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.
“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.
Macbeth has allowed his false sense of security to cloud his judgement, which is exactly why no one but himself can be blamed for his tragedy. Upon killing Young Siward Macbeth says, “Thou wast born of woman. / But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, / Brandish’d by man that’s of a woman born,” (V, vii, 16-18). Macbeth’s over-confidence blinds his thinking, and so with the thought that he cannot be harmed by any man of woman born, he overlooks the possibility of a man born of caesarean section, and instead just assumes that he is invincible. This over-confidence and sense of
Laertes is Claudius’s right hand man and if he got hold of the information that Hamlet is faking insanity, he would unquestionably report it to the king and that will foil Hamlet’s quest for revenge in the future. Ophelia always complies with her father as she follows his advice in matters of Hamlet as she denies Hamlet’s visits and refuses his letters. Thus, Hamlet should make Ophelia believe that he has lost his sanity for his plan to work out and that wouldn’t be possible if he marries Ophelia. To add on, Ophelia’s devoted obedience to her father makes Hamlet allege that Ophelia is deceptive and unfaithful. Hamlet is angry with Ophelia and in rage, he tells her that her beauty is dishonest and that he did love Ophelia once and at the same time, he never did.
In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare is conveying how greed of power can lead to a selfless purpose. Macbeth killed two innocent people unconsciously without knowing what the consequences are going to be behind it, because he was too blinded with the power he wanted. Macbeth and Banquo were best friends in Act 1, but their friendship gradually started to disappear after the 3 weird witches stated/predicted that Macbeth will be the king, Macbeth got too involved with the witches, that he forgot anything else around him, Lady Macbeth befuddled Macbeth into killing Duncan, completely manipulating him to do something he was hesitant to do, she calls him a coward and not a man “Art thou afeard/to be the same in thine own act and valor/ As thou art in desire?”. The King’s murder by Macbeth was more treacherous compared to Banquo, Macbeth committed homicide and regicide when he killed his king. When he killed Banquo he only committed homicide.
The devil, or the evil spirits, take up many disguises, one of which is through Lady Macbeth. Our tragic hero does not realize that every murder will come back to haunt him. We begin to see the slippery slope Macbeth slides down as he promptly kills his best friend, Banquo, and attempts to murder Banquo’s only child, Fleance, without any outside influences. He was content killing his closest ally because he worries about the witches prophecy that “the seeds of Banquo’s kings, rather than so, come fate into the list, and champion me to the utterance…” (III.I.70-73). Even when you believe Macbeth cannot be any worse he slaughters Macduff’s entire family when he hears Macduff has fled to England; he said that he would “give to the edge o’the sword his wife, babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line”.
He did not want to take action, and was too “people loving” to make a move on King Duncan. It was with Lady Macbeth’s constant pleas and insults that Macbeth finally agreed to murder the king. Also, Macbeth only did this for himself, as greed
Your muscles tighten. Macbeth gains power by fear. He’s scared when Lady Macbeth tells him to kill the king and he hesitates to do it because of his and Duncan’s relationship. Macbeth has a fear of getting caught and having to hearing what the people have to say. Fear can do anything to a person.
Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth both had ambition that was unchecked by morals; there ambition led to the destruction of themselves as well as others. Macbeth is the foremost character who allowed ambition to take control of his life. For example, “He is already named and gone to Scone to be invested” (Shakespeare 242). Macbeth wasn't bothered about what he had to do in order to become King. He knew that he would become King after Duncan’s death, so he made Duncan’s death possible so he could get the crown.
Macbeth being hesitant and indecisive allows Lady Macbeth to overcome and influence him to do any wicked deed. Lady Macbeth feels her husband lacks the drive and courage to go through with the assassination of King Duncan. She explains, “Glamis thou art, an Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promis’d. –Yet do I fear thy nature: it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness, to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” (I.v.15-20) With this, she realizes that Macbeth is to laid back or nonchalant when he is not on the battle field.