Macbeth’s ambition is what is causing him to intervene with his prophecy and pursue his goal (rather than leave it to chance). In a way, it is Macbeth’s own “black and deep desires” that make him kill in the first place as the witches never tell him to do so. Furthermore, apart from ambition, it is Macbeth’s own weak will and moral system that causes him to do the actions that result in his downfall. Macbeth’s weak will is undeniable and is illustrated before killing Duncan. “I have of spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/And falls on the other” (I, VII, 25-28).
Macbeth went to great lengths to make sure they came true. The witches just told him facts, they did not tell Macbeth how they would come about. Macbeth was responsible for his own actions when killing King Duncan, the guards, and his best friend Banquo. These actions came from his flaw of ambition, His ambition for power would stop at nothing for him to become king. He wanted power so bad that he was willing to kill his best friend.
Macbeth fears that he will lose his power and Banquo will take the throne. Him and Banquo were close friends who fought in battle together. Although Macbeth killed Duncan, Banquo was very suspicious of they way Macbeth started acting. In act I, Scene III, line 72, the first witch says“ lesser than Macbeth, and greater.” Banquo was with Macbeth when the witches were talking.
The debate of fate vs free will controlling our decisions has gone on for centuries. It is also a prominent subject in William Ernest Henley 's poem Invictus, which strongly promotes the idea of free will in the midst of challenges, and in William Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth goes through a mental deterioration, due to his actions in his quest to become king. At first, Macbeth meets three witches who give him a prophecy that he would be king, with some uneasiness and some help from his wife he kills the king and takes the throne and then continues to kill all of his threats. Fate can not be a reasoning for his actions; the idea of fate is rather a disguise for one’s results.
He feels that because the witches said it that it must be true no matter what the consequences in the future are. This is a leading factor that causes Macbeth to decide to murder King Duncan. Macbeth consciously makes the decision to commit treason and knows that it will have consequences. He even ponders the fact that although he will have a prosperous life on
Therefore, Macbeths desire to become King grew deep in his heart. He desperately wanted the Crown and also the power to rule over the people of Scotland. Macbeth however suppressed his feelings; unfortunately Lady Macbeth’s greediness and the three Witches’ prophecies contribute lot to Macbeth’s downfall. Since Witches predicted that no man born from a woman could kill him, he would not be defeated until the forest of move to his castle.
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
Even though we may believe that whatever happens in life is meant to be, can we know our fate? In the play Macbeth, the witches ' give Macbeth a prophecy that he believess represent his fate. Although Macbeth is told that he will become king, he is not told that it is up to him to make it happen. He believes the witches '’ words that he will be king, and he is willing doing anything to make the prophecy come true.
After Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth about the witches and the prophecies that they foretold and how two of the three of come true, she turns into a total witch. She starts talking in an Aside about how her husband is too weak and kind to be able to do anything about becoming King. She takes it upon her own hands to make the last prophecy to come true, calling on the power of darkness to make her strong like a man. But, when Macbeth comes into the play she acts like he is a worthy mighty man, when in truth she doesn’t think that he is. She deceives him on what she is truly thinking and later on deceives him into thinking that killing the King was his idea and questions his manhood.
His ambition causes him to choose the wrong choices and affects the outcome of his life. In the beginning of the story, the witches tell Macbeth that his fate is to become king. Macbeth believes that fate will just simply make it true and that he will not have to do anything. However, his ambitious nature makes him ponder the thought of being king in his own way. He decides his final decision by the push of Lady Macbeth.
For example, when the witches notify Macbeth that he will gain a new title, they are simply telling him of the fact and are not prompting him to act upon it (Rahman and Tajuddin 138). In spite of that, he instantly conjures up an image in his head of himself killing King Duncan in order to get the position of the King, and subtly questions if his thoughts are against his own morals (Mac I.iii.130-137). This thought is not the witches’ fault, but if they never told Macbeth of his imminent future, he would not think this way. Macbeth’s murderous thought of Duncan lets readers see that Macbeth has a lust for power, which ultimately leads to the tragedy (Kesur 5561). In addition, the witches’ apparitions also play a slight part in Macbeth’s decision making.
Macbeth was the Thane of Cawdor but he wanted to be king more than anything. The witches had told him that he would one day be king but he did not know how long that would take so when King Duncan had been invited to stay the night at his house he exclaimed that “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/ shakes so my single state of man/ that function is smother 'd in surmise,/ and nothing is but what is not”(1.3.52-55). He felt that if he were to kill King Duncan that he would have a better chance of becoming king. Though the witches had never told him that someone would need to get murdered for him to become king, his ambition tempted him to quicken this process the only way he felt he could. This was the beginning of the murderer that the witches had created with the fortune telling.
In Act 3 Macbeth fears that being king won’t last if Banquo's descendant is destined for the throne. In the beginning of Act Three, Macbeth has become king, he feels being king is worthless if his position is as king is safe. (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines (52-76) Macbeth thinks he can cheat fate by killing Banquo thereby preventing him from producing heirs to the throne. (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 75-76).Furthermore, this leads to Macbeth hiring murders to kill Banquo and Fleance before/away from the banquet so he can remain blameless. (Act 3 Scene 147-148)
Have you ever blame someone for your mistake? Using someone as a scapegoat can make you less guilty. Sometimes, however, ultimately it is oneself’s fault for their downfall. William shakespeare wrote a play called, Macbeth, which shows how Macbeth is responsible for his own death. Macbeth is responsible for his own downfall because he is power-hungry and easily manipulated.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a five-act play that tells the tragic story of a Scottish nobleman. In the beginning of the drama, the main character, Macbeth, kills a traitor who was leading an army against Duncan, the King of Scotland.