The Fall Of A King

The witches manipulate Macbeth into becoming a murdering, power-hungry evil being, by telling him, “someday you’ll be king.” “I'll drain him dry as hay. Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his penthouse lid. He shall live a man forbid. Weary sev'n nights, nine times nine, Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.” (I,i) The witches use the two other prophecies to get in the mind of Macbeth. They say that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor, and Banquo will be the father of future generations of kings. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.They give Macbeth a false sense of security with the visions they perceive. These influential women are the ones that instill the idea of murdering the king. Macbeth lets greed get the best of him. The witches sway Macbeth into killing Duncan for the throne. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” (I,i) The Witches intend to turn Macbeth from his good ways, into something evil. As the only character that understands their cruelty, the witches want Macbeth dead. The witches give Macbeth the temptation to kill the king by telling him their prophecies. In the end,

To begin, the witches are the catalyst to Macbeth’s crimes because the convince him that he will become king. Macbeth first meets the witches while returning from a gruesome battle and it is safe to say that they greet him with some audacious titles. They initially greet him as the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor, but it is their final greeting which has the greatest effect on Macbeth. The witches hail Macbeth as someone “that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53). This ignites a fire inside Macbeth, who is an immensely ambitious person. He begins to fantasize about the luxurious life he would have if he were the king of Scotland and he suddenly has the temptation to kill King Duncan. Although the witches’ prediction is favourable, Macbeth has no reason to believe them, at least until one of their other predictions turns out to be true. This

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An

The greatest factor to Macbeth’s downfall should be attributed to his blind, uncontrollable ambition. This factor is first seen with the second appearance of the witches, upon which they meet Macbeth. Macbeth’s first thought to the prophecy “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.63) is he must murder the king. This thought provides the groundwork in which Macbeth can seed his

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth miscontruses the witches prophecies. The prophecies cause Macbeth to think differently.“All Hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter”(Shakespeare 1.3.50). The witches first tell Macbeth that he will become king but they do not tell him when or how. “... a prosperous gentleman, and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief” (Shakespeare 1.3.73-77). Macbeth knows it will be impossible to become king if the king is still alive. “Two truths told, as happy prologues to the swelling acts of the imperial theme” (Shakespeare 1.2.70-78). Since two of the witches

‘Two truths are told/ As happy prologues to the swelling act/ Of the imperial theme (I.iii.127-129). Macbeth enjoys the thought of perhaps becoming king in this quote. He is optimistic about the witches’ prophecies, and deep inside, he hopes that they will come true. The two truths are the prophecies of becoming thane of Glamis and Cawdor. The word ‘happy’ reveals his excitement about the possibility of being king; if one prophecy came true, why not the other? Macbeth is especially influenced by the prophecies during the end of the play. ‘[…] for none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth (IV.i.80-81)’. This prophecy causes Macbeth to think he is invincible. It reinforces his confidence so that he is blinded from its true meaning. However, the prophecy is confusing, since all humans are born from a mother, then logically, no human should be able to defeat Macbeth. Therefore, it is understandable why Macbeth becomes extremely hubris following this prophecy. The witches’ gave Macbeth a nudge in the beginning and then pushed him to his death in the end using the prophecies. Without the assurance of these prophecies, Macbeth would have never acted on his ambition alone and there would be no play to analyze.

If Macbeth didn’t know about this prophecy he would have happily took his position as Thane of Cawdor, but knowing he will be King drove him to commit murder. Macbeth was rapidly changed from an honorable general to an evil tyrant. “The witches did not tell him to commit murder; all that was necessary was for them to suggest the fact of the crown, and they could trust Macbeth to overcome the obstacles in his way just as they would have him” (Wiley, 45). This emphasizes the fact that the play is shaped by the supernatural. This lead to the murder of Duncan, then to get rid of his obstacles he kills the guards. The Witches also reveal “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” (1.3.67) to Banquo. This knowledge leads Macbeth to send Murderers to kill Banquo and his son. This is more evidence to show that the words of the witches construct the plays events.

Macbeth first shows signs of change when he becomes Thane of Cawdor. While Macbeth first meets the witches they tell him he will be king and he wishes to know more. “Why/upon this blasted heath you stop our way/ with such a prophetic greeting? Speak I charge you.” (1.3.77-78) When Macbeth hears he will be king he becomes instantly curious and sparks a interest on the prospect of becoming king. This is when he first begins to show the signs of his greed. This is shown even further when Macbeth is told he was Thane of Cawdor and acts hopeful, “If chance will have me king,/ why chance may crown me” (1.3.143-144) Knowing the witches said he would soon become Thane of Cawdor now Macbeth has a purpose and a drive knowing what’s next in store for him. This is shown within his letter to Macbeth “that though might’ve not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being integral of what greatness is sponsored thee/” (1.5.8-9) Here he states to lady macbeth he doesn’t want to waste his chance and lose out on the greatness of becoming king. All of these quotes show Macbeth slip to the side of darkness by wanting to become king.

In the beginning of the play, the witches make three prophecies. First, that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor. The second part of the prophecy is that Macbeth will become King. The third prophecy being that Banquo will be father to future kings. When Macbeth first hears the prophecy, Duncan holds the position as king. King duncan is also a very loved king by his people. Macbeth and Duncan even have a good relationship. Macbeth is Duncan’s greatest war hero and because of Macbeth’s great success in battle, Duncan rewards him by promoting him to the position of Thane of Cawdor. With this promotion, Macbeth realizes that the witches first prophecy was true. With this realization, Macbeth’s head begins to fill with thoughts of killing King Duncan to speed up the process so that he can become king. When he tells his wife of the prophecies and his promotion, she becomes extremely

In life, there are two types of people: those who do the right thing and those who don’t. In the play Macbeth, by Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth is given a prophecy by three witches that says he will become king; however, there is no descending line of kings of his own blood. With the knowledge of the Witches’ prophecy, Macbeth’s ambition, and manipulation from his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is quickly dragged into a never-ending, bloody murder rampage to obtain the crown and get rid of those who stand in the way of obtaining it as well. Macbeth constantly battles with his moral dilemmas; however, he easily falls victim to influences that go against his morals. Influences on major characters emphasize how easily one’s decision making can be negatively affected, resulting in one going against his or her morals/integrity.

We see in the play Macbeth that when the motivation to succeed in life becomes overpowering, other people may easily influence one and elements and one may decide on wrongful actions to achieve a goal. Some of the influences on Macbeth include the witches and the apparitions, Lady Macbeth, and lastly Macbeth's own insecurities and misguided attempts to control his future.

During the play Macbeth encountered a group of witches who claimed to be prophets that had an idea of where his future could go. The prophecy said like i stated earlier that he has a chance of becoming king of Scotland, this triggered Macbeth which was the first time he ever thought about murdering the king. The prophecies said: 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! These simple phrases changed Macbeth's thought process completely.One known as a loyal warrior to becoming an unknown murderer. By the looks of it the prophets told Macbeth this to cause mayhem, which they successfully accomplished. It evidently works since Macbeth went into a spiral. Giving him and Lady Macbeth a false sense of the throne, which “should” have went smoothly but, really didn’t. Evidently not everything went to plan as Macbeth hoped it would, visions would come to his mind shortly after the murder. For example, he keeps exclaiming about how he sees blood upon his hand and the fact he can see a bloody dagger floating in the

As brother and sister, George and Anne Boleyn were close especially when they were reunited in the court of England after years spent apart furthering their educations. Anne also had many friends who remained loyal to her during ‘The Great Matter’ and her eventual rise to the throne. These friends and her brother were close friends to the King as well. Henry Norris, for example, had been close friends with the King years before Anne was even in the picture; however, close or not, Henry spoke nothing when Norris was arrested on suspicion of adultery with the Queen. He too spoke nothing when the Queen was further accused of adultery with four other men, Francis Weston, Mark Smeaton, William Brereton, and George Boleyn, Anne’s own brother. Anne was also accused of treason which meant imagining or plotting the death of the King as well as being a subject of accusation to witchcraft. It is important to remember that this was a very superstitious time in the world and at that time it was believe that one of the effects of being bewitched was impotence. Anne and Henry had only a single living daughter by the end of their marriage, and she had miscarried at least three babies by the time she died. “Since it is widely believed that witches did afflict men with impotence, this claim would have come readily to the minds of the Kings and his advisors” (Warnicke 231). Obviously Henry had decided it was all Anne’s fault that she was unable to carry a son full term. In January of

One of the earliest scenes of Macbeth depicts the three witches predicting the fate of Banquo and Macbeth. During this scene, the witches establish that Macbeth will become king, while Banquo’s children will later become kings. “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail Macbeth and Banquo.” (Shakespeare. 1.3, 63-66.) Although at first Macbeth and Banquo both jest over this prediction, over the course of the play Macbeth begins to believe the prophecies made by the three witches. With the assistance and persuasion of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s ambitions to gain higher power and become King of Scotland grow. In spite of this, his ambitions continue to