This prophesies introduce Macbeth to delusions of grandeur. Macbeth will eventually follow through on killing King Duncan, a destruction of the natural order; it was sometimes thought that the witches had the ability to reverse the natural order of things. This brings into the play idea of fate and the role with which it has in the play. One can wonder if Macbeth ever had a chance of doing what was right after he met with the witches. The witches could foretell the future, they added temptation, and influenced Macbeth, because they had foretold that he would be King. Becoming impatient he tried to speed the premonitions up as quickly as possible. But can they really control his destiny? A popular view of the witches is that - although they are a dark, sinister and morally “corrupt” force through out the play - that they are merely manipulators, drawing Macbeth towards his own destruction. Macbeth faces his own desolation when he is driven by his own sense of guilt. This causes him to become insecure as to the reasons for his actions which in turn cause him to commit more murders. The witches offer great enticement, but it is in the end, each individual’s decision to fall into temptation, or to be strong enough to resist their captivation. The three Witches are only responsible for the introduction of these ideas and for further forming ideas in Macbeth’s head, but they are not solely responsible for his actions throughout the play
Lady Macbeth is a controversial figure. She is seen by some as a woman of strong will who is ambitious for herself and who is astute enough to recognise her husband's strengths and weaknesses, and ruthless enough to exploit them. They see her in her commitment to evil and in her realisation that the acquisition of the Crown has not brought her the happiness she had expected, and finally, as one who breaks down under the strain. Others see her as a woman ambitious for her husband whom she loves. She recognises the essential good in him, and feels that, without her, he will never win the Crown. She allies herself with the powers of darkness for his sake, but her congenital femininity breaks down under the strain of the unnatural murder of Duncan and the alienation of her husband. She is seen as simple and realistic where Macbeth is complicated and imaginative. She can see what must be done; he visualises the consequence
Overcome By Ambition - When she calls on the powers of evil to unsex her and make her cruel, does this imply that she fears her own womanliness and realises the unnaturalness of the murder of Duncan? Is she, like Macbeth, just an ordinary human being overcome with ambition? Does she really lose her womanliness? Do the words;
"Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had don’t”
Imply that she is still a woman with a woman's tenderness? Does she show herself strong willed and more determined than Macbeth, as she argues and demands his agreement to the murder? Is she by exploiting his love for her when she makes his consent to murder a test of his love? Is she being cynical when she inverts logic and reality in asking him if he is afraid to be what he wants to be and in suggesting that to be a true man he must take what he wants? Must she take some of Macbeth's guilt here? In the murder scene, she resorts to wine to give her courage. Does this also show that she has not been filled from top to toe with "direst cruelty"? She is aware that dwelling on the moral aspect of the murder "will make us mad". All through the first half of the tragedy of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears to be leading Macbeth by his heart. She seems cold and in control. At times it is hard to differentiate from when she is leading, or pushing.
On the other hand, as the play progresses, and Duncan is killed, there is a reversal of natural order, and Macbeth becomes the dominating partner again. Lady Macbeth becomes subservient. She becomes pathetic and only a shadow of her former self.
Ambition plays a large role in this tragedy. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have “vaulting ambition” that drives them. Lady Macbeth's ambition drives her to manipulate Macbeth into committing regicide. Macbeth's fierce ambition is present before the witches' prophesies. He would never have thought seriously about killing Duncan without the witches. Yet the combination of both his ambitious nature and the initial prophesies leads him to kill the king. It is Lady Macbeth who states;
"Thou wouldst be great … Art not without ambition”
Macbeth states in counterpoint that it is
"His besetting sin: I have no spur … To prick the sides of my intent, but only
… Vaulting ambition."
So how much did Macbeth play in the murder of King Duncan then? Macbeth's continued ambition is present in his wanting to have a succession of kings after him. Macbeth's ambition is deep within him and because of this; both the witches and Lady Macbeth are able to sway him to evil. It is this ambition that gets him into so much trouble initially.
Once Macbeth kills for the first time, he has no choice but to continue to cover up his wrong doings, or risk losing everything he has worked so hard for. In the end, it all comes to Macbeth himself. Everyone is responsible for his own destiny. This is an essential theme in this tragedy. Macbeth chooses to gamble with his soul and when he does this it is only him who chooses to lose it. He is responsible for anything he does and must take total accountability for his actions. Macbeth is the one who made the final decision to carry out his actions. He made these final decisions and continued with the killings to cover that of King Duncan. However where as some facts show that the results were all of his own doing, in act IV he returns to the witches voluntarily to find out his fate in order to see what actions he should take. This shows that maybe the witches did have a great influence on his actions.
The killing of Duncan starts an unstoppable chain of events in the play that ends with the murder of Macbeth and the suicide of Lady Macbeth. Macbeth chooses to murder Duncan. Macbeth, in the beginning had all of the qualities of an honorable gentleman who could become anything. This is all shattered when his ambition overrides his sense of morality. Although Macbeth is warned as to the validity of the witches prophesies, he is tempted and refuses to listen to reason from Banquo. Lady Macbeth cajoles her husband into taking actions to fulfill these premonitions in the mean time, testing his patience and accusing him of lacking courage. This bullying takes its effect, but Macbeth still could have walked away. When the second set of prophesies Macbeth receives begin to show their faults Macbeth blames the witches for deceiving him with half truths. While the witches are not totally responsible for the actions of Macbeth, they are responsible for introducing the ideas to Macbeth which in turn fired up Macbeth's ambition and led to a disastrous and unnecessary chain of events.
