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.
Macbeth and Banquo are two very important characters in the play. Now, both of these characters are introduced into the play in the same way; they are returning war heroes who have fought off Scotland’s enemies. However, when both Banquo and Macbeth are given prophecies by the three witches they react differently to these similar fates. This in turn brings in Banquo as the character foil to Macbeth. They both have various similarities and differences and these comparisons say a great deal about both of their characters.
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.
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.
They clearly have an extremely passionate relationship and Shakespeare portrays that Lady Macbeth is willing to do whatever it takes to assist her husband. You could argue that the idea of potential power, or moving up the social hierarchy, goes to Lady Macbeth’s head and that her motivation for helping Macbeth is rather selfish-she alone wants the power. It could also be argued that the ‘fatal’, ‘gall’, ‘murdering’, ‘mischief’, ‘night’, and ‘Hell’ also support the previous point. The audience never actually meet the ‘real’ Lady Macbeth without the influence of the witches. As there is such a huge supernatural element to this scene and it is so carefully attached to Lady Macbeth in this scene, it makes me question how the Elizabethan audience would have reacted to her character.
“(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
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.
From both the novel Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens, and play Macbeth written by Shakespeare, we can find the same emotions in both. And I feel most similar emotions are portrayed between the two leading characters, Macbeth himself and Pip from Great Expectations. One of the strongest feelings I believe is motivation, however the motivation comes from Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is strongly motivated for her husband to become king as the witches tell him he would become it in their prophecies ‘Hail, king that shalt be’ and therefore she is persistent/ motivated for her husband to murder the present king, King Duncan. She is so motivated that she doesn’t really care about the trouble that can come out of it and is also willing to do it herself, as in one of her soliloquys she says ‘…Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, here and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty!
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, Macbeth has to cope with the strong feelings of envy, and hatred to fulfill his ambitions of being King. Macbeth started off as a loyal and trusting person that has triumphed in battle, therefore he is granted the title of, “The Thane of Cawdor,” from King Duncan. Soon after, Lady Macbeth receives good news saying that Duncan will be staying with them for some time. Lady Macbeth then manipulates Macbeth into killing Duncan. Although Macbeth desires to be King he still has his doubts about the murder.
Outline Introduction: * Betrayal and deception play a big role in the play Macbeth, it tells us that you never know who you can trust or not. * The Three Witches, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show us how someone that you once could trust, turns into someone you don’t recognize in a second. . First Main Point: The Witches * display evil power * change Macbeth into an evil man * not trusted Second Main Point: Macbeth * he betrays Duncan * betrays Banquo * became a murderer Third Main Point: Lady Macbeth * plans to kill Duncan to take over the throne for Macbeth * talking in her sleep, expressing the murder * deceives her king Conclusion: * good turns to evil, trust turn to betrayal