Control In Macbeth Essay

up being driven mad by the guilt and she ends up taking her own life

In William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth", manipulation is a very effective device. The main character Macbeth is a puppet controlled by the words coming from the three witches and Lady Macbeth. The four troublemakers provide Macbeth with the motivation and confidence he needs to kill Duncan and perform other dark actions. Macbeth is very ambitious; there’s no doubt about this. However, there is no sign of him changing from a loyal man to a power hungry man. That is until outside influences begin to interfere with his life. The people with the greatest impact on Macbeth are his wife, Lady Macbeth and the witches. However, he then learns to manipulate others himself. In the end, all the treachery is revealed and he realizes

The main instance of Macbeth’s free will being shown is in his murder of Duncan, to become king. Macbeth heard the prophecy from the Weird Sisters that he was to be king and immediately began to plan the murder of the present king. Many would scoff at hearing such a claim, but Macbeth used it as justification for murder. It was clear that being King was something that Macbeth desired, and would do anything to achieve it. It became impossible to tell if Macbeth becoming King was as a result of fate, because he took the matters into his own hands. Right after hearing the prophecy, the first thing Macbeth does is write a letter to Lady Macbeth telling her of his plan. He did not let the statements run their course. Macbeth and his wife planned out the actions necessary for Macbeth to become king. He may have eventually become King if he never did anything, but there is no way of knowing what would have happened.

After he had attained his destiny, Macbeth felt that Banquo would become a serious threat. He did not like the fact that Banquo was destined to be a father to a whole line of kings. "Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared...If `t be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered..."(85). The path Macbeth chooses to take in order to stay at the throne was to have Banquo killed. But, Macbeth was never destined to kill anyone. Killing Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's whole household were all his decisions to attain his destiny.

Macbeth has to murder more people to cover his tracks and secure his place as king (III, iiii, 135-140). He seems to value others lives much less than his own. Macbeth has already said that life is just a game and there is nothing serious in life (II, iii, 92-95). Macbeth orders assassins to kill Banquo and Fleance (III, I, 126-128) to try and secure his place as king.

But, later on in the play we learn by the witched that Banquo's descendants will become King and that they will prosper. It says “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”, when Macbeth learns about this and hears about it he is scared and then eventually considers Banquo as a threat to him to become King. So Macbeth has to come up with a solution to this and eventually comes up with the solution that he must murder Banquo and his son Fleance. He gets two murders to go out and murder Banquo and his son while they are walking so that his promise of becoming king will not be in jeopardy. This is an ironic act of betrayal because Macbeth and Banquo have been friends for a long time and have done everything together. Banquo was not just his friend he was also the co-commander of the army and had some power in Scotland.

Macbeth shows his desire for power, he was friendly to Banquo before he became the king, but after he became the king, he let three murderers to kill Banquo and his son. “So is he mine, and is such bloody distance That every minute of his being thrusts against my near ‘st of life”(3.1 line 116-118). Macbeth sent three murderers to kill Banquo and his son since they ran away. All he thinks about is to kill more people in order to gain more power. Macbeth didn’t just kill Banquo only, he also killed Macduff’s whole family. “Murderer. What your egg! Stabbing him. Young fry of treachery! Son. He has killed me, mother: Run away, I pray you”(4.3 line 84-87). He killed Macduff’s whole family, he just wanted to make sure he doesn’t lose his power, so he just killed anyone who against him, he’s obsessed with his power, he never cares about breaking other people’s family.

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is titled the King of Scotland. Having Macbeth murder Duncan to become King makes it seem to Macbeth that he can control his own fate. This only makes it worse for Macbeth, because it is now engraved in his mind that murder can change fate. Now that Duncan is taken care of, it is Banquo that Macbeth is worried about, for Macbeth is convinced that Banquo knows too much because he was the only other person with him when the witches prophesized his fate. It’s not only Banquo that Macbeth wants to murder, he also wants to change the prophecy of Banquo’s descendants becoming Kings by murdering them as well, as he states “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!;/ Rather than so, come fate into the list,;/ And champion me to th’ utterance.” (III, I, 70-73). This line directly shows that Macbeth now thinks he is in control, and that he can challenge fate by murdering the sons of Banquo to change what the witch’s prophesized for the descendants of Banquo to become kings.

You may think that MacBeth is one hundred percent guilty and should receive a heavy punishment for his actions. But, have you ever considered the possibility that he may not have been responsible for them? Because he should not be held responsible for something he had no control over. I would like to point out that it was the Weird Sisters who told him prophesies which he then believed. It was his wife, Lady MacBeth, who pressured and convinced him to go through with the killings. And tell me, would any sane person commit the amount of crimes that MacBeth has? He has a mental condition that makes him go insane and start seeing things that are not actually there. These hallucinations are just one of the many causes that contribute to his

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, manipulation is an effective device used throughout the play to achieve control and influence behaviour. In the play, Macbeth falls victim to this and becomes controlled like a puppet by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the three witches. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a loyal and well-respected general, but, later, becomes a treacherous murderer, fulfilling his desires to become king. The puppeteers were pivotal in Macbeth’s eventual downfall in the tragedy and pulled the strings that led Macbeth to his self-destruction. However, Macbeth in himself was a mentally weak character, adding to the ease of manipulation. These factors proved fatal for Macbeth as his death unfolded at the end of the play and his reign diminished. Shakespeare takes on the underestimated power of control that manipulation plays on characters throughout the dramatic performance.

Within the play, Macbeth is influenced by many: the witches; his wife, Lady Macbeth; possibly Hecate, Goddess of the Underworld; and his own desire to be crowned king. The question is: was he just influenced by them, and acted upon his own choice and free-will; or did they control him, forcing him to act against his wishes against his free will?

There are many different types of control that are experienced throughout any given person’s lifetime. There is being the person in control, being controlled by someone else, and even being controlled by one’s self. Each position has an effect on surrounding people and the mental state of the being. Within the texts, Macbeth, “And of Clay we are Created,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and “To Build a Fire,” the influence of control is always there, but appears in different forms.

The play “ Macbeth” is written by William Shakespeare, and he is a tragic writer. The Macbeth is seen as a tragic hero, he compromises his honor and negates moral responsibility to attain power and position which result in his tragic end. One day , Macbeth come back from the war,he meet the three witches,and the three witches tell him prophecy says that he will become a king of Scotland one day. The three witches’s prophecy plant a evil seed inside the Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth cant stop thinking the prophecy, it direct impact the Macbeth, the

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, three witches give Macbeth a prophecy that he will become a king; the inconvenience of this prophecy is that his posterity will not be successful. Because of his anger, jealousy, and fear of no success, he is responsible for killing 4 people; Duncan, Banquo, Lady Macduff, and her son. Through his final words, he shows how guilty he truly is for what he had done. Along with Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the young Siward express who they truly are when death is soon approaching. Final words in the face of death reveal character’s true nature and personality.

Nevertheless, Macbeth quickly discounts these bloody visions of murder and continues to fantasize about his future glories. Furthermore, when Macbeth encounters the witches, we are only told a quick summary of the prophecy, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” (1.3.52).and then, “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53). Yet the witches do not reveal the means by which Macbeth will come about this glory or mention any ill deeds that are to come. This leaves one to believe that the witches knew Macbeth’s fate as Thane and King, yet the other bloody elements of the prophecy are enacted solely through Macbeth’s own will. Macbeth is only prompted in his bloody actions by supernatural forces and of course Lady Macbeth.