In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare introduces us to a man on a mission to assassinate the reigning king of Scotland, King Duncan. Through King Duncan, Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s crude and unfiltered nature while capturing every second of Macbeth’s sadistic plan. With the use of paradox, internal character struggles, and the idea of fate, Shakespeare provides insight on what madness Macbeth created and the effect his madness has on other characters. Through the use of paradox in the play, minor details guide the path of the story to the very end.
His plans to deceive the King and murder do become true but he does face many problems regarding it later. After claiming the throne to himself, Macbeth is faced with greater challenges as nobleman around Scotland try to thwart him off his reign over Scotland. In the play Macbeth also faces more problems such
Who was responsible for the final outcome of his descent? Lady Macbeth and the three witches were major influences in his descent, but ultimately was Macbeth responsible for his own destruction? To be able to identify who is really responsible for this unfortunate outcome, one must examine each person’s role in in the play and in Macbeth’s descent into madness. It is only logical to look at the three witches first, since they were the ones who planted the ideas of being King in Macbeth’s head.
In the play Macbeth, the Witches play a bigger role than one might expect. The Witches are temptations of evil and with the Witches’ mischief prey upon Macbeth’s ambition like puppeteers. The Witches give Macbeth numerous prophecies that are told to provoke Macbeth towards his doom. The prophecies give Macbeth thoughts of treason against the King, tells Macbeth to secure the kingdom from Banquo’s descendants, and give Macbeth the false courage that leads him to think he was invincible. If the Witches’ prophecies did not guide Macbeth, his life would not have led to tragedy.
Macbeth’s character changes greatly throughout the play, from a respected thane to a king who people want dead. Macbeth gives in to his ‘vaulting ambition’ and, encouraged by the witches and Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan for the power. The guilt from this greatly affects him, he thinks he should carry on this path as he is almost at the
Banquo suspects Macbeth of cheating to become king and reminds Macbeth that his own son’s will become king someday when he says, “Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, as the weird women promised, and I fear thou played’st most foully for ’t. Yet it was said it should not stand in thy posterity, But that myself should be the root and father of many kings” (Mac.3.1.1-6). Directly after that conversation, Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo. This is another murder that Macbeth never would have done if the witches were not to give Macbeth his
Reasons why fate is a factor to the play and how shakespeare uses fate as a strategy to create s havoc and dreadful story for the reader, is by having the three witches tell macbeth his suppose fate. This is important because if Macbeth doesn’t know he is to be “ Thane of Glamis!... Thane of Cawdor!” (I, iii, 355 ) like the witches say then Macbeth wouldn’t even dare to harm the king without reasons. But analysing the quote he is fated to be the next king which Macbeth believe his fate and at the same time struggle to even through away his loyalty to Duncan so he can be the next ruler.
Shakespeare’s timeless themes of fate and free-will interact continuously in the text in the form of decisions and torment for Macbeth. Macbeth was first sent into his downward spiral in act 1 scene 3 when the three witches “predict” that he will become the Thane of Cawdor and eventual King. Banquo and Macbeth are left stunned by the witches revelation, but it was not until Ross arrives to announce Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor that he actually begins to believe it. When Macbeth realized he will become king, his mind automatically goes into a state of panic.
Then, when Macbeth seeks the witches, they further equivocate, orchestrating his downfall by misleading him. The author also depicts Malcolm using equivocation to deceive MacDuff into revealing his true personality, helping him develop a valuable alliance to defeat Macbeth. From these instances of deception in Macbeth, Shakespeare shows equivocation as a weapon. Equivocation is a weapon that grants significant power over a situation to its caster by enabling them to reveal the true intentions of the victim and manipulate their action with the results depending on the intent of the equivocator.
Early in the play, Macbeth and his wife toss around the idea of killing Duncan in order to become the king of Scotland. Lady Macbeth is able to manipulate Macbeth into doing so, Macbeth begins to seem shaken and flustered because of the deed he has done to his cousin. Macbeth then becomes king as told in his prophecy by the three witches, and does what he can in his power to keep that title and begins to lose his path due to ill/rattled thoughts and actions that happen beginning with Duncan’s murder. Macbeth’s introduction in this play begins with his meeting with the three witches or weird sisters.
It is true that Lady Macbeth and the three witches were partially responsible for his downfall; however, Macbeth’s selfish desires are what cloud his thoughts in the first place. Macbeth’s life and destiny is really in his own hands. Though fate plays a significant part in the play shown from the witches prediction on Macbeth 's rise to Thane of Cawdor, it is his own wicked thoughts with the influence of Lady Macbeth that leads him to kill the king, and that decision is what ultimately lead to his downfall. Although the witches mention to Macbeth that it is his fate to take the throne, Macbeth is the one to make it occur. Thus, his fate was in his own hands, just like it is in everyone else’s as
This is done by condemning her husband’s biggest insecurity; his manhood. She states that Macbeth would be “So much more the man.” (Shakespeare, trans. 2012, 1.7.58 if he were to follow through with the plan. Lady Macbeth even points out that she herself would kill her own baby as a means to reach her goals.
Ambitions , prophecies or maybe evil is what you could say drives Macbeth during the play, but Macbeth fate was already determined from the start .Macbeth stumbles upon three witches who give him 3 prophecies that predicts several of his actions before they even happen. In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth’s fate is predetermined by the witches. The witches manipulate Macbeth into acting dishonorable.
The witches’ big prophecy about Macbeth’s future was used both for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s self-fulfillment, and also for the witches’ own self-fulfillment. In Macbeth, Macbeth pursues his self-fulfillment not with his heart or conscience, but by these weird sisters’ stories. It is also seen how the witches reach their end goal by using their stories for their own self-fulfillment. An example of how Macbeth used their prophecy to help guide his self-fulfillment is by killing Duncan and Banquo.
Throughout Act I of Macbeth, Macbeth encounters three witches who give him three prophecies. These prophecies state that Macbeth will become Thane of Glamis, Cawdor, and king. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth!