Examples Of Who's In Control In Macbeth

Kanza Nawaz Gaho

ENG3C1

Ms. Dmytrasz

May 22, 2018

                                                       “Who’s in Control”

Macbeth is a gruesome tragic play that led to the downfall of Shakespeare's most beloved tragic hero, Macbeth. It shows the downfall of a wrongfully crowned king, but his downfall is not only due to his own pride and greed. There are other characters in the play that are a big part of his downfall. All of Macbeth’s moves are influenced by others and his own greed is just an excuse, or a push to commit the crimes he has done in the play. Macbeth’s actions are controlled by Lady Macbeth and his mind by the witches. Lady Macbeth motivates Macbeth to murder the King and not feel guilty about it, whereas the witches made Macbeth

think that way in the first place.
Firstly, Macbeth being the tragic hero has a trait of having excessive pride.

Pride is a flaw that many people do not recognize. Some are able to control it, while others let pride blind them from the truth. Macbeth goes from the state of despair to dissolution. He begins as a man who has virtues to a pitiless murderer. Throughout the play, Macbeth is aware of the consequences of his ambitions. Despite that, he hides his evil doings when he says, “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4, 56-58). Macbeth’s greed results in him thinking of ways to kill King Duncan, by using dark imagery that brings out his evil and devious side. Macbeth appears to be loyal to the king but in reality, has a deeper darker side. This is a good example of appearance vs reality.  Furthermore, Macbeth questions Lady Macbeth, “If we should fail?” (1.7,65) This quote shows Macbeth’s power of being inferior to Lady Macbeth and will do as she commands. Therefore, Macbeth has no power over

himself.
Secondly, the first set of characters that affect Macbeth are the witches.

They know more than we give them credit for, like how they know what will happen, and know more about Macbeth’s deep, dark, secret(s) that we don't know about. The war that starts off the play seems victorious but it might start something that would bring bad to Scotland. “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!”(1.1,52), says the third witch to trigger Macbeth’s mind in becoming the King. Although he is not a king yet, shows that the witches are foreshadowing the play. The outcome and effect on Macbeth due to the witches’ prediction leads him to think about a murder, the king, and gain power. Therefore, the witches trigger his thinking  “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man That function is smothered in surmise, And nothing is but what is not.” (1.3,149-152) The witches got into the mind of Macbeth to the extent that he questions his own manhood if he is capable of bringing his imagination into reality or not. Here we can see the witches have power over Macbeth. Instead of denying the witches, he is encouraged by the thought of killing the King to become

one.
Last but not the least, Lady Macbeth played a huge role in controlling Macbeth’s actions. She is a bold, ambitious, worldly woman who has control over Macbeth and gets him to do whatever and however she wants things to be. “Letting “ I dare not” wait upon “I would”, like the poor cat I’ th’ adage” (1,7: 47-48) she manages to convince Macbeth and tells him he shouldn’t let his chance slip away to become the king. She controls his mind and does not let him feel the guilt of killing the King. Her desires were to become a Queen and make Macbeth her King. “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail.” (1.7,66-67)  She has full control over the relationship. She gets things done her way. He doesn't have the audacity to say no.
In conclusion, Macbeth’s actions are highly influenced by the prophecy of the witches along with the dominance of Lady Macbeth. His actions and mind are completely ruled by the witches and Lady Macbeth which makes him greedy to become the King, without caring about the evil steps he has to take to achieve his goal. Macbeth being disloyal to his King planned the murder of his master to accomplish what he was told. The witches stated the prophecy that got Macbeth greedy in the first place. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth encourages the greed in  Macbeth’s actions and makes sure he doesn't step back from their plan of killing the King.