The truth is that many of these decisions that Macbeth makes or follows is based on what the witches told him. One example of this is when Lady Macbeth convinces him to kill Duncan in order to become king. She specifically says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature / … / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, / and chastise with the valor of my tongue” (1.5.16-17, 27-28). In this quote Lady Macbeth is thinking about the witches prophecy and how she can make it come true.
Macbeth: Justice or Injustice Murder, deceit, and immorality are not a rare occurrence in the story of Macbeth; in fact they are the basis of the story. The three witches play with Macbeth’s mind and make him thirst for the throne, Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to murder King Duncan, and says Macbeth is a coward for his hesitation, to trick him into killing the King. And Macbeth not only murders King Duncan, but also Banquo, the Macduff family, and attempts to kill Fleance, son of Banquo. The question remains; is justice served where justice is due in this story? A lust for power already existed in Macbeth, but it was his encounter with the three witches on his return from battle that triggered his thirst for the throne, and subsequently the deaths of many, Macbeth among the deceased.
Even though knowing that time will never cease, several characters feel as though it has after Duncan’s murder. Wrapped in the need to know their own future, the reader encounters Macbeth and Banquo talking to the three witches. Banquo wants them to “look into the seeds of time” (I, iii, 58), to tell him his future since Macbeth is foretold to be a king. The witches then proceed to tell him that he will beget kings though he will never be one. It becomes apparent to the reader that the witches are a part of the present and the future.
One of the main messages he is trying to deliver to us is to always weigh what you achieve to what the consequences will be. This especially holds true for Macbeth, as when first contemplating if he should kill Duncan, not once did he think of how he could be punished. Also, when Macbeth first hears the witch’s prophecy of him being a king, he jumps directly to the idea of murder. This kind of thinking is exhibited in Macbeth’s monologue in scene 5 act 5, where he discus’s the uselessness of living, and this attitude towards life made him go mad. This also points to how unintelligent Macbeth really was.
Lady Macbeth simply implies that if Macbeth goes through with killing Duncan than he will become a man again.| What beast was't, then,That made you break this enterprise to me? [->0]When you durst do it, then you were a man;And, to be more than what you were, you wouldBe so much more the man[->1]| Interactions| Lady Macbeth is going through with the plan and she is trying to frame Duncan and make him look guilty in the process.| Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the deadAre but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhoodThat fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal,For it must seem their guilt[->2]| Macbeth |Observations|Text Support| Looks| Macbeth has a conscious and he knows that karma is real.| Bloody instructions, which being taught, returnTo plague the inventor[->3]| Actions| Lady Macbeth has persuaded Macbeth to kill Duncan and Macbeth is ashamed of what he has done.| I'll go no more:I am afraid to think what I have
“All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.52-53) Macbeth would have never thought of killing Duncan if the Witches had never given him the idea of him being King. The Witches plan an evil atmosphere every time they show up. They gave Macbeth the temptation of being something above everyone else, and gave him the ideas of betraying his surroundings. After Macbeth when to go see the Witches for them to tell him his future from the apparitions, it showed Macbeth’s downfall.
"Fair is foul and foul is fair"--the witches are planning something funky, and it will be interesting to say the least to se how things will play out. Macbeth is the hero for now, but will he be for long? What is Banquo's purpose in this whole paradoxical play? The battle is won for Scotland, but who loses? The themes and mood of the play are set here.
Macbeth desire to be king causes him to believe the witches for their prophesies have come true before. He is unable to see the witches as the most dangerous characters in the play. Without the witches playing upon Macbeth’s ambitions, it is doubtful that Macbeth would have committed the murders. The witches play the part of the instigators, and help Macbeth to continue his acts of violence. Even though they are able to see that his acts will lead him to his downfall, they continue to let him kill others.
Once the witches show him his future, he becomes obsessed with speeding up the anticipated coming into power. He is told he will be King of Scotland, so Macbeth makes it happen by killing the King, which casts a shadow of doubt on his two sons, thereby allowing Macbeth to ascend to the throne. Once Macbeth seizes power through violence and murder, his life is darkened with the crime of regicide, he has killed a rightful, good and much loved king. His life begins to fall apart after this because he develops a serious case of paranoia over having the crown stolen from him. He becomes a slash and burn murderer and he loses sight of his humanity, he has no morality governing his actions.
A tragic flaw is defined as “a weakness or error in judgment that brings about a tragic hero's downfall” (Clugston 2010). Ambition was Macbeth’s tragic flaw. An idea was planted inside Macbeth’s mind by the three witches’ prophecy that he would be King. This was what drove Macbeth to madness, in a sense, stopping at nothing, not even murder, to achieve this goal. He is tempted to evil by the