It could be that he has damaged himself so that he is unable to feel empathy for others - or that the evil is innate. Macbeth displays some very evil characteristics - selfishness, coldness, obsession and cold-blooded murder. Shakespeare explores the degree to which he alone is responsible, and how far others contribute to Macbeth is perhaps Shakespeare's greatest exploration of the problem of evil. Evil is positioned both within and without. The witches are objective figures but Macbeth's first utterance in act 1, scene 3 suggests that he shares a similar thought with the witches.
So they will "hover" in the fog, and in the dust and dirt of battle, waiting for the chance to do evil. Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair" is a paradox, a statement that appears to be contadictory but actually expresses the truth. The witches are foul, but they give fair advice. Macbeth seems like a hero, but he is a plotter and dastard. It is quite interesting to note that the words of the witches will have an echo in Macbeth’s “So foul and fair a day I have not seen”.
After a protracted discussion of the topic of who is to blame for the demise of Macbeth, the blame has come to rest upon the Three Witches. Within the play Macbeth, the Witches have done numerous things to cause the demise of Macbeth; influenced him through prophecies and apparitions, spurred his killing spree and manipulated him. From the outset, the Witches show Macbeth prophecies which lead to his downfall. These prophecies are the root of Macbeth’s misfortunes and evil doings, push Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to act upon their evil thoughts, and alter Macbeth from a loyal soldier to a traitor. First and foremost, the Witches were the root of Macbeth’s misfortunes and evil doings.
Dark versus light is apparent throughout Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth’s evil darkness intensifies as his light and goodness diminish. The witches are the root of evil, and as Macbeth interacts with them, his journey into the darkness begins. If this evil had never perished, the world would be utter chaos. Lady Macbeth’s darkness cannot completely over take her life because within Lady Macbeth a glimmer of light must always be evident.
If he continued on the ethical path he was on he very well may have rose in rank importance without his stir. So as Lady Macbeth started Macbeth’s wicked ways she has had a substantial affect on his poor decisions and his eventual demise. The wicked witches as well as Lady Macbeth instil a sense of evil desire in Macbeth that was not evident before their
This scene introduces us to a new Macbeth no longer brave and confident but “cabin, cribbed and confined in his doubts and fears”. Macbeth’s character is no longer polished but now stained because he now greets the acts of evil saying “Blood will have blood” and his involvement with the murderers. Also his return to hear more of the witches’ prophecies shows him yet again welcoming evil doings. Shakespeare’s writing allows us to understand Macbeth’s personality change through Macbeth’s reactions and his responses to his wife and the murderer also through his diction. This shows me that Macbeth is becoming a more vengeful person foreshadowing more bad deeds “We are yet but young in deed”.
As such Macbeth is morally vulnerable to them. The ways in which Shakespeare’s language gives us the imagery that the witches are so evil is when it quotes the oxymoron: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” This quote is important because it introduces the idea of deception which will be picked up in the imagery further through the play. Macbeth from the beggining of Act 1, scene 2, is always associated with blood. At first this is a positive view of imagery as it quotes: “Bellona’s bridegroom.” We get the impression that Macbeth is a “Noble hero,” other quotes such as: “ For brave Macbeth, he deserves that name” or “ O, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman,” show us that Macbeth is presented as a man that is one in a million. Further through the play however the image of blood is used to soak “ Devilish Macbeth,” a quote such as: “Untitl’d tyrant, bloody-sceptr’d” show this.
The witches were the driving force of Macbeth’s guilty ambition and were the prophecies that would play on his mind continually. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter,” (Act One, Scene 3, Line 53). Following this, readers are introduced to Lady Macbeth, another character that encounters an ambitious discourse. The audience witnesses Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambitious discourse being ruined when they conclude that the only way to be on the throne is to commit the murder of the loyal King Duncan. The murderous actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lead to their guilty ambition influencing each other to commit deeds that would not only ruin their clean conscience, but also their cultural assumptions.
Despite their underlying pressure throughout the play, the language that the witches use with each other is some of Shakespeare’s most dramatically engaging and disturbing. The line with which they close the opening scene: ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair, hiver though the fog and the filthy air’, indicates his play with the natural order. The imbalance of what is sane in the world. As indicated through the inversion in gender as seen in Lady Macbeth, or sanity, in Macbeth himself. Patriarchal society encourages Lady Macbeth to invest herself in the role of mother.
The Importance of the Supernatural in Macbeth Macbeth is deeply influenced by the supernatural occurrences in this playwright. One of the first signs of the supernatural is the three witches that serve as foretellers for Macbeth’s future. Following the witches, there is the ghost of Banquo who completely took Macbeth away from reality and made other people think Macbeth was not well and that he was having hallucinations. The hallucinations or supernatural occurrences such as the ghost may have been caused by the guilt of killing his best friend. The following supernatural occurrence that plays an important role in Macbeth is the floating dagger that leads Macbeth into killing Duncan.