When Macbeth meets with the witches they tell him two things - 1. Thane of Cawdor will be his title and 2. here will be King hereafter. In the letter that Macbeth wrote to his wife he wrote, "The witches saluted me with 'Hail, King thou shalt be'". This shows that like most people of the time, he believed the witches and had a desire to make them come true. In saying this, Macbeth comes to knowledge that he could murder Duncan and be promoted to King.
The Three Witches are evil and powerful woman who have the supernatural spirit. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”(1.1.11) The Witches are telling us that there is good and evil, nothing is as it seems. The Witches tell Macbeth that he will be the thane of Cawdor and second that he will be King of Scotland. This puts Macbeth in a position where the Witches tell him to do something about his future, even if it means betraying his own King. “All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way.” (I.V.15-18).These lines tell how much she wants power so bad that she makes Macbeth feel unmanly by telling what she could do. Lady Macbeth shows devotion to making Macbeth King by planning ways that he can become king.
“(1.3.47-49) These three lines are extremely crucial to the play because it gives Macbeth his beginning thoughts toward receiving the throne. Shakespeare made the witches deceive Macbeth and Banquo who begin to believe they are invincible and have much to look forward to. This proves misogyny in Shakespeare because it ultimately put the witches to blame for all the horrible events in the play. Shakespeare also portrays his misogyny through Macbeth as he belittles the witches by saying, “How now, you secret, black and midnight hags.” (4.1.47) In Shakespeare’s era, chivalry and respect toward women was big. By having a character in his play say this to three so called women, seems
In the opening of the play, a loyal Macbeth is approached by three witches who entice him with their claim that “[he] shalt be king thereafter.” (1-3-50). This information stimulates his hidden thirst for power and willingness to keep the throne for himself. He plots to murder the king and takes the liberty of killing Banquo, and anyone else who poses a threat to his reign to aid his own insecurity. Macbeth begins to lose trust in those around him and becomes unstable. Shakespeare shows through Duncan, who carries a legitimate power, that only direct threats to the kingdom are punished accordingly.
1. DESCRIPTION OF LADY MACBETH Lady Macbeth is presented to the reader from her first appearance in the play as a woman fired by ambition. What Macbeth lacks in decisiveness, Lady Macbeth makes up for his lack of bloodthirsty lust for power and wealth. Swearing off her femininity at the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband powerfully to follow through with his plans to kill Duncan. After the act of regicide, it is Lady Macbeth who has the soundness of mind to plant the incriminating evidence on Duncan's guards.
Lady Macbeth went to great measures to make sure Duncan was killed; she even called upon the evil spirits to aid her. If Lady Macbeth had not been in the play, Macbeth mostly likely would have continued to serve the King honourably even if he had some doubts. Shakespeare, W 1994, Macbeth, London, Penguin
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.
She expresses her determination and the desire she has for the third prophecy to come true. She knew that Macbeth would be too kind of a man to complete the task at hand. Lady Macbeth: “What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness “ (1.5.15-16) Knowing that Macbeth wouldn’t have the heart to kill the king, she conjured up the master plan to kill Duncan. In act 1 scene 7, she revealed the plan to Macbeth, saying that they will drunken Duncan’s chamberlains, then slip in and stab Duncan with the chamberlains’ weapons. Lady Macbeth: “What cannot you and I perform upon The unguarded Duncan?” (1.7.76-77) Lady Macbeth’s plan
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.