murders of Duncan and Banquo. Lennox says to the unnamed lord “How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight In pious rage the two delinquents tear, That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep? Was not that nobly done?” (3.6.12-14). Lennox is questioning how Macbeth didn’t kill the two servants right away as they were the suspects of Duncan's murder. he is implying that if Macbeth really wasn’t the killer and if he was grieving from the loss, why he wouldn’t kill them.This shows that Lennox is starting to figure out that Macbeth may have been the murderer. During a soliloquy in act 3 scene 1 Banquo seems very suspicious of Macbeth and how he is now King. During this soliloquy he says “Thou hast it now—king, Cawdor, Glamis, all As the Weïrd Women promised, and I fear Thou played’st most foully for ’t” (3.1.1-3). Even Macbeth’s best friend is wondering if Macbeth was the one who killed duncan. These two events are huge turning points in the play because if it is found that Macbeth is the murderer, we will see the eventual downfall of Macbeth and he will lose everything that he and Lady Macbeth have including their