Temptation

Macbeth is tempted to kill King Duncan in order to take over the crown himself. That temptation comes is not surprising, it happens to us all, but what choices are then made is what interests Shakespeare. Macbeth initially chooses to resist the tempation but then gives in under pressure from his wife, and from the witches who prophecy that he will become King. We see that dallying with temptation, as Macbeth seems to do, weakens one's resistance to it. In Hamlet Claudius was tempted to kill his brother to become King himself and take his brother's wife. We don't learn much about his struggle with this temptation as te evil deed has been done before the action of the play starts - we just get to see the guilt he suffers afterwards.

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