The Importance of Fear in Macbeth Fear motivates many to act on issues, whether they are right or wrong. In the play Macbeth, fear was the main motivating factor that influenced the outcome of the play. Macbeth was afraid of being captured and having to pay for the wrongs he had committed: this led to the murders that followed the assassination of King Duncan. Macbeth's actions were also driven by fear of the witches' prophecies: he was afraid of them coming true and tried to prevent them from coming true. Lady Macbeth was also tormented by fear, as evidenced by constant hand washing, sleepwalking, and other similar behaviors. The entire play was inspired by fear and what it does to a person. To begin, we will address Macbeth's subsequent murders, after Duncan's. For Macbeth, he just killed the King of Scotland and blamed it on his son. It worked and he became king, however he remembered the witches' prophecies. They claimed that Macbeth would be king, but Banquo's sons would follow him. This made Macbeth very angry, he risked everything to become king and after him none of his family will follow him. In addition to being consumed by fear and guilt, Lady Macbeth is slowly losing her sanity. This is a result of him not being able to handle what he did to Duncan. As shown in this quote "Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier and frightened? What need have we to fear who knows, when none can call an account of our power? [Act V, SI, L 32-35] Here is Lady Macbeth looking to wash off what he sees as blood on his hands. He also mentions the obvious fear of going there because of what he did. At first it was Lady Macbeth who pushed Macbeth to kill Duncan his life right before the battle against the English were about to begin. This suicide demonstrates his fear and ultimately what that fear can do to a person. Now we come to the prophecies about witches, these are the main source of fear for Macbeth, after all, where he learned everything from With each new vision, Macbeth falls further into an evil spiral.