Macbeth and his Attempt and Self Fulfilling his Prophecies
“All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!”(1.3.47-49). The three witches prophecies throughout the play are major influences in helping the plot develop. As well they develop the character of Macbeth and reveal the morals he holds. This play by Shakespeare which of the three types he writes is a tragedy. These tragedies are all brought upon by Macbeth’s doing. The heinous murders he commits are all brought upon by the prophecies the three dark and evil witches have spoken to Macbeth. These three witches are perceived as all things evil. They are the living embodiments of darkness and are born to destruct those weak enough to listen. “Macbeth” is a play of evil, hurt and self-fulfillment which are all from the prophecies being brought to Macbeth. Self-fulfillment is “…how a belief or expectation, whether correct or not, affects the outcome of a situation or the way a person (or group) will behave.”(Menton). The witches use their knowledge of this term and idea in order to manipulate Macbeth into fulfilling what he has been told, no matter how dark the duty is.
“…All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!”(1.3.49). The third witches prophecy reveals that Macbeth will be the king. The witch does not specify when or where this may happen. These leads Macbeth to question if this is true, he wants
The very beginning of the play indicates that dark supernatural forces will be involved. Three weird sisters are preparing a surprise for Macbeth, surprise that will eventually cost him life and the salvation of his soul. Witches' predictions play very important role in leading Macbeth to the evil deeds. Witches are the first to
Firstly, Macbeth cannot control his compulsion to know more about his fate and feel secure in his role as the King, so he listens to anything The Weird Sisters will tell him, as he desires more power. When Macbeth heard his first prophecy and the first two predictions came true, he automatically believed that the third would as well, not doubting the Witch’s honesty. When the Weird Sisters decide to mess with Macbeth they tell him, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter.” (1:3.50-53) These were the predictions that the three witches gave to Macbeth about his future. To mislead him, they included an unrealistic prediction that he would become King. He obsessed over this until he came to the conclusion to murder Duncan, the King, and replace him
Macbeth also goes through this step when after one part of his prophecy comes true and he becomes the Thane of Cawdor. The last part of the prophecy has him becoming king and Macbeth says that “if chance will have [him] king, why, chance may crown [him without doing anything]” (1.3.143-144) which shows how Macbeth has gone from not wanting to be king to now aiming to be it. Once one part came true, he not assumes the rest is and this greed drives him to kill Duncan and claim the throne as king.
The three witches influence Macbeth by showing that what will his future will be. In act 1 scene 3 the three witches give Macbeth a prediction about his future by saying that “all hail Macbeth the future king of Scotland”.This quote shows that the three witches influence Macbeth by telling him that one day he be the thane of Cawdor. The prediction that they give him change his character into evilness person.
They poison his mind with these prophecies, making him greedy and bringing out the evil qualities in his soul. When the first of the prophecies is proven true, Macbeth then considers the idea of murdering Duncan for the first time. This is his first step on the journey to his downfall, as the Three Witches had planned. The Three Witches plan has succeeded, they had brought out the greed in Macbeth, allowing him to make the most important decision - to kill King Duncan. Macbeth's malevolence and deceptiveness are sown further when he becomes so obsessed with the witches prophecies to his own friend Banquo, that he decides to hire men to kill him and his son Fleance. After Macbeth went through the murder of Duncan and Banquo, he slowly lost his sanity, it is at this point that the witches were easily able to control his mind. They have succeeded in bringing out the Evil qualities in Macbeth and are ready to finish their game and make sure Macbeth continues to spiral downward. With Hecates' lead, the witches plan to bring Macbeth to his death by making him overconfident, they do this by presenting him with three apparitions. The first appears as an armed head that speaks,
Within the first act we begin to see Macbeth’s ambition creep into his thoughts and planned actions. Therefore, in Act I of the story, Macbeth learns of his prophecy from the Three Witches, or the Three Weïrd Sisters. The First Witch tells him, “All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” (I, iii, 51), this proclaiming his current title. The Second Witch tells Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” (I, iii, 52), this explain the title he will soon receive. And then the Third Witch tells Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (I, iii, 53), this prophecy explains that Macbeth will become the
William Shakespeare’s tale Macbeth is one teeming with questions regarding fate, particularly with whether it is the driving factor behind events or if it is simply a contraption residing within the human mind. In Macbeth, Shakespeare posed the question through the actions of three witches who encounter Macbeth and prophesied his future. They tell Macbeth, who is at this point the Thane of Glamis, that is he is to become the Thane of Cawdor and then the King and that Banquo is to be the father of kings despite not being a king himself. Through Macbeth’s response to the witches, the accuracy of the prophecies and the role of Lady Macbeth, one can come to the conclusion that the events that occurred could not have happened independently so they
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” has many dark scenes and tones with tragic endings. Macbeth, the main character, is a subject to Shakespeare’s tragic endings, along with Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, three witches appear to Macbeth three times and tell him prophecies. These fortunes deceive and confuse Macbeth when he tries to figure them out, eventually leading him to his downfall. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth about these prophecies as well, and she encourages Macbeth to carry out what the prophecies said which also helps lead Macbeth to his bitter end. Like a moth drawn to a flame, the husband and wife both want to have as much power as possible. These three main characters, the three witches, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth, are the pivotal characters in the tragedy.
The three witches in the tragedy Macbeth are introduced right at the beginning of the play. They recount to Macbeth three prophecies that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis and then become King. These prophecies introduced Macbeth to ideas of greatness; they were full of temptations, and influenced Macbeth. The witches’ prophecies were always dominating Macbeth’s decisions. He was first tempted by the prophecies and thus, killed the king.
“All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter”. The prediction the three witches make about Macbeth becoming king bring him an overwhelming feeling of joy and determination, from then on the three witches gain control over Macbeth and take advantage of his innocent characteristics and consistently manipulate him into conducting many crimes in which he commits. They always play a secondary role in each of Macbeth's inferior actions. The three witches influence Macbeth’s actions throughout the play by constantly planting ideas into his head about becoming king and manipulate his thoughts, the three witches quickly take advantage of
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth decides to carry out the weird sister’s prophecy. Macbeth decides to do this because their prediction about the Thane of Cawdor dying has already come true. He figures that since this one prophecy has come true, then the other prophecies will come true as well. When Lady Macbeth enters the play in ACT I Scene V, Macbeth has a change of heart when it comes to killing Duncan and fulfilling the prophecy. Macbeth feels that he needs to do the right thing, and killing Duncan would not be doing so. Macbeth eventually gives in and continues with his and Lady Macbeth’s plan to murder Duncan, but regrets his decision soon after. He is scared by every noise he hears and nervous about all the blood on his hands, claiming
Without these supernatural forces, Macbeth wouldn’t have submitted to Lady Macbeth’s cruel plot and he never would have faced the sad consequences of his wicked actions. The third appearance of the witches and their second triad of predictions serve as the closure to Macbeth’s fate as they provide him a false sense of security. Macbeth believes he is strong enough at this point to change his fate
The three witches, or the three weird sisters, are people who came to manipulate Macbeth into conquering his desires. In the first act, scene one was all about them meeting with Macbeth and letting him know about some glorious news. Later on in the act, the three witches encountered him and said ‘First Witch. “All hail, Macbeth!, hail to thee, thane of Glamis.” Second Witch. “All hail, Macbeth!, hail to thee of cawdor!” Third Witch. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.” pg five to six act one scene three Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Dover Publications, 1993. The witches gave him a prophacy of being next in line to be king, so this obviously sparked ideas in his head. He became obssed with this prophacey and did not stop at anything to make them true, he cause chaos in people’s lives just to maintain a high stature. “Illustrating the positive creativity power at work, even inadventurally through the witches, power that Macbeth can niether control or destroy. His own art- wholly evil and negative one.” Lynch, Kathryn L. “'What Hands Are Here?' The Hand as Generative Symbol in Macbeth.” Vol. 39, no. 153, 1988, pp. 29–38., www.jstor.org/stable/515476. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017. Basically, the witches gave him so much power from a brief conversation the he did not know what to do, but use it for wrong. His ambition lead him to kill people.
Throughout the play, the witches use supernatural powers to spark Macbeth’s ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall. Firstly, the three witches, aware of Macbeth’s arrival, gather between the battlefield and the palace of Duncan, the king, at Forres to prepare a spell for him. When the witches encounter Macbeth and Banquo, who are on their way to the palace of Duncan, they tell Macbeth that he will ultimately become Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland. By telling Macbeth about his future, the witches accurately fulfil his desires, causing Macbeth to believe in the prophecies. The accuracy of the witches’ prophecies sparks Macbeth’s ambition because he becomes impatient and he decides to act on the predictions.
The actions of the witches lead to many of the deeds performed by Macbeth that contribute to his end. When Macbeth first meets the witches, they tell him things that seem impossible. They say, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (I, iii). They play with his mind by giving him a glance of a grand and bloody future that awaits. They tempt him with things of privilege and fantasy. His greed makes him fall into their trap. They manipulate him to see things. The second time Macbeth sees them, they call three