How far is Macbeth responsible for his own fate?
30 August, 2001
How far is Macbeth responsible for his own fate?
During the play, Macbeth's fate is a downward spiral. He begins the
play as a rich, respected and successful Thane, and a feared warrior
on the battlefield. He has a good relationship with his wife, and he
is liked and respected. By the end of the play he is a murderer, his
men have abandoned him, his wife has committed suicide, and in the end
he is killed by a former friend.
His fate could have been the fault of himself, his wife or the
witches. Or it could have been nobody's fault, just Macbeth's destiny.
I agree that it was Macbeth's own responsibility, and his downfall was
his own fault.
One factor contributing to Macbeth's downfall could have been the
actions of the witches. In Elizabethan times, people believed in
witches and they were greatly feared, particularly at around the time
MACBETH was written, as there had just been a large witch case that
had raised people's awareness. Therefore, Shakespeare writing about
witches would have had a great effect on his audience. Witches could
sail in sieves, turn into animals, cause people to lose sleep and kill
people and animals. In Act 1 Scene 3, one of the witches says, "But in
a sieve I'll thither sail, And like a rat without a tail."
The witches greatly influence all of Macbeth's actions. They promise
him things, and he relies on their promises and becomes a lot more
confident. "I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest
come to Dunsinane." He seems to have forgotten the warning Banquo gave
him the first time they met the witches. "The instruments of darkness
tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betry's in deepest
confidence." However, the witches let him down by tricking him into
believing he is safe and invincible. They tell him he will not be
harmed by a man born of woman, or until "Great Birnam wood to high
Dunsinane hill shall come against ...
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confident. "I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest
come to Dunsinane." He seems to have forgotten the warning Banquo gave
him the first time they met the witches. "The instruments of darkness
tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betry's in deepest
confidence." However, the witches let him down by tricking him into
believing he is safe and invincible. They tell him he will not be
harmed by a man born of woman, or until "Great Birnam wood to high
Dunsinane hill shall come against him." However, Macduff's plan is to
disguise the army using tree branches, which gives the impression that
the wood is moving up the hill. MacDuff also reveals that he was born
by cesarean section, and so he was not "born of woman." This fulfilled
both the prophecies that the witches' lead Macbeth to believe could
never be fulfilled. This leads to his defeat, and then his downfall.
This could be perceived as the witches' fault for being dishonest, or
Macbeth's fault for being gullible and unwise.
Another factor to Macbeth's downfall could have been the actions of
his wife. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth has a huge
influence on Macbeth's decision to kill the king. When he tries to
back out of it, "We shall proceed no further in this business" she
says "When you durst do it, then you were a man." She has manipulated
him, and convinced him to do something he doesn't want to do. They
have a loving and close relationship; he calls her his "dearest
partner of greatness." However, she seems to control and instruct him.
She says to him "you shall."
Lady Macbeth could be responsible for Macbeth's fate, because she
starts his downward spiral, and makes him fall into a trap. But it may
also have been partly due to him being easily manipulated and not
making his own decisions.
I think Macbeth was entirely responsible for his own fate.
The cause of this may have been his ambition. Ambition is the main
driving force of Macbeth, and he admits this when he is deciding what
to do. He says, "I have no spur...only vaulting ambition." He is
ruthless and merciless, because of his ambition. An example of this is
that he mercilessly killed Macduff's family. There were innocent
victims, but Macbeth had decided to "fight to the end."
If Macbeth is entirely responsible for his own fate, then the witches
are not. During the play, Macbeth's attitude toward the witches
changes. His language and behavior alters towards them. At the
beginning of the pay, when he and Banquo first see the witches, he is
worried and scared. Banquo is a lot calmer and asks Macbeth why he
appears scared of such good predictions. "Good sir, why do you start
and seem to fear, things that do seem so fair?"
Later in the play, Macbeth seems a lot more confident and less scared.
He even says to the witches " Deny me this, and an eternal curse fall
on you." He thinks he is in control, and this attitude may be his
downfall, rather than the actual actions of the witches.
Another reason why it cannot be the witches' fault alone, is Banquo.
Banquo also had great predictions made to him, but it didn't make him
commit murder. This shows that Macbeth is a weaker character than
Banquo, and this was why he was fooled by the witches, who lead to his
downfall.
Lady Macbeth cannot be responsible for Macbeth's fate either. Although
she planned and initiated the first murder of Duncan, Macbeth did have
some part in it, and it was his idea as well. He even thought of it as
soon as the witches told him their predictions. "My thought, whose
murder is yet but fantastical." After that first murder, Macbeth goes
on to commit a number of other murders without his wife's help - they
have drifted apart and she is no longer his "dearest partner of
greatness." But, without her help, he continues on his downward
spiral. Therefore he does this on his own and must be ultimately
responsible.
Macbeth is responsible for his own fate because he has made a choice.
He made a choice to go ahead with the first murder even though he knew
it was wrong, "I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this
terrible feat." Later, he makes an even more definite choice to do
wrong. He says " I am in blood, stepped in so far that I should wade
no more, returning were as tedious to go o'er." Faced with a choice of
going on or turning back, Macbeth decides to go on and act without
thought. He becomes ruthless by choice. From the point that he makes
this decision, he is totally responsible for his own fate, because he
has made up his mind, and nothing can change it.
Another choice Macbeth made was to deliberately go against God. The
Elizabethans believed in "Divine Right," which meant that God chose
who was going to be the king, and so to kill this chosen person was to
go against God. Macbeth considers this and is frightened of eternal
damnation, but he still decides to continue with the murders.
Another view is that none of the characters, not even Macbeth, were
responsible. This was the Elizabethan view, because they believed in
fate, and that there was a set path in life that you had to take,
there was no choice in it, and that was always going to be Macbeth's
fate.
I think that Macbeth was responsible for his own fate. There may have
been a few factors that contributed, such as the witches and his wife,
but I think that even without them Macbeth would have made the same
decisions. This is due to his character (his ambition and the fact
that he was easily manipulated) and his conscious decisions (such as
his decisions to kill Duncan and to deliberately be ruthless.)
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