King Duncan’s murder marks the beginning of Macbeth’s downfall. Who can be held mostly responsible for this?

Lady Macbeth dominates other Macbeth and told him what to do but they were equal as can be seen from the letter in Act one scene five when Macbeth wrote in the letter "dearest partner of greatness". Lady Macbeth is not a typical women of her time as in Shakespearian ties women usually did what there husbands said, because of this Macbeth is more likely to follow the influence of his wife. It is lady Macbeth that makes plans to kill King Duncan as she says things like "look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't" but Macbeth would "proceed no further in this business". Macbeth would not have killed king Duncan if Lady Macbeth had not influenced him into it as he said several times that he was "his kinsmen and his subject" meaning that he feels that he should not go against the king but on the other hand he also said "vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other".

After Macbeth has committed the murder he realizes that he should not have done it, you can tell this because he says to Lady Macbeth "I'll go no more. I am afraid of what I have done" but Lady Macbeth even says that she would have killed him if King Duncan did not resemble her father, "I laid the daggers ready, he could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't". After the murder Lady Macbeth contributed to Macbeth's downfall by encouraging him to follow his ambition and things become even worse for Macbeth when she has a nervous breakdown and kills herself resulting in Macbeth not caring about his life saying that he is "but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage" and "that which should company old age, as honour, love, obedience, troops of friends I must not look to have", meaning that he has no friends or loved ones to be with him when he grows older.

People in Shakespearian times would have believed in witches, so they would have had no problem about believing the demoniac actions of the witches. This is why they were described as things like "you secret, black and midnight hags". The witches have a dramatic effect on the play, the whole idea of witches would have made dramatic effect at the time when it was written as witches were so widely believed in and many people were scared at them so the fact that the witches are in the opening scene of the play would cause dramatic tension. The appearance of the witches would also have caused tension as the stereotypical view of what many people would have thought at the time and also thunder and lightening effects would have been used to add to the tension.

In the play the witches played a big part in Macbeth's downfall, they used equivocation to encourage Macbeth to kill King Duncan because of the prophesies that they told Macbeth at the beginning of the play, "all hail Macbeth, that shalt be king here after". If the witches had not suggested to Macbeth that he would be king he would not have even thought about killing Duncan so he would not have committed the crime, meaning that if the witches had not suggested the idea then Lady Macbeth would not have been able to influence Macbeth into killing him.

Just before he killed king Duncan he saw a dagger before him, which was put there by the witches using there supernatural powers which resulted in Macbeth's final decision to kill Duncan. After he had killed king Duncan, the witches led Macbeth to continue his downfall. He killed Banquo who was his closest friend to make sure that the prophesy, Banquo's "children will become king" could not come true, although it still could have happened because Fleance was not killed. The second set of prophesies resulted in Macbeth's death as the witches equivocated by saying that he should "beware of Thane of Fife" (Macduff), that he could not be killed by "the power of man, for none of women born" and that "Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him". As he did not realize that the witches were equivocating he thought that he was not going to be killed so he did not try to defend his house, the witches equivocated and did not lie as the army carried parts of Birnam wood up Dunsinane Hill to use as camouflage and Macduff was born by caesarean. So the witches' equivocation resulted in at least four deaths, not including anyone else that got killed as a result of Macbeth being king as well as the chamberlains that he killed and Siward.

The main contributor to Macbeth's downfall was Macbeth himself. He had the choice in whether he killed king Duncan, although it was not originally his idea to kill Duncan and Lady Macbeth influenced him, he still did not have to listen to him. Although he had not planned to meet the witches the first time he chose to meet them, he chose to meet them the second time and if he had not heard the second set of prophesies he may not have died and other people may not have been killed. It was Macbeth's ambition that caused him to commit the murder; he had free will so overall it was his choice in whether he committed the deeds. He was described as a tyrant many times in the play and even if it was the witches and Lady Macbeth that helped to encouraged him to carry out the original murder it was his choice after that. He may not have believed the witches if their original prophesy, that he would be the Thane of Cawdor, he went on to say later in the play that "this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill". Macbeth did not decide straight away whether he would kill Duncan, he would probably not have done it without the encouragement from Lady Macbeth but she did not force him. He did not want to kill King Duncan because Duncan thought very highly of Macbeth and he did not want to betray his trust.

All these things resulted in Macbeth getting murdered by Macduff. The mixture of the witch's equivocation, Lady Macbeth's domineering character and Macbeth's moral judgements resulted in Macbeth's downfall.