Witches Insane Prophecies In William Shakespeare's Macbeth

From the act I, the witches predict Macbeth prophecy about he will become a king. The prophecy have marked on Macbeth’s and Lady macbeth’s behavior, thought, and emotions. The prophecy leads both of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to idea of greatness and powerful. Lady Macbeth thought that if she became a queen, she would have gotten attention, power, respect, and love. She never realizes that killing Duncan would ruin her life. On the other hand, Macbeth still struggle against his ambition and he is more profound about the consequences than Lady Macbeth, from the example event that he thinks that Duncan is a good king and he doesn’t deserve being murdered. But he still gives in to his ambitions. Furthermore, the prophecy leads them

    In the third scene of the first act, Banquo** asks, "...have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason prisoner?" in response to the witches' prophecies.  Banquo is partly right in the assumption that Macbeth's mind is not pure.  When Macbeth says "The Prince of Cumberland!  That is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap" (Act 1, Scene 4, 48-49), we see that Macbeth may have already the idea of killing Duncan.  Macbeth's ultimate goal is to become king; he does this with a certain amount of ease, but the process somehow awakens his tragic flaw, the ruthlessness with which he destroys his own reign.  After he kills the dead king's servents, his targets are Banquo and Fleance, who have heard or are involved in the third prophecy.  Macbeth sends the three murderers who stab the famous dying words out of Banquo's mouth: "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! (Act 3, Scene 3, 17).  Macbeth must crush dissent  he kills Macduff's wife and children.  Macbeth's reign of non-stop killing erodes Scotland's confidence in him and he has no chance

When Macbeth kills Duncan, he kills him to be the heir of the throne but is full of remorse afterwards, which displays that he does not naturally have a murderous mindset like Lady Macbeth. Before he wants to kill Duncan he says to Banquo, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir” (1.3 157-159). Macbeth’s tone in this instance is hopeful, and shows that he will let chance crown him if it is meant to be. His first desire to become king is decided by fate, according to what he says to Banquo. His views change on fate when Malcolm is named as the next king. According to

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.

Initially, Macbeth’s emotional and physical journey begins with the prophecy that the three witches had told Macbeth about. Once the witches tell Macbeth that he will become the future king, his ambition become prominent as it is shown in the same scene as the witches when Macbeth says “Why do I find myself thinking about murdering king Duncan?” (21). So, right after the witches tell Macbeth that he will become king he already has this ambitious feeling of needing that power and doing whatever it takes to get it. However, at this point in the book Macbeth still is fighting the urge of wanting that power. To continue, in the next scene Macbeth finds himself becoming more consumed by the thought of becoming king that while with

Although Duncan is out of the way now, Macbeth finds out that Banquo’s sons are the next in line to become King. With this realization, he says, “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!/Rather than so, come fate into the list,/And champion me to th' utterance.” (3.1.75-77). Now that Lady Macbeth has convinced Macbeth that he is destined to be King, his statement shows how he is going to do everything in his power to make it happen. He feels that he has to prove to himself and to others that he is not womanly, and is capable of performing ‘manly’ tasks. In order to prove this to himself, he says, “There’s comfort yet; they are assailable./Then be thou jocund.” (3.2.44-45). Here Macbeth is saying that he finds comfort in knowing that he can simply kill Banquo’s sons so he can become king. This further represents his transition to becoming in full control over the events that take place in the play. This is because he is planning to commit a tragedy, in this case, a murder, in order to fulfill his desires. Lady Macbeth persuaded him in the beginning, but now it is completely his own doing. By saying he feels comfortable with murder, which contradicts his belief from the beginning, it may be noticed how this is a clue that he will hold responsibility for more tragedies in the near

William Shakespeare wrote in his play Macbeth, "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.” In many ways throughout this play, Shakespeare was giving the warning of ambition to the audience. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a simple man. Respectful and obedient to his King, Macbeth wanted nothing but to please. When three witches came to him and his good friend, Banquo, and told them their destinies, this began something ghastly. Mysteriously, they informed Macbeth he was to be king. This sparks something in Macbeth that is dangerous and eventually leads to his demise, ambition. Wickedly, Macbeth and his wife plan to murder the king during the night so that Macbeth may be crowned sooner. The driving force of this accord

The choices that Macbeth makes during his pursuit for power ultimately result in his descent into madness. This all begins when he meets the witches at the beginning of the play. “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!” (1.3.51-53). By choosing to believe what the witches preach, Macbeth takes destiny into his own hands. Every decision he makes from this point on is so that he can take over the kingship and retain this position. The witches drive Macbeth into creating his own destiny by planting the idea that he is going to be the king into his head. Once he gets it in his head that he is going to be the king, he will stop at nothing to make it happen. After Macbeth has killed King Duncan and become the king, he still has the threat of Banquo’s line of kings looming around him. Even though Banquo is one of Macbeth’s friends he decides Banquo needs to be killed. Macbeth is so controlling of his own destiny that he doesn’t want to leave anything up to chance. He won’t leave his fate in the hands of anyone else. He decides that he is going to kill people in order to solidify his kingship. “So is he mine (enemy), and in such bloody distance that every minute of his being thrusts against my near’st of life.” (3.1.132-234).

The first thing that Macbeth's desire leads him to do is to kill King Duncan. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth goes to the three witches and they tell him a few things. “First Witch- All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! / Second Witch- All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! / Third Witch- All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(Shakespeare 1.3.49-51) The three witches’ prophecy to Macbeth is that he will move up from his current position and that he will become king soon. With this information in mind, he realizes that he really wants to become a king as soon as possible. He will do anything to make that prophecy come true. He will do anything to make that prophecy come true. He even decides to kill his king, however, it was not an easy choice to make at first. “We will proceed no further in this business. / He hath honored me of late, and I

Macbeth’s decision to take matter into his own hands instead of letting the first initial three prophecies fold out on their own which eventually led to the foolish ways of Macbeth and led Macbeth to seek out the next three prophecies in the end revealing that greed and fame can control a person and bring out his/her true nature.

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.

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

The witches and their prophecies are the first major influence on Macbeth's actions. Macbeth seems happy and content with himself until the witches tell him he will be king. He begins immediately to consider murdering Duncan. "If good, why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, / Against

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.

Said Lady Macbeth, “Nought’s had, all’s spent. Where our desire is got without content: ’Tis safer to be that which we destroy than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy.” In Act III, Scene i Macbeth said of the witches and the murder, “For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; put rancours in the vessel of my peace only for them; and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man.” In those sentences, we can see the irony in the witches’ prophecies. The implied meaning of the witches’ prophecies was that Macbeth would be king. Macbeth took this to mean that he would be a happy king, and so dreams of him on the throne appeared. He thought that becoming king would be easy, he just had to get Duncan out of the way. Everything turned out as Macbeth had imagined, except that he was not happy as the king. The guilt from Duncan’s murder, not to mention that of Banquo’s, made being the king a horrible experience for Macbeth, all because of the witches. This irony would make the audience mistrust the witches in the back of their minds, and therefore also put a vague fear over the whole play, because of the realisation of the witches’ relentless sinister determination to disrupt peace and order in Scotland.