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.
"And often to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths." This quote is spoken by Banquo, it expresses the cunning, foul witches and how they play with the minds of the weak, in this case Macbeth's aspiring consciousness, in order for acts of evil to be committed by telling only half truths. Banquo confronts our protagonist about these 'Instruments of darkness', but in defiance to this warning, our protagonist is consumed by his desire to acquire power, sending this warning into oblivion. This is the beginning of Macbeth's destruction, his vulnerability is unearthed as we start to uncover his own instrument of evil embedded deep within the core of his soul. We start to see that seed of corruption growing, and how he is not so noble after all.
Another prophecy made by the witches was that Banquo's son will be king. Fuelled by paranoia, lack of sleep andvisions, Macbeth was thrown into a state of confusion and a belief that the prophecies were inevitable. Lady Macbeth urged her husband to commit murder and it was this action that sparked Macbeth's downfall. When Lady Macbeth heard about the prophecies made by the witches, and how one of them had already come true, she called upon evil spirits to guide her through her task - killing the king. ."..
Macbeth is the real villain and Lady Macbeth is just a partner in crime, egging him on because of her desire to be Queen. Macbeth was loyal to his King and was an excellent soldier. However his wife, Lady Macbeth could see a better future for Macbeth as King after Macbeth tells her about the witches and their prophesies in a letter. Despite these conflicting ideas, it was Macbeth himself who decided to murder Duncan and the others. It seems that most people believe that Macbeth is the real villain of the play, after firstly killing the King but then Banquo and Macduff’s family but through Macbeth’s own ambition and desire for power, Lady Macbeth was able to manipulate and evoke weaknesses in Macbeth’s character to cause his respectable needs as a loyal solider, to turn into evil motivations.
Banquo states, “That, trusted home, might yet enkindle you unto the crown, besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange: And of oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles to betrays In deepest consequence.” (1.3.121-224). Banquo tells Macbeth that the witches predictions are evil and they must not assume that such prophecies of power, and greatness tell are true. Some say it is the fault of Lady Macbeth that Macbeth is sent to his death. However, he could have easily not listened to her at all.
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.
Through analysis of Macbeth’s choices in the play, it is evident that his ruthless ambition, blind trust in the witches, cowardice towards his wife’s demands and overconfidence were the key faults that led to his demise. One of the reasons Macbeth meets his untimely tragic defeat is due to his ruthless ambition. From the moment Macbeth hears the witches’ prophecy and the first of them is realized (becoming Thane of Cawdor), Macbeth begins to seek out future ambitions: becoming the King. His personal ambition, fortified by his wife’s drive for power makes him blind to the man he was before he met the witches and before he became Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth debates with himself regarding the pros and cons of killing Duncan he states: “I go, and it is done.
Lady Macbeth was one Shakespeare’s most courageous female characters. She convinced her husband to cruelly kill Duncan and urged him to be strong in the murder’s aftermath. Fortunately she was eventually scarred by the effect of Macbeth’s animosity towards her. In each case, ambition—helped, of course, by the hurtful predictions of the witches that’s what drove the couple to extreme insanity. The problem, the play suggests, is that once someone decides to use violence to further their quest for power, it is difficult to stop them.
However, because Lady Macbeth has ambition beyond her status, she wants him to become King as soon as possible. The only problem for Lady Macbeth is she feels Macbeth is too nice to kill Duncan. She says “it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness”, which shows Lady Macbeth thinks of her husband as a coward. The soliloquy used by Shakespeare truly shows the disturbed mind of Lady Macbeth; creating an unsettling affect on the audience through his representation of her as a scheming and dangerous character. The use of imagery reveals that witchcraft was a fascination of Elizabethan England.
Witches come and reveal to him a prophecy of his future, which makes him want it straight away. Lady Macbeth keeps pushing for Macbeth to do whatever it takes to get what the weird sisters have predicted will happen, and finally goes ahead with it. Macbeth kills numerous people to have his prophecy fulfilled and is now the complete opposite person of who he was at the beginning of the play, but it is hard to blame Macbeth for his own demise because of these other factors because they play a role in boosting his actions Macbeth wasn’t an ambitious character until he met the witches. Macbeth is the most “worthiest cousin” of the Kind and is a “brave” soldier serving under him. He is established as a good character in the play and it is apparent that he had no real ambitions until he met the witches.