Why did Macbeth kill servants?

Well, it is Lady Macbeth's plan really, although Macbeth was tempted by a similar idea. The idea was to kill the king and put the blame on his servants. Macbeth is Duncan's cousin, and so might succeed to the throne.

On the seemingly quiet eve of the 15th of August, King Duncan of Scotland was assassinated in his sleep. King Duncan was celebrating the death of the vulgar rebel MacDonald at the Thane of Cawdor’s Castle briefly before he was killed. MacDonald was killed by the newly appointed Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth, during combat against the Norwegians. Our sources suggest that as King Duncan was sleeping soundly in his room his ‘ professional’ guards were in an alcohol induced slumber. While they were asleep, on duty, two of King Duncan's very own servants allegedly stabbed Duncan multiple times with daggers as he slept. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth accompanied by Lennox the nobleman of Scotland and Macduff the Thane of Fife discovered the lifeless body of King Duncan the morning after. They also found King Duncan's servants asleep right outside his chamber grasping bloody daggers with royal blood streaked on their faces and clothing.When we questioned Macbeth about stumbling upon the assassinated king and his murderers he made a shocking revelation to us; “O, yet I do repent me of my fury That I did kill them (the King’s servants)”. When we asked Macbeth why he acted out so irrationally he attempted to justify his actions by stating “There the murderers, Steep’d in the colours of their trade; their daggers Unmannerly breech’d with gore.…show more content…
Who could refrain, That had a heart to love?”This sudden death of our noble King plunges our country into havoc and uncertainty and without a proper trial of the suspected murderers King Duncan and the good people of Scotland may never receive

In Shakespeare's Play, Macbeth, Macbeth was a cruel man who used the act of murder to gain power. The killings weren’t just Macbeth’s fault, even though he committed some of them himself and is mostly responsible. In Banquo’s murder, the weird sisters, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the two murderers were partly responsible for the murder but, they are guilty in different ways. The weird sisters were partly responsible for Banquo’s murder. The three witches are at fault for Banquo’s murder because they had told Macbeth that he was going to be king but anyone from Banquo’s bloodline will become king. Macbeth wanted to be King of Scotland and didn’t want a family to interfere with that. Banquo and Macbeth went together to the weird sisters where…show more content…
The murderers were two servants who were convinced by Macbeth to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Even though they didn’t plan the murder himself, they cut his neck and stabbed him in the head several times. After the three murderers kill Banquo and attempt to kill Fleance, they told Macbeth, “...his throat is cut. That I did for him…./ Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides,/With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head,/The least a death to nature” (III iv. 17, 27-29). Murderer one tells Macbeth that Banquo dead and buried in a ditch. The murderers telling proves that they were apart of killing Banquo, but Macbeth was the person to blame. They did have an equal amount of blame for Banquo being killed but it wasn’t their plan to kill Banquo, they just agreed to kill. Even though it wasn’t their idea, they still agreed and killed a man because they had thought that Banquo had wronged…show more content…
Lady Macbeth contributed to the killing because she convinced Macbeth to kill Duncan which caused Macbeth to become evil and power hungary. Lady Macbeth had talked Macbeth into saying, “‘Your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under ’t.’” (I v. 56 & 57) Lady Macbeth is giving Macbeth the idea of being innocent on the outside but really be evil on the inside. Lady Macbeth’s comment made Macbeth turn into a killer. Another time she pressured Macbeth was before Macbeth decided to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth had asked him, “‘As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/ And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ”/Like the poor cat i' th' adage?’” (I vii. 41-45). Lady Macbeth was pressuring Macbeth to kill King Duncan causing him to think that if he doesn’t kill him then he would be considered a coward. Lady Macbeth pressuring made Macbeth kill Duncan which made Banquo’s murder easier for him and turned him cruel. Lady Macbeth had a small amount of blame for this specific murder compared to Macbeth because she didn’t contribute to the planning of the murder and didn’t want Macbeth to do it. But, she was responsible for Macbeth’s ruthless

TL;DR

There is no plot hole here. Macbeth killed the chamberlains in Act 2, scene 3, when the murder of King Duncan is discovered. Critics debate whether Lady Macbeth's fainting is feigned or real.

Deets

In Act 2, scene 2, Macbeth tells his wife after returning from Duncan's chamber about how the two chamberlains woke each other after one cried "murder" in his sleep. He adds,

One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other; As they had seen me with these hangman's hands. Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'

When they did say 'God bless us!'

The "hangman's hands" are his bloody hands after killing Duncan. His guilt about killing Duncan is why he cannot say, "Amen". There is nothing in the remainder of the scene that suggests Macbeth killed the chamberlains after listening to their prayers; he already seemed sufficiently shaken with guilt after killing Duncan.

In Act 2, scene 3 he comes back from Duncan's room saying,

O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.

This can only mean that he killed them after "discovering" Duncan's death. First, Lady Macbeth's plan of plying the chamberlains with liquor and wiping the bloody daggers on them seemed sufficient. Killing the chamberlains was never mentioned in that plan. Second, if the chamberlains had been dead when Duncan's body was found in the morning, Macbeth's confession that he killed the servants would raise the question why he was in Duncan's chamber without immediately rousing the entire castle about the king's death. The murder of the chamberlains seems improvised and intended to prevent the denial of their guilt.

Macduff does actually question Macbeth—who had been curiously eloquent throughout the whole scene, more eloquent than enraged about the murder—on why he killed them. Lady Macbeth faints in the middle of her husband's explanation and critics still debate whether this was intended as a ruse to draw attention away from Macbeth (Hunter, page 156; Bate & Rasmussen, page 51).

For example, Trevor Nunn, director of the famous 1976 RSC production of Macbeth (with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench),

made it clear [in the 1976 production] that her 'fainting' was a vitally necessary device to prevent the questioning of her husband from going further. [Bate & Rasmussen, page 158]

References

• Shakespeare: Macbeth. Edited by G. K. Hunter. New Penguin Shakespeare, 1967.
• Shakespeare: Macbeth. Edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. The RSC Shakespeare. Macmillan, 2009.