Throughout the play "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare, a variety of events occur that lead to Macbeth's downfall in the end. However, all the events that occurred in Macbeth's life were due to the choices he had made by free will and not solely because of the witches prophecy. Despite only being fated to become the new king, he took it upon himself to kill King Duncan and get the crown. His over ambition and believing in the witches prophecy while making his own decisions led to his downfall in the end.
In the beginning of the play from Act 1, Macbeth was given the prophecy to become king by the three witches. The witches say "All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!/ All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth,
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that shalt be king hereafter!" (1.3.51-53). As Macbeth was Thane of Glamis and currently Thane of Cawdor, he had doubts at first whether he should kill the king. This was shown in the play with the quote from Macbeth "If chance will have me king,/ why,/ chance may crown me,/ Without my stir." (1.3.157-159). This means he would let fate take its course at first, then to cause a commotion such as killing the king. He had examined both the pros and cons for killing King Duncan, implying that he still had the choice whether to proceed with the murder or not. He does, later on, decide to seize the moment to make sure he becomes king before Banquo, the next in line to become king. He kills King Duncan in his sleep and puts the blame on the servants after killing them. Though Macbeth was prophesied to be king, he still makes the decision to kill King Duncan to get the crown by himself. This could be seen in the play with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth planning the murder with the quote :“I am settled, and bend up/ Each corporal agent to this terrible feat./ Away, and mock the time with fairest show:/ False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” (1.7 79-82). Though Macbeth was persuaded by the three witches, he still had the choice on whether to do it or not and with him planning out the murder and weighing the pros and cons, he was not a victim of fate but by his own choices. In the middle of the play spanning Act 2 and Act 3, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become the new king and queen successfully though bringing suspicion from Banquo of foul play.
To make sure that Macbeth have no chance to lose his crown from Banquo and his descendants, he decides to have two murderers kill Banquo and Fleance while they are away while Macbeth is at the banquet. He continues to believe in the witches prophecy and from his own choice, decides to kill Banquo. This can be seen with the quote from Macbeth "For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;/ For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;/ Put rancours in the vessel of my peace/Only for them..."(3.1.69-77). In the quote, Macbeth is requesting for faith to help him as he i through all the events that has happened at this point was due to his ambition and by his own choice. The death of Banquo caused by Macbeth had made tensions rise further and was not prophised by the witches but occurred due to Macbeths fear of Banquos descendants becoming king. His over-ambition was also discussed by the three witches and Hecate with them essentially tricking him with the prophecies. In the play, Hecate says "He shall spurn fate,/ scorn death,/ and bear his hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear./ And you all know, security/ Is mortals' chiefest enemy." (3.5 30-34). From the quote, we perceive that Macbeth thinks that he is able to control his destiny by killing King Duncan and Banquo to become and stay a king. From this, Macbeth's ambition and over-confidence with his choices cause his
downfall. Though the witches had been an influence for Macbeth to commit some of the events such as killing the king and Banquo, the witches prophecy wasn’t the sole reason. In the end, Macbeth was not a victim of Fate but rather through freewill.
Guilt surrounds Macbeth for the second time when he sends out the murderers to kill Banquo, his old friend. Macbeth had no other choice but to get rid of Banquo. Banquo had witnessed the three witches and the prophecies. One prophecy was that his son would become king one day "To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings"(Act3 scene1 line70). In order for Macbeth to be safe is to kill Banquo. Banquo may assume what had happened and tell the people of Scotland. "For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; Put rancors in the vessel of my peace only for them, and mine eternal jewel".
The first part of this tragedy takes place as Macbeth is on his way home from war and is visited by three witches during his journey. The three witches said ¨All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!¨ (Shakespeare,32). After the witches told him these things he acted
Macbeth, “A matchless soldier, kinsman to the king, wins the king’s battles and the king’s praise” however, “prompted by inner ambitions and external urgings”, he takes rash decisions conclusively ending in his atrophy of his title, power, and position (Bernad 49). Several factors contribute to the downfall of Macbeth, which produce a contagion effect; and ultimately end with his demise. The weird sisters disclose his prophecies which enlighten him about Duncan’s throne; Lady Macbeth abets Macbeth to realize his deep desires and come to the conclusion to murder Duncan; and Macbeth, the most significant contributor, makes his deep desires come to reality. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth are important contributors to Macbeth 's downfall, however, they are not mostly responsible. Unlike, the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is the most prominent contributor to his downfall; whose actions, decisions, and state of mind lead to his ruination.
Macbeth is captured by his wild ambition at the opening of the play when he and Banqou meet the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and later will be king. They tell Banquo that his sons will be kings. Instantly Macbeth started to fantasize how he is going to be king. He understood that in order for him to become king he has to kill Duncan. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(Act 1 Sc. 3, p.23). He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan.
In the play, Macbeth was responsible for his downfall and let his greed take over. He was always ambitious, but ended up abandoning his loyalty from King Duncan, the King of Scotland and slowly changed him from a trustworthy, brave and loyal soldier to a merciless tyrant. Lady Macbeth and the three witches are responsible for Macbeth’s downfall. The prophecies changed Macbeth for the worst and is willing to remove any threats that stand in his way. Macbeth, although a loyal warrior, had always possessed ambitious motives that finally turned him into a murderer.
Throughout the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth continuously makes bad choices and the consequences of these decisions catch up to Macbeth and result in his mental deterioration, however with Macbeth’s almost infant feel for ambition this makes him susceptible to manipulation, which then grows into an insatiable appetite for power. The acts of this, with the manipulation from outsiders, causes his blind ambition, his false sense of security and then finally his guilt, which all contribute to his derangement. Some will argue that all the choices made by Macbeth were continuously his own, that he had these opportunities as a man to put his foot down and say no, and be able to draw the line where things should come to an end, the fault of a mental deterioration was not there, that from the beginning Macbeth was an evil man who had a twisted way of achieving things. Macbeth’s ambition is to remain king for as long as possible, and he will kill anybody who stops this from happening. Macbeth feels as if he was given a childless rule, and that his legacy will not continue on in fear his rule will be taken away by someone outside his family.
Macbeth suppressed his feelings, however, until he heard the three witches' first prophecy. "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter", were the witch's words. When Macbeth heard this, his desperate need for the crown revealed itself because he realized it was possible to take the throne. When Macbeth's yearning to be king could not be overcome, he did not let anything stand in his way of being crowned, even if that meant he had to commit murder. The Three Witches ignited Macbeth's desire to be king with their prophecy.
The witches predicted many things including that Macbeth is named Thane of Cawdor and Thane of Glamis. When the three witches are together they express these predictions: “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (I. iii. 48-50). These profound words help illuminating the idea that the three witches came up with a prediction that Macbeth will indeed become not only king, but also Thane of Cawdor and Thane of Glamis. Some may feel that there is no way that these three evil sisters can foresee the future. The only way to find out if they are telling the truth is to wait and see what the outcome is. Clearly, Macbeth is listening to the witches because who wouldn’t want to hear that he...
Later in the play Banquo starts to have a bad feeling about Macbeth. "Thou hast it now: King, Cowdor, Glamis, all,/ as the weird women promised, and I fear/ thou play'dst most foully for `t." III i 1-3, this is a quote from Banquo explaining how he feels about Macbeth's predictions coming true. Macbeth realizes this about Banquo and he starts to have feelings about killing Banquo. This isn't the only reason he feels this way, the witches had also made predictions for Banquo. "Thou shall get kings, though thou be none." I iii 67, Macbeth doesn't want any of Banquo's family to rule Scotland; he wants his own family to continue to rule. Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his on Fleance. The murderers end up killing Banquo, but Fleance gets away.
Macbeth’s visions and the prophecies of the witches cause Macbeth to make poor decisions, which lead him to his eventual downfall. Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power hungry and overzealous. A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders.
Macbeth’s choice to put his trust in the witches, rather than take heed like Banquo, leads to his own destruction. Macbeth first encounters the three witches after his victory over the Norwegians. When Macbeth passes the three witches on the road, the greet him with, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I,iii,49-51). Macbeth doubts these claims until Ross and Angus soon tell him of his newly acquired title, the Thane of Cawdor. He starts to believe the sisters to be true and that he just might become king. Macbeth jumps to the conclusion that the three sisters are of the supernatural and decides to trust them. He does so despite Banquo’s warning, “ But ’tis strange. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s in deepest consequence...
Second, the witches have to be dispelled as a source of Macbeth's misfortune before the latter theory can be considered. It is admittedly strange that the weird sisters first address Macbeth with, "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!"(I.iii.49), a title that not even Macbeth is aware he has been awarded. Even stranger is the third witch calling to Macbeth, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter"(I.iii.50)! However as stated by Bradley, "No connection of these announcements with any actions of his was even hinted by [the witches]"(232).
Although there are supernatural forces at work on Macbeth, Macbeth holds responsibility for his demise due to the actions he willingly decides to take which are rooted from his own ambition, fear, and ignorance.
Macbeth has always been viewed as a tragedy. A tragedy is a story of a hero whose flaws got the best of him. The question is what exactly is Macbeth's fatal flaw? Is it his 'vaulting ambition'? Is it his pride, his greed? Or is it a general weakness in his character, an uncertainty about his own identity that brought about his doom? Can we truly say he is a good man? Are the choices he makes truly made of his own free will? How much of it is his own fault and, if indeed, the lions share of the blame can be placed on Macbeth, what does this mean for his sense of self?
MacBeth is Responsible for His Downfall. There were many wrongs committed in "MacBeth." But who should bear the major responsibility for these actions? The witches prophesying the truth? Lady MacBeth's scheming and persuasion?