In Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the title character's dilemma can be summed up in his discourse to himself in the beginning of Act I scene vii. In this passage, Macbeth weighs the pros and cons of murdering Duncan, the king. He finds that there is more against the crime than for it. Macbeth's contemplativeness leads him to the conclusion that Duncan is a saint and "hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels" (Macbeth 1.7.17-19). Macbeth can not go through with the endeavor, for Duncan is no stranger; he is a kinsman, and Macbeth is his subject. Macbeth is bound to Duncan, probably through a loyalty oath. One finds out that Duncan has rewarded Macbeth's loyalty with honor and with titles of nobility, resulting in an increase in Macbeth's popularity. He also has a problem killing Duncan due to the fact that Duncan is Macbeth's guest. It is Macbeth's task as a host to protect his guest. For Macbeth to wield the knife himself will be the ultimate form of treachery: he would be attacking his kin, his king, and his guest with the same swing of his arm. One should pay close attention to Macbeth's language; in that same passage, Macbeth personifies pity, making the emotion a horseman who rides quickly on the wind. Macbeth then extends the analogy to himself; he is also a horseman, but he is a clumsy one with little to no motivation or speed: "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other" (Macbeth 1.7.25-28). To put it simply, Macbeth just can not keep up with the pity, including the remorse that he believes he will feel once the deed is done. In addition to the melancholy that will sweep the land once Duncan is dead, Macbeth knows that his time will be short: "bloody instructions which, being taught return to plague th' inventor" (Macbeth 1.7.9-10). Macbeth's ambition to be the king is retarded by the fact that nothing ends with Duncan's death, but once this path is chosen, it will take Macbeth quickly on a descending gradient into villainy. Meanwhile, as Macbeth becomes a villain, the pity produced from this undertaking evolves into "h