“[Life] is a tale/ told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/ Signifying nothing.” In the drama, Macbeth, Macbeth says this famous line after hearing of his wife's murder. But who’s fault was it that Lady Macbeth and later Macbeth, were murdered? Was Macbeth the victim of some else's manipulation? In the play Macbeth, Macbeth was told by 3 witches his fate throughout the course of the drama. Macbeth was a victim of the witches and supernatural because they unleashed his evil aspirations and gave him false security.
Macbeth was a victim of the witches because they caused his greed and extreme ambitions which lead to his downfall. In the play, the witches said, "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter." (I, III, 50) This means that Macbeth is next in line to be king. The witches saying this sparked his lifelong ambition to be king. This caused Macbeth to want to be king so badly he murdered King Duncan for standing in his way of the throne. This made him a victim because this started a sequence of murders to cover his tracks, that ultimately, killed him. Without the witches sparking this ambition, Macbeth wouldn’t have had to be a part of the murders of seven characters. But, this wasn’t the only way the witches
…show more content…
But as stated by Kyra Kryder, “... viewing [Lady Macbeth] as a victim to her husband’s unnatural ambitions.” (Kryder) She is saying that some people could view Lady Macbeth as a victim of Macbeth’s selfish actions, rather than a motivator, since after she killed herself from all the stress Macbeth caused. As stated in the quote she could be a victim of the stress of Macbeth's “unnatural ambitions” and those ambition were provoked by the witches as stated earlier. So ultimately without the witches originally unleashing his ambitions, Lady Macbeth, for one couldn’t have provoked him further, so she can’t be the reason for Macbeth’s
Lady Macbeth and the three witches are responsible for Macbeth’s downfall. The three witches told Macbeth a prophecy, which led him to murder anyone in his way for more power. In page 18, When Macbeth heard that he became the new Thane of Cawdor, he thought, “If it’s my fate to be king, then fate might make me king, without me having to do anything”. This is ironic because he ended up murdering innocent people such as his best friend and Macduff’s family to stay as the King. Macbeth relied too much on the prophecies from the three witches to save him from fear. “Im determined to know the worst, by any means I can. I have to know, for my own good”(p.72). Lady Macbeth was also
If anyone is to blame for starting this mess, it should be the Weird Sisters for telling MacBeth prophesies. “They told MacBeth that he would be Thane of Cawdor, and then become king in the future” (Shakespeare 17). After hearing the witches’ prophecy, MacBeth thinks that he must kill the current king, King Duncan, in order to take over the throne. “He writes a letter to his wife saying that he needs to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophesies” (Shakespeare 31). The witches are responsible for introducing the ideas to MacBeth which led to him killing Duncan in order to gain power. The witches had such a strong influence on MacBeth that they became a part of his brain and worked to transform him into this power-hungry monster. It was the killing of King Duncan that caused him to feel the need to kill more people, thinking that they were suspicious. Without the witches there to c...
There is an ambiguity in Macbeth - do the witches represent inevitable fate, and is there in this instance the triumph of the forces of darkness, or does Macbeth have free will? If the responsibility for his actions rests with him and him alone, it may be argued that it is his weakness and his ambition that matter. His weakness lies in allowing himself to be bullied and shamed by Lady Macbeth into the murder of his king and guest.
In Shakespeare's final play, Macbeth the main character Macbeth is very weak, and if it was not for the other characters he would not have committed any of those heinous crimes. The play opens with Macbeth accidentally running into three witches who give him his fortune. The go on to explain that he would become the new Thane of Cawdor, and from that point he would go onto commit many murders. Macbeth also has a wife who seems to be very controlling, and is able to persuade this already weak man to actually go through with committing these murders. I believe that the Macbeth was brainwashed by the witches, and then forced by his wife Lady Macbeth to commit these murders, and he can not be held accountable for his weakness.
Macbeth was the cause of much suffering in the play and in turn suffered greatly throughout. Macbeth suffers much indecision from the moment he hears the witches prophesies. He gets confused and is torn between killing or not killing King Duncan. He immediately thinks of killing the king, as he wants so badly to be king, but the idea of committing such a crime appals him. “Why do I yield to that suggestion”(1:3:144), he says in a state of confusion. Macbeth is Duncan’s “kinsman”, “his subject” and “his host”. As his host he should be protecting him, not killing him. Macbeth believes in “even-handed justice” and that if he commits evil, evil will be put upon him. He ultimately decides not to kill the King but Lady Macbeth convinces him otherwise, “What beast was’t then That made you break this enterprise to me?” she asks.
Duncan. She wanted Macbeth to take the rank of king as much as he did.
The witches can not be the most powerful characters in the play or the catalyst to all of Macbeth’s crimes since he has the power of his free will to decide what he does. The witches did not force him to do anything, they only influenced what he did by bringing out his “dark side” and true ambitions. “And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, show’d like a rebel’s whore: But all’s too weak: for brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—disdaining Fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smoked with bloody execution,” (Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 16-20) The Captain says that Macbeth should have been killed in battle but he was stronger than his fate is. This means that Macbeth has no one to blame but himself for his own death, actions and crimes.
All great leaders have their rise and fall. Some throw themselves into failure, some are pushed into it. Those who are pushed into it are usually influenced by evils around them. In the play, Macbeth by Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, is pushed to failure. The play takes place in Scotland and is about a young warrior who goes by the name Macbeth. Macbeth is told he would be a king by three witches. Macbeth kills the existing king and becomes a cruel, unjust king. He eventually goes insane and is killed and humiliated. Many may think Macbeth’s downfall was his own fault, those people are wrong. There were three main outside influences that were responsible for Macbeth’s fall. The first influence is his wife, Lady Macbeth, who seeks to be the queen and pushes Macbeth to pursue the crown. The second is Macbeth’s good friend Banquo who was with Macbeth when he was told he was to be king in the future. Banquo’s silence made Macbeth paranoid and that caused Macbeth to order his men to kill Banquo. This was a big cause in Macbeth’s insanity. The final influences are the three witches who drive Macbeth to kill Duncan, and they make him weak by letting him think he is invincible. Macbeth may have been a bad king, but he was not responsible for his collapse.
The witches played an undoubtedly large role in MacBeth, being the instigators of the entire plot. In act one scene three, the witches say: `all hail, MacBeth! Hail to thee, thane of cawdor! ... All hail, MacBeth, that shalt be king hereafter!' (Line 47-50) these prophecies throw into his mind the possibility of further advancement to the highest level of the nobility. If the witches had not told MacBeth of their prophesies, there is little chance he would have thought about them himself, and even less chance he would have murdered king Duncan.
We start to see Lady Macbeth’s actions have a huge impact on Macbeth’s character as he transforms from a decent being to an overly bitter creature. The cause of his alteration is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is constantly excreting heartless information into his mind. "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?" (I;vii;39-41) "And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I;vii;50-51) Lady Macbeth uses these quotes to push her husband beyond limits and is therefore responsible for his dramatic change in attitude. She is constantly feeding his thoughts with negative comments and later on Macbeth realizes that he has another side to him. As he moves along to discover the concealed side of him, Macbeth falls in love with himself and begins to be drawn towards his evil desires. Because Lady Macbeth was the main cause of his new hidden discovery, she is fully responsible for opening up the door and letting the darkness in. This results in Macbeth committing both murders.
However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility for Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to commit the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status as a woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not being the strong, valiant man he is, in battle with her wife and standing before those childish yet effective arguments she used, Lady Macbeth is the immediate cause for Macbeth’s actions.
Macbeth’s growing aspiration changed him from a honorable and respected man to that of a ruthless murder whose guilt eventually caught up with him. Macbeth is guilty of first degree murder because even though he was being manipulated by his wife, Lady Macbeth, he still murdered the king with his own bare hands. If he really didn’t want to manslaughter the king, he would not have gone through with the plan, but instead he chose to. He is guilty of slaying the beloved King Duncan and others as well.
Macbeth did not have to kill all of the innocent people he had murdered. Instead, he could have turned himself in and said he killed the king. Like most people he didn’t want to die, so he decided to keep this as a secret and tried to live life as best as he could. In order for this to stay a secret he needed to murder a few people. He first had murderers go out and kill Banquo and Fleance. The murderers were able to kill Banquo, but Fleance escaped. Macbeth felt better that Banquo was dead since Banquo knew about the witches rules in order for Macbeth to become king. Therefore, Banquo would assume that Macbeth murdered the king. Now, there would be no assumption from Banquo that Macbeth killed Duncan. Macbeth wanted Fleance to be dead, since the witches said that Banquo’s sons will become the next kings after Macbeth, but Macbeth wanted his family to be the royal family forever. The next person that gets murdered by Macbeth is: Macduff’s family. Macbeth had people hired to kill Macduff’s family. This led Macduff and ten thousand soldiers from England to defeat Macbeth and ultimately kill the villain. All of the murders and the stress that people had to go through because of Macbeth made him a
While not the only contributing factor, Lady Macbeth does play a substantial role in the downfall of her husband. She is a like a catalyst for Macbeth and essentially pushes him to do what he would not have been able to do on his own. Macbeth himself highly ambitious and determined, but his wife is even more so. At first he refuses to kill Duncan but she persists and eventually gets him to do it. It is important to note here that Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth forward by manipulating him. In this sense, she can be related to Cathy Ames from East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Also, being a woman, she is confined by the conventions of society which prevent her from doing much. At what point she even wishes that she were 'unsexed' so she could commit the murder herself. Because of this, she pours her ambition and desire for power into Macbeth. Again she accomplishes this through manipulation. For example, at one point when Macbeth is disagreeing with her idea of killing Duncan, she questions his manhood:
Macbeth has had a numerous amount of tragedies of throughout his life: killing duncan, realizing his family line will not continue, then killing banqou but not his son, the feeling that his life is meaningless, and eventually fighting with macduff to an inevitable death. It is left to our interperetation to decide whether Macbeth is the antagonist or protagonist. While he does make some morally questionable decisions throughout his life, Macbeth does these things because in his mind they are what is needed to be done. His wife definitely has a lot to do with his mentality. Lady Macbeth will manipulate anyone to get the power she thinks she deserves. She used her husband, Macbeth, eventually dragging them both to their demise so she could be seen as a woman of high power.