The quote, “No man is an island,” by John Donne portrays the fact that human behaviors are often influenced by others. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth shows the harsh consequences of crossing the line between ambition and greed, which proves that he led himself to his own grave. He also shows how the people around him, led him to his own downfall. Macbeth, the leading character in the story suffers the consequences after he lets greed take him over. In the play, Macbeth is a brave honoured Scottish soldier who is presented a prophecy by three witches. He is told that he will become the Thane of Cawdor. The information he receives startles his mind but with the pursuit of his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth becomes “ambitious” to become a King. Lady Macbeth pulls the trigger when she calls Macbeth a “coward”, and questions his manhood, which only drives him to be more “ambitious” to kill the King. Macbeth lets his …show more content…
The witches play a key role in the play by setting the theme. They tell Macbeth the procholey and gain his trust. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to act upon their saying and perform the evil deeds, that he later on does. He is responsible for his own downfall, because in the end, it was his decision to question himself, “Am I doing the right thing?”. If he had questioned his thoughts after his encounter with the witches, he would have had a much different outcome because he would have asked himself “Am I doing the right thing by trusting these strangers. He allows himself to be manipulated by his wife, but in that moment if he had asked himself “Am I doing the right thing by allowing my wife to persuade me to my own grave”, he definitely would have had a different outcome. In conclusion, Macbeth is responsible for his own downfall with the influence of the witches and Lady
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.
In Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth is seen to be the grounds of his own downfall. Macbeth’s actions bring upon his downfall, because it is he who eventually chose to kill Banquo and MacDuff’s family. These actions were due to his ambitious nature. Lady Macbeth is also to blame for her husband’s demise because she is the one who originally pushed Macbeth into killing Duncan; her actions cause Macbeth to eventually meet his own death. Lady Macbeth is not the only factor that cause Macbeth’s downfall. The three witches are also responsible because they heighten Macbeth’s confidence and put the idea that he cannot be killed by anything. Macbeth’s ambitious nature
There were many wrongs committed in "MacBeth." But who should bear the major responsibility for these actions? The witches' prophesising? Lady MacBeth's scheming and persuasion? Or should MacBeth himself be held responsible? No doubt the witches and lady MacBeth influenced MacBeth in the course of action he took in his rise to power, but ultimately he must bear the major responsibility for his fate.
This makes it hard to deny that he has a major responsibility for his fate. The 3 witches play influence and cloud Macbeth’s mind but his free will is always present. We see this on several occasions through his soliloquys. Therefore even if the rise and downfall of Macbeth seem to be pre-destined, it is Macbeth himself that chooses his immoral greedy ambitions over the more righteous path. Therefore I personally believe that even though Macbeth is influences by a number of factors he still carries the heaviest burden of responsibility for his actions. So yes the witches do influence him, but in the end, it is each any man’s decision to fall for the temptation, or to be strong enough to
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy about a war hero named Macbeth, who follows his ambition with evil and who is repaid with evil. He is responsible for his own demise although only to a certain extent. There were many other factors that contributed to the tragic that could have been avoided - for example how the witches’ predictions are responsible for influencing Macbeth’s thoughts although ultimately no one told Macbeth to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth was also a very influential character which manipulated Macbeth into doing bad deeds however he is responsible for putting power into the hands of Lady Macbeth and letting her influence him. Finally, Macbeth acknowledges his guilt of wrongdoing and is thereby responsible for his
Macbeth destroys himself because of poor decisions. He trusts the witches; he listens when they say he can not be harmed. He takes what they say and runs with it, thinking that no person can kill him. Luke Wilson says, “Macbeth’s misreading of the prediction is the consequence of his concept of terminal majesty” (3). Macbeth will not have killed anyone. Macbeth is easily mislead, he misinterprets almost all of the apparitions and that is his downfall. The witches tell him to beware Macduff , but is also told that no man born of man can harm him. The witches are responsible for Duncan, Lady Macduff and her sons being murdered. The witches are responsible because they planted the idea of Macbeth becoming king in his head. If they would have never told him he would become king Lady Macbeth and Macbeth may not have been so devoted towards kingship. Additionally, he gets the prophecies and takes matters
Lastly, we find Macbeth himself as the ultimate protagonist that causes his own demise. In the beginning of the play Macbeth is recognised because of his bravery and courage during the Scottish battle. A battle where he was awarded for murder and ironically that was his downfall in the end. Because of his already present power craving and ambitions the prophecy from the witches proved to be the confirmation he needed to put his plan in motion, no matter the costs. As mentioned before equivocation takes place with the target being Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth? The driving force behind Macbeth’s downfall? Certainly not. Macbeth was completely and solely responsible for all the acts of great evil which were to lead to his downfall, and to even suggest the blame can be shifted on his wife is ludicrous.
In Macbeth the witches are the ones that fill Macbeth’s head with the information that he will be king of Scotland but it was Macbeth’s responsibility to decide what he should do with this information and to make the right choices. The witches should not be held responsible for his actions even though they did tempt him with the information but Macbeth was in no way, shape, or form forced by the witches to do anything. It was completely Macbeth’s fault for what happened to him in the end.
Macbeth is a play rife with tragedy. Written by William Shakespeare most probably in the year 1606, the play was very loosely based on somewhat true events. The play focuses on Macbeth’s rise to power, and then his subsequent demise shortly thereafter. Macbeth's ambitions were too big, and the choices that he made were the wrong ones. If he had never chosen to kill the King, then he would not have been killed in return. And while prophecies were made that predicted what would happen, Macbeth was the one that set them into motion, and he was the only one responsible for his own death.
Macbeth was led down to an unescapable road of doom by an outside force, namely fate in the form of the three witches. There was no supernatural force working against Macbeth, which therefore makes him responsible for his own actions and inevitable downfall. Macbeth is indeed responsible for his own
In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, is a brave and loyal subject to the King of Scotland, but as the play progresses, his character begins to change drastically. Evil and unnatural powers, as well as his own passion to become king, take over his better half and eventually lead to his downfall. The three main factors that intertwine with one another that contribute to Macbeth's tragic end are the prophecies told by the three witches, Lady Macbeth's influence, and finally, Macbeth's excessive passion and ambition which drove his desire to become king to the utmost extreme. The prophecy told by the three witches was what triggers the other factors that contribute to Macbeth s downfall. In the first act, the witches
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Macbeth, despite influences of the witches and Lady Macbeth, is responsible for his downfall. The witches are not fully to blame but do play a part in Macbeth's tragedy. In William Shakespeare’s play "Macbeth", Macbeth is a hero who soon destroys himself by his own wicked and selfish ambitions. To a certain degree, the witches can be blamed for the tragedy, although the blame can easily fall amongst Macbeth’s ambitious nature, and Lady Macbeth’s manipulation. Overall, the witches play an important role in the tragedy, but the blame cannot be purely placed on the witches as there are the other factors involved in the play, causing the tragic ending.
The tragic downfall of Macbeth can be contributed to several key factors. Macbeth’s downfall can be attributed to his blind ambition, the influence of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s own insecurities and misgivings. Blind ambition combined with immoral goals, with Lady Macbeth’s influence and Macbeth’s personal doubts all lead to his inevitable downfall.