Macbeth Essay free essay sample

This puts Macbeth at a loss for words , they then look at banquo and tell him his sons will be king someday aswell but not him. â€Å"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. 50-53). This is the first set of prophecies the witches made and the start to Macbeth’s downfall. What the witches done to Macbeth with these prophecies to make him commence his downfall was they filled his head with these positive flattering things that made him want to go to extreme measures just to become what the witches proclaimed would happen. Proof that this first set of prophecies commenced his downfall is once king Duncan had named malcom to be king apposed to Macbeth, Macbeth then considered the idea that he should murder Duncan to become king. The second set of prophecies given to Macbeth appeared as apparitions by the three witches and each apparition gave Macbeth a different prophecy. The first prophecy is an armed head which tells Macbeth to beware of Macduff â€Å" Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff. Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough. † (4. 1. 74-75). The second apparition appeared as a bloody child who tells Macbeth the only person who can harm him is a man not born of a woman. â€Å" Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn/The power of man, for none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth. † (4. 1. 81-83). The final apparition summoned by the witches was a crowned child holding a tree that states Macbeth will not be killed until the woods of birnam are at Dunsinane Hill. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care/Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. /Macbeth shall never vanquished be until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come against him. † (4. 1. 94-98). These summons created by the witches are a big part in Macbeth’s downfall because they gave him more confidence that he would not be killed . Macbeth believed that these prophecies were ridiculous and that it was impossible for him to happen although he did not think them through because all of these prophecies came true in the end. Although the witches gave Macbeth these prophecies making him over confident and giving him the idea to kill Duncan they are not the only ones to blame, Macbeth’s wife Lady Macbeth also played a big role in the downfall of Macbeth by persuading Macbeth to kill King Duncan. She did this by telling him that if the witches prophecies were to come true and he were to become king he must kill those who stood in the way. She then proceeds to question his manhood and makes him feel guilty for her when she says she would kill her own child if she had promised it to her beloved to do it. What beast was ’t, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me . I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this. † (1. 7. 47-59). Lady Macbeth was fully capable of killing the king herself, she had made a good plot to kill him but she never killed him herself because she claimed King Duncan reminded her of her father. â€Å"Had he not resembled/My father as he slept, I had done ’t. † (2. 2. 12-13). If Lady Macbeth would have performed the murder herself Macbeth would not have been driven mad. After Macbeth killed King Duncan the guilt he felt was taking over his mind, saying that there was blood on his hands that would not come off. Lady Macbeth could maybe have comforted him in this time of need but instead she called him mad nd put him down. Although both the witches and Lady Macbeth were contributors to Macbeth’s death they cannot take all the blame for Macbeths death, Macbeth himself plays a big role in the his tragic death. Macbeth knew killing King Duncan was wrong he was always loyal to the king and Duncan trusted Macbeth greatly but he let the witches get into his head and let their prophecies corrupt his mind without no proof saying he had to kill Duncan to become king. Although Lady Macbeth gave him guilt and questioned his manliness he could have told her no he could have told her no and went with what he knew was best. Macbeth’s ambition to hold his spot on the throne was another good reason as to why he died, after killing Duncan Macbeth decided that he should also kill Banquo because Macbeth thought Banquo would suspect him after the prophecies the witches made. This was a mistake by Macbeth because this only made Macbeth more aggressive and his desire to kill stronger. The main mistake Macbeth made was the faith he had towards the prophecies made by the witches, he felt he was invincible. Even once the prophecy about the Birnam Woods reached the castle he belived he could not be killed by anyone because he thought all men were born of a woman. â€Å"Fear not, till Birnam wood/Do come to/Dunsinane†; and now a wood/Comes toward Dunsinane. ’(5. 5. 43-45) â€Å"Thou wast born of woman. /But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn,/Brandished by man that’s of a woman born. (5. 7. 13-15). This confidence followed Macbeth right to his fight against Macduff, once he began to fight with macduff we learn that macduff was actually ripped out of his mothers stomach and not born from the womb making him not born bt a woman. â€Å"Despair thy charm,/And let the angel whom thou still hast served/Tell thee,/Macduff was from his mother’s womb/Untimely ripped. (5. 8. 13-17). Macbeth then accepted his fate and fought Macduff and lost his life. Although there was multiple factors that led to Macbeths demise such as evil witches and a power hungry wife the one who played the biggest role in his death was Macbeth himself. Even though all of the witches prophecies came true there no proof saying they were destined to come true but only that Macbeth caused these prophecies to be true. If Macbeth would have did what he knew was right he would have saved the lives of a lot of people including the wife he loved so dearly.