Control In Macbeth And The Witches

What does control mean?

Control is the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or course of events. In Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare, Macbeth the Scottish general is told by three witches his prophecy of becoming king of Scotland on day. The ambition and pressure created by his wife leads him to taking action for himself: killing Duncan and taking the throne. Throughout the rest of the play, Macbeth goes insane and is filled with guilt and paranoia. In the play, control is divided between Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches.

To begin with, Macbeth exemplifies his control in the play by beginning the the play by the quote, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me” (1.3). Macbeth is in a way foreshadowing what

Lady Macbeth is directly speaking to Macbeth and telling him he has nothing to fear and that Macbeth should just worry about what she tells him to do. The rest Lady Macbeth would take care of. This portrays Lady Macbeth's control over the situation by her resolving the problems and devising up the plan for the murder of Duncan. Also Lady Macbeth displays her control, “ We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fall” (1.7). Her control is conveyed in this quote because she is being clear about how she is determined to go through with this plan and that she is no coward such as her husband starts to become once it is finally time for the assassination. Lastly, Lady Macbeth portrays her control, “Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there… Give me the daggers…” (2.2). At this moment Lady Macbeth is furious because she did not think her husband was foolish to bring the daggers back. Since Macbeth had brought the daggers back it had ruined the whole plan Lady Macbeth had devised. Everything would have been in place if he left the daggers there and would have gone as according, that the guards had murdered

Control is shown in this quote because the Witches represent fate and they are foreshadowing the future. They tell Macbeth his prophecy to lead him to the action he does after hearing this. They basically set him up for failure. Next, the first Witch says, “... Here’s another more potent than the first…” (4.1). The Witch is talking about the second apparition which tells Macbeth that no man born of women could do in harm to him. As the Witch said that the second apparition is more potent than the first one shows that the witch is controlling Macbeth to listen to what they have to say. Towards the end of the play Macbeth says, “... But get thee back; my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already… I bear a charmed life” (5.8). It shows that the witches have control because he has became king of Scotland but he had to fill his hands with innocent people’s blood to get there. Now that he has gotten to his dark ambition he can not have a happy life because of all the guilt and paranoia he