How Did The Three Witches Influence Macbeth's Actions

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Influences on Macbeth’s Actions
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the best playwrights in history, and one of his most famous plays is Macbeth. In Macbeth, the title character is a Scottish nobleman who kills his king in order to take the throne for himself. This act leaves him wracked with guilt and causes his actions to become more violent as the play progresses. Macbeth did not kill Duncan, the king, by himself, though; his wife, Lady Macbeth, helped him to plan the murder and to hide the evidence. Macbeth first becomes prompted to kill the king when three witches promise him the Scottish throne, after which he decides to kill Duncan in order to obtain the throne quicker. The witches played on Macbeth’s own ambitions for the throne in order to set the events of the play into motion. All of the influences listed above coerced Macbeth into killing Duncan and many other characters in the interest of his throne.
The three witches influence Macbeth’s actions before any …show more content…

His eagerness for the throne, combined with his ambition allow other characters to coerce him into killing Duncan. The murder of Duncan was planned by Macbeth and his wife together, but he ordered the deaths of Banquo, Fleance, Macduff’s children, and Lady Macduff without any prompting from other characters; their murders were solely the result of Macbeth’s ambition. Macbeth is alone as he rationalizes his decision to kill Banquo and his son, “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th’ utterance,” (3.1.73-75). Instead of giving the throne to Banquo’s sons, as the prophecy suggests, Macbeth decides to kill Banquo and his son to prevent the prophecy from occurring. He makes the choice to murder Banquo purely due to his own ambition, without any assistance or prompting from other

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