If it wasn't for the influences of the people surrounding him, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an honourable title in itself. The downfall of Macbeth was ignited by the actions by those around him, mainly the witches and his wife Lady Macbeth, and eventually, his ambitions took over. Macbeth never had the intention of killing his king, but was ultimately persuaded that it was the correct thing to do. The three witches planted the seed of ambition within Maceth. They were the driving force behind Banquo and King Duncan's killing.
Were it not for outside forces, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an illustrious title in itself. Macbeth does not even want to kill King Duncan. He says “chance may crown me without my stir.” Fearing the withes message means that he will kill the king in the future, he says “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.” Macbeth writes to his wife, telling her about the withes and how one prophecy has already come true. As soon as she hears about it, she calls on evil spirits to fill her full of cruelty so that she will the King if necessary. Macbeth, on the other hand, does not like a possible future by the withes prophecy: that he will kill his King.
However, Macbeth’s indecision on whether he should kill Duncan or not shows us that ruthless aggression does not come that easily to them. When the witches predict that he shall be king, Macbeth does not think he should do anything to make the prophecy come true “If Chance will have me king, why Chance may crown me without my stir”. However when Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm, will become the next king, Macbeth soon realises that he must kill Duncan if he is to become king. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else oerleap for in my way it lies.
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.
Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections, when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself. Lady Macbeth remarkable strength of will persists through the murder of the king, it is she who steadies her husband nerves and convinces him to kill Duncan. ‘‘It is the perfect time and place for you’’, ‘’almost too
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. All three witches name two truths of Macbeth; one that is occurring in the present and the other occurring in the future. He is now Thane of Cawdor and predicted to be the future king of Scotland. The witches have stirred up an important conversation in the showing of Macbeth’s character. He is rational about the chances of him becoming king but he decides to let chance take its own course, as he says, “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.” (1.3.144), which proves that he is a good man with a noble mind.
Throughout the play Lady Macbeth is the driving influence behind Macbeth and the immoral path that he chose to follow. To put it simply Lady Macbeth started the rot and persuaded the hesitant and indecisive Macbeth to “be a man” and do the deed of killing Duncan. Macbeth initially decided to “proceed no further” in the matter of killing Duncan because he had been kind to him of late bestowing the position of Thane of Cawdor on him. She responds to this by saying that if he can lose his ambition so readily, his love for her must also be changeable. Then she insults his masculinity and questions his courage.
“More is thy due than more than all can pay” (1.4.21). King Duncan says this to show how he is grateful of Macbeth for wining the war. As events unfold, Macbeth shows his true character when he kills Duncan to become king. This shows he has a false appearance because Duncan thought the two were friends and Macbeth would not kill a relative. Towards the end of the play Macbeth gets caught up in a killing spree by hiring people to murder Banquo and his son, and by having everybody in Macduff’s castle killed: The castle of Macduff I will surprise, Seize upon fife: give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate
In the beginning of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character is portrayed as a heroic soldier who is loyal to the King. Macbeth, however, is influenced by the witches’ prophecies and by his wife Lady Macbeth in his motive to kill. Lady Macbeth does not believe that her husband has the “guts” to take the necessary actions in order to become king. She thinks Macbeth is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness” (Shakespeare I, v, 17). Macbeth is mentally weak; therefore, Lady Macbeth is easily able to influence him.
Thou shalt be King hereafter'. They said this prophecy because the witches already knew Macbeth was going to be king, but Macbeth didn't want to wait so he had decided to kill Duncan, the current king, so therefore Macbeth would become king sooner. Macbeth himself did contribute to his downfall. If he hadn't killed Duncan to become king, the guilt and confusion would have not lead him to madness. After he killed Duncan, he thought highly of himself and nothing could stop him or get in his way.