How far are the witches responsible for Macbeth's downfall?

        Macbeth believed in these prophecies so much that he ended up sending Lady Macbeth a letter explaining everything that had gone on that day, ‘Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter.’ (Act One Scene Five) This then leads to Lady Macbeth being seen as a reason why Macbeth had a downfall.

Lady Macbeth may be seen as another contributor to Macbeth’s downfall and I think that she is to an extent. This is because as soon as she receives the letter from Macbeth saying that he had been given the title of Thane of Cawdor, she becomes inspired with the idea to kill King Duncan, ‘That my keen knife see not the wound it makes…’ (Act One Scene Five) When Macbeth returns home, he and his wife must play host to the King. This is when Lady Macbeth begins to contemplate what ‘…impedes thee from the golden round…’ (Act One Scene Five). She persuades Macbeth to go through with the murder.

When King Duncan is sleeping, Lady Macbeth goes to commit the murder but she could not go through with it as he looked like her father, ‘Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.’(Act Two Scene Two). This means that Macbeth has to do it himself and from that day forward, he goes to extreme measures to make sure that everything would happen that the weird sisters told him.

Macbeth has started to realise that killing Duncan has helped Banquo’s prophecy come true, rather than helping himself, ‘Thou shalt get kings…’ (Act One Scene Three) Because of this, he decides to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. However, as he has friends that he needs on his side, he does not commit the murder himself, ‘…yet I must not, for certain friends that are both his and mine, whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall who I myself struck down.’ (Act Three Scene One). In this scene, we as the audience start to see Macbeth as ‘evil’ as he starts to say and do things that link to the weird sisters. For example, he uses three murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, ‘Enter three murderers’ (Act Three Scene Three).

Macbeth does not tell Lady Macbeth that he is going to kill Banquo and his son, ‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed.’ (Act Three Scene Three) This gives me the impression that Lady Macbeth is not really a main part in Macbeth’s downfall, but Macbeth is actually responsible. This scene also shows that their relationship is growing apart as Macbeth used to tell Lady Macbeth everything.

Since Duncan’s death, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have grown apart and both regret killing the King. They both have the same emotion but they cannot come to share it with each other. An example of this is in Act Three Scene Two, Lady Macbeth says ‘’Tis safer to be that which we destroy, then by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.’ Later on in this scene, Macbeth says ‘Better be with the dead…’ Both characters have the same thoughts but just cannot share them with anyone.

In Act Four Scene One, Macbeth goes to see the witches thinking that he has control over them. However, the witches know that he is coming and prepare a spell that will ‘enchant’ Macbeth. ‘By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.’ This quote shows that the witches know that Macbeth is coming but it also shows that he is becoming more ‘evil’ as they call him ‘wicked’. This scene brings the witches back into suspicion for Macbeth’s downfall.

The weird sisters tell Macbeth to ‘beware Macduff’, ‘none of woman born shall harm Macbeth’, ‘Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him’ and that Banquo’s relatives will become kings. As soon as the witches tell him this, Macbeth decides to kill Macduff’s family even though they would not have anything to do with him, ‘The castle of Macduff I will surprise…edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls…’ (Act Four Scene One) This shows that he is the one responsible for his downfall. Before Macduff murders Macbeth, Macbeth starts to realise that the witches mislead him to believe everything they said (equivocation).

Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare starts to use dark imagery around Macbeth just like the weird sisters. Two examples of this are ‘Of that dark hour’ and ‘Your spirits shine through you.’(Act Three Scene One) Darkness and spirits are used around the weird sisters which shows that they are ‘evil’. Therefore, when they are used around Macbeth, it shows that he is becoming ‘evil’ and more like the witches. In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare uses the famous lines ‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ (Act One Scene One) for the witches. Macbeth also says ‘foul and fair’ (Act One Scene Three). This is to show that Macbeth may also be ‘evil’.

The weird sisters prophecies were not one hundred percent true, and they did not always work out. I think that the prediction given to Banquo that, ‘Thou shall get Kings’ in Act One Scene Three was never fulfilled or addressed later in the play to show that the prophecies made by the witches did not determine the fate of the characters. During the play, the witches were referred to as weird sisters rather than witches. I think this was because the word ‘wyrd’ means fate in old English.

Lady Macbeth was really persuasive especially when she wanted something. Her persuasion worked well on Macbeth as he was a ‘coward’. I think Lady Macbeth could be seen as a contributor to Macbeth’s downfall because she persuaded him to murder Duncan. However, she did not know that Macbeth was going to murder Banquo, Fleance and Macduff’s family; he made that decision himself.

I believe that Macbeth was the main contributor to his downfall because by the end of the play, he was making decisions for himself even if they did not actually resolve anything. He decided to listen to everything that the witches said when he did not have to, like Banquo. Even though Lady Macbeth and the witches put ideas into Macbeth’s mind, he was the one who took everything further than what it should have gone which led to his downfall. In my opinion, Macbeth was just a coward because he could not say ‘no’ to anyone when he had the chance to. He could have not listened to the weird sisters then he would not have had his big downfall.