my stir." (I.iv.43-44). However, when King Duncan places an extra obstacle in his way by naming his son, Malcolm, as his successor, Macbeth realizes that, if he is to be king, then he must kill Duncan: "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap/ For in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires, Let not light see my black and deep desires." (I.iv.49-52).
             When Lady Macbeth reads in her husband's letter of the witches' prediction, she, too, realizes that Duncan must be killed for it to come true. She thinks that Macbeth deserves to be great, and should murder Duncan so that this can be so, but she believes that he is too noble and honest to do something so immoral: "Yet do I fear thy nature: It is too full o'the milk of human-kindness/ To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great: Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (I.v.14-18).
             Although Macbeth wants to be king, he does not wish to kill Duncan, and he thinks aloud to himself of his reasons: "First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself." (I.vii.12). Macbeth does not want to kill Duncan because he is his ki
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