Witches come and reveal to him a prophecy of his future, which makes him want it straight away. Lady Macbeth keeps pushing for Macbeth to do whatever it takes to get what the weird sisters have predicted will happen, and finally goes ahead with it. Macbeth kills numerous people to have his prophecy fulfilled and is now the complete opposite person of who he was at the beginning of the play, but it is hard to blame Macbeth for his own demise because of these other factors because they play a role in boosting his actions Macbeth wasn’t an ambitious character until he met the witches. Macbeth is the most “worthiest cousin” of the Kind and is a “brave” soldier serving under him. He is established as a good character in the play and it is apparent that he had no real ambitions until he met the witches.
No one to blame but Macbeth Decisions can be impacted by a number of factors; but in the end we have to be the ones to take responsibility for our actions. This is demonstrated when we see Macbeth transform from a brave soldier to a power-hungry murderer, feared by all his subjects. Macbeth is the one to blame for his own descent into cruelty and murder because he let his ambition, arrogance and greed take over his mind. While some may claim that Macbeth is to blame for his actions, others argue that it is the force of the supernatural that leads to his demise. Early on the witches reveal prophecies to Macbeth suggesting his rise to power.
Another prophecy made by the witches was that Banquo's son will be king. Fuelled by paranoia, lack of sleep andvisions, Macbeth was thrown into a state of confusion and a belief that the prophecies were inevitable. Lady Macbeth urged her husband to commit murder and it was this action that sparked Macbeth's downfall. When Lady Macbeth heard about the prophecies made by the witches, and how one of them had already come true, she called upon evil spirits to guide her through her task - killing the king. ."..
That all changes when he returns home after telling his wife what had happened. She says “ Make thick my blood/ Stop up th’access and passage to remorse” (1.5 33-34) Lady Macbeth is the one who encourages Macbeth to become King. Now that they both believe that Macbeth is going to become king, there is nothing that will get in their way. Soon after, Macbeth decides that one of the only ways that he is going to become king, is to kill the current king, Duncan. He realized that the plan might not be reasonable and he started to second guess himself.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is an intriguing play that was written and performed for James I, King of Scotland at that period of time. Macbeth consists of many different influences that drive noble Macbeth to a variety of murders and in mental disintegration of his mind the concept of misguided ambition is developed by those persuading him to kill. Three influences of Macbeth’s disintegrated mind would be the weird sisters, Lady Macbeth, and then his plots to kill out of fear and jealousy. First, in act one of Macbeth, noble Macbeth and Banquo meet three very odd witches, also known as the weird sisters. These witches are the true start of the disintegration of Macbeth’s mind and misguide him into a situation of rather to believe or not to believe for the sake of his future.
Macbeth relies on the witches who feed him prophecies and glimpses of the future. After Macbeth hears the witches prophecy, “All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter”(Shakespeare I, iii, 50)! Macbeth immediately thinks that he should be king. When Lady Macbeth finds out about the witches, she leads Macbeth into her plan which involves cold blooded murder. Macbeth is a little nervous at first, but Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to agree with her to kill King Duncan.
After the witches prediction came true about Macbeth being the thane of Cawdor, Banquo knew he should be more cautious about Macbeth. I don’t think it ever crossed Banquos mind that Macbeth was going to kill the King to fulfill the third prophecy. Since Macbeth’s prophecies Banquo wonders a lot if what the three witches told him would become ever be true, he wonders if his descendants will actually be ruling Scotland someday. We see Banquo reacting in a different way compared to Macbeth. I think Shakespeare did this so the audience could see how despite the temptations on him, Banquo reacted and represented a man of honor.
His own human nature, paranoia and selfishness are what leads him to his death. Macbeth is to blame for his death at the end of the play. Macbeth is manipulated by the witches and believes in their prophecies. The witches have considerable influence over Macbeth throughout the play. First, their early predictions stating that he will be king, and then the predictions of the apparitions saying that he only could be murdered by someone that was not born of a woman.
With the witches’ prophecies mulling over in his mind, and knowing that he was not the successor of the throne, he knew he had to take matters into his own hands. With the support and persuasion of Lady Macbeth, he kills King Duncan and gains his kingship. When Banquo makes his vow to find out who killed Duncan, Macbeth knew he had to silence him. After Macbeth is named king, he seeks out hired murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Macbeth does this because he is afraid that Banquo will get in the way of his new title and Fleance, because he is prophesied to be king.
Daniel Wong Ms. Sikorski ENG-2D1 27 November, 2012 The Tragic Downfall of Macbeth When we first meet Macbeth in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, he is presented as a brave and noble soldier of King Duncan’s army. We learn that, against the odds, Macbeth has led the king’s army not only against the opposition, but also against a traitor to Scotland, Macdonald. Ironically, upon gaining the trust, praise and title of Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth is tempted by the witches’ suggestions to also betray the king in order to succeed to his throne. Though the witches encourage him with their prophesies to move forward with his treacherous deeds and though his wife goads him for his lack of masculinity and ambition, it is ultimately Macbeth who chooses his fate and must accept blame for his defeat. Through analysis of Macbeth’s choices in the play, it is evident that his ruthless ambition, blind trust in the witches, cowardice towards his wife’s demands and overconfidence were the key faults that led to his demise.