Narrative Point of View - Shakespeare put the play in a 3rd person point of view. He focuses mainly on fate and free will with the witches palying on the part foreshadowing Macbeth choices. Shakespeare proves us it's liable due to Macbeth choices on his own freewill that he killed Banquo which the witches said nothing about the death of them rather he is still going to be king wihtout their death. 8. Theme- Fate vs. Free Will- .
Macbeth is in no way under a spell or curse; he chose to create a path of evil for himself. The ability for Macbeth to choose his own fate appeared as soon as he decided to stop and listen to the witches. He decided that what they were saying was important when in the first act he says, "Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more." (Act I, scene i, line 70) His ability to decide the merit of the magical qualities of the prophecies is in essence the whole point of his free will. The critic from library.thinkquest.org is correct in saying that "...the witches did not actually do anything to make Macbeth kill the king.
The tragedy in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the result of both his own character and external forces acting on him. The tragic downfall of Macbeth was not determined by one single cause but rather caused by a combination of three dark forces: supernatural, external and internal. The three witches and their dark powers represent the supernatural forces. Lady Macbeth acts as Macbeth’s external force, pushing him towards the bloody deeds. Macbeth’s own ambition and inner desires are the internal forces he battles and they act as the deciding power in bringing him to his downfall.
Macbeth first takes this in a joking manner, but soon begins to take it very seriously. When he came home to his wife, he shared the witches’ prediction with her and she encourages Macbeth to quicken the process by murdering the current king, King Duncan. After murdering the king, Macbeth soon finds himself needing to kill many more in order to keep his secret. His kingship comes into jeopardy when he hears of someone named Macduff who is foretold to have the power to defeat him. Macbeth hears some juxtapose news that gives him a reckless attitude.
They say to Macbeth that he will be king “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!”, and that Banquo will be a father of kings saying “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”. The witches are partially responsible for the murders that were committed. The prophecy leads Macbeth to believe that he will be king. This prophecy infects Macbeths mind with a desire for power which prompts the need to kill Duncan because he thinks that it would be the only way to become king. If the witches didn’t initiate the thought of murder within Macbeths mind, then the murders may have never been committed and the whole mayhem of events may have never began.
Lady Macbeth had no responsibility in this murder. Macbeth wanted her to remain innocent and told her nothing about the murder. The death of Macduff's family was also a result of the Witches' wrongdoing. When Macbeth met with the Witches for the final time he learned to he should fear Macduff. As Macbeth became king this prophecy began to scare him.
Hecate clearly should not have been included in Macbeth because her lines don’t correlate with Shakespearean form, iambic pentameter. Shakespeare purposely makes all the witches very mysterious, but Hecate is very clear and detailed in her monologue. The witches are meant to mystical characters in the play, often speaking in riddles to confuse Macbeth: “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. / Not so happy, yes much happier./ Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.” (Act III, 3, 72-75). Although the witches allude to the fate of Banquo and Macbeth, they are not clear and leave much to interpretation.
Leo Grazhdankin Ms.Hook hour 1 Macbeth Analysis False prophecies lead to death and destruction In the play, "Macbeth," I believe that the witches actually play a bigger part than they really have. Simply because they start to influence Macbeth’s decisions the witches were trying to create anarchy by foretelling Macbeth’s future so he act upon it. They pretty much planted everything evil into Macbeth's head which just kept growing and growing until it just started to dominate his whole mind. He did not need to kill King Duncan or any of the other victims. But pretty much after he murdered Duncan, Macbeth just went crazy.
These influences were those such as the witches and Lady Macbeth. Without these external influences it is unlikely that Macbeth would have had the motivation to commit his first murder and thus saving him from himself. The three witches in Macbeth are portrayed as supernatural entities that lack the qualities of both man and woman whose sole purpose of existence is to upset the natural order. This is shown when they first prophesy of ‘Macbeth hail to thee, Thane of Cowder’, taking advantage of his weaknesses, whether ‘he could also become king hereafter’, thus planting the seed of ambition in his mind. However, he is not yet fully convinced that the throne will become his without force so the thoughts of murdering his beloved king begin to crawl into his head against his will.
The only reason Banquo is murdered is because Macbeth becomes paranoid after the witches prediction. Finally, the witches are responsible for the death of Macduff’s family. When Macbeth goes to see the witches to get more information the witches show him three apparitions one of witch tells Macbeth to watch out for Macduff. After hearing this Macbeth decides that he needs to send a message to Macduff and the way Macbeth does it is by killing Macduff’s family. Macduff’s family most likely would not have been murdered if the withes had not told Macbeth to fear