It must be a shame to die from your own actions. Then again, it is what you get for falling for greed and not sticking to your gut. Shakespeare tells a story of a character named Macbeth in one of his most famous tragedies titled Macbeth. The story starts out as Macbeth being a hero. As the tragedy continues it reveals Macbeth's downward spiral and eventually becomes a villain whose actions go against him and end up to his death. Macbeth is to blame for his own death because of free will and ambition.
To begin, Macbeth had free will in his life and was able to chose his own path. One example, as told in the beginning, Macbeth is a brave warrior and leader to many as he finishes the war with the Noreignes. The King appoints Macbeth to be Thane of Cawdor which will be the next in line for king. To celebrate, King Duncan goes over to Macbeth's castle where Macbeth gets persuaded to kill King Duncan. Notice the term persuaded. Lady Macbeth is able to convince Macbeth to make the daring blow. Macbeth participates in a soliloquy on whether he should do the following: betray the King or remain a loyal and trustworthy man. Macbeth does not want to kill the king at any costs, yet he does to show lady Macbeth how “manly” he is. “Prithee, peace:/I dare do all that may become a man;/Who dares do more is none” (I.vii.50-52) Macbeth clearly creates a resolution by falling for
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The three witches 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.51-53). This is clearly the wrong thought process because the witches don’t set the fate of Macbeth, they simply show Macbeth they’re prediction of his life. This does not represent fate because the witches are not controlling his fate, therefore Macbeth’s death is not the witches
Macbeth made the decision to kill his King, Duncan, and followed through on it. He was never truly loyal to Duncan or even the nagging of Lady Macbeth would not be enough to provoke him to Kill Duncan. He was always power hungry and selfish and made the bad decisions that followed without aid from Lady Macbeth. All of his actions were based on an
The three witches make three initial predictions. The first witch says, "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis", the second witch then goes onto say, "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor", the third witch then says "all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter". They also tell Banquo that his sons shall become King. The prophecies have a lot of influence over Macbeth. The witches are clever in coming to Macbeth at the right time and in what they said. They chose exactly the right moment to approach Macbeth. He is full of triumph and fresh from the fighting ad killing. He is at a particularly vulnerable time to have his head filled with thoughts of becoming king and fame. He says to Banquo "… Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix to my hair, and make my seated heart knock on my ribs, Against the use of Nature." The text states clearly that Macbeth has murderous thought in his mind that are prompted by the prophecy, "Present fears, are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murder is fantastical shakes so single state of man." It is an important point, it shows his reaction that someone has read his mind. The Witches are actually speaking Macbeth's innermost thoughts. Does this
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.
William Shakespeare`s Macbeth tells audience a play of murders and sleepless nights. Macbeth is the thane of Glamis and a mighty general of Scotland. Macbeth is predicted to be the king of Scotland. However, the King of Scotland,King Duncan, is alive and is a good king to not to be murder by his people. Macbeth kills King Duncan and he becomes king with the fear of everyone killing him. Therefore, he kills anyone that is suspect to kill him. Macbeth becomes progressively more evil as the play continues.
The Tragedy of Macbeth details the downfall of the tragic hero, Macbeth, and is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous works of tragedy. Macbeth’s bloody murders and eventual descent into complete madness serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of uncontrolled ambitions in humanity. Macbeth may not be held responsible for the death of Duncan and Macduff’s family, but he should be for that of Banquo’s. It is definitely arguable that Macbeth is the cause behind the death of Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family; however, the influence of others and his mental instability greatly reshaped his persona, as such, Macbeth cannot always be held responsible for his actions.
Lady Macbeth was more responsible for the death of King Duncan then Macbeth.Throughout the story Macbeth is sort of on an emotional rollercoaster bouncing between I should kill him, but he’s such a nice guy, and then back to I should kill him. Throughout the play Macbeth seems to be more playing the role of a child and Lady Macbeth the mother having control over everything Macbeth does through manipulation and demeaning him. During WWII the sedition act was passed so that someone
During Duncan’s visit to Macbeths home he begins to change his mind about the deed, “We will proceed no further in this business.”(W.S. 41) But Lady Macbeth does anything to keep him from evading the task, “Art though afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life And live a coward in thine own esteem.”(W.S. 41) Lady Macbeth encouraged Macbeth to kill which made Macbeths mindset to continue on with the
The fictional character Harvey Dent once said, “You either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain”. During the play, Macbeth viewers are shocked with the bloody and unpredictable, twist and turns of the Macbeth’s rise to power. Macbeth went from a loyal Thane, to stabbing his king to death, he then hired assassins to brutally murder his best friend and child, but worst of all, He had Macduff’s innocent wife, and child slaughtered out of spite. By committing these murders, Macbeth is slowly becoming insane.
In Macbeth, Duncan, a king, is killed by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself. Many argued, and still do, whether or not Macbeth really killed Duncan. In other words, did he even have a choice? From what is told in the story, it seems pretty clear that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are responsible for Duncan’s death, though one may have had more cause in it than the other.
The scene shows the three witches lack of consideration of the outcome of their prophecy as they did not consult with their higher power, Hecate over whether they should tell Macbeth of his prophecy. Their thoughtless actions caused for many deaths and much corruption amongst themselves and the entire country of Scotland. The witches’ gain of power furthermore corrupted them as they did not tell Macbeth his full prophecy. When the witches first tell Macbeth of his fate the first witch states, “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” (1.3. 48-50) This is then followed by the second witch claiming “all hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” and finally the third witch states, “All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!” the prophecy given can be seen as false as they suggest that Macbeth is to be king for a long time when they state “hereafter”
Macbeth is crucially at fault for his own death, although blindly following the witches and giving Lady Macbeth so much power over him to manipulate and influence him are an essential irrefutable factors that aided in his death. Although ultimately it was Macbeth’s own blind and greedy ambition which both
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'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 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).
Throughout this tragic play by Shakespeare, Macbeth is faced with the question of fate or free will. While fate is a force or power that predetermines events, free will is the ability to decide actions according to oneself (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Throughout the play, Macbeth’s choices were influenced by many other characters which in turn alter his future. In the opening of the play, there were the 3 witches who sparked his initial interest to become King. Then came Lady Macbeth who, by telling him her opinion and persuading him, gave him the idea to kill King Duncan. But in the end it was his own ambition which resulted in his death, because as the play progressed Macbeth’s character took a drastic turn from good to evil. Even though the witches and Lady Macbeth also played a great role in his decisions, they didn 't force him to commit any of the crimes, and so ultimately it was his own choices that led to his downfall.