Look again at Acts 1 and 2. Being careful to refer to specific points in the text, say what you consider to be the most powerful influence on Macbeth : the witches, his own ambition or his wife?
Look again at Acts 1 and 2. By the end of Act 2, Macbeth has murdered not just Duncan but also two of his servants.
Being careful to refer to specific points in the text, say what you consider to be the most powerful influence on Macbeth : the witches, his own ambition or his wife?
In the play Macbeth I feel that it was fear that was the main motivating factor that influenced the outcome. I feel that this can be proved by the murders that followed after Duncan's. I think that these murders were committed because Macbeth was scared of being caught and having to pay for the bad things that he had already done. I feel that the majority of Macbeth's actions are mainly due to fear, not only of being caught but of the witches' prophecies, he was scared of them coming true and tried to stop them from happening.
From the beginning the witches have focus on Macbeth, they desire his spiritual and immortal personality. There is one line that the witches say at the beginning which makes you wonder what might happen in the end, (act 1, sc.1,11-12) "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," basically what is evil is good and what is good they find repulsive. This is the witches attitudes to life, but I think it is a warning to us that things to follow are not what they might seem. The witches can make anyone's life difficult and inflict pain but cannot kill. The witches do influence Macbeth with the three prophecies to him but when he finds out about them he is a bit puzzled, (act 1, sc.3, 51-52) "Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear things that sound so fair?", this is Banquo talking to Macbeth. Macbeth begins to question the witches.
Banquo tries to warn Macbeth that the witches are putting evil to work, (act 1, sc.3, 124-126) "The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us the honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence". Macbeth doesn't listen to Banquo and he begins to consider what it will mean if the third prediction is to come true, this is where his stubbornness is shown.
Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband, telling of the witches' predictions. She knows Macbeth has ambition, but fears he is too noble to make sure that the prediction is achieved. This is ...
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Banquo tries to warn Macbeth that the witches are putting evil to work, (act 1, sc.3, 124-126) "The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us the honest trifles, to betray's in deepest consequence". Macbeth doesn't listen to Banquo and he begins to consider what it will mean if the third prediction is to come true, this is where his stubbornness is shown.
Lady Macbeth reads a letter from her husband, telling of the witches' predictions. She knows Macbeth has ambition, but fears he is too noble to make sure that the prediction is achieved. This is where Lady Macbeth feels she must get involved in her husband's actions and she needs to give him some words of advice.
At the end of Lady Macbeths soliloquy she acts just like the witches and this is where her main character comes out, because she is showing she has something evil about herself and that she can obviously be very powerful, (act 1, sc.5, 22) "That I may pour my spirit in thine ear". Lady Macbeth calls on the evil spirits to make her ruthless so that she can carry out the murder of Duncan. At the end of act 1, scene 5, Lady Macbeth tries to say to Macbeth, "you are too open Macbeth, be wicked, look charming and innocent but be prepared to fight". This is where I feel that she is pressurising Macbeth so much, that he is not wanting to do what he is being made to do.
In act 1, scene 7, Macbeth thinks over the decision to murder Duncan, (act 1, scene7, 1-2) "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly". Here Macbeth is saying if that were an end to it when the murder is committed, then it would be good to get it over quickly. Here I feel that this shows Macbeth does want to go ahead with the murder, but he wants it to be a quick process and not a long one that may get him in to trouble. By the time that Lady Macbeth comes to find him, Macbeth has changed his mind: the murder will not go ahead, (act 1, sc.7, 31) "We will proceed no further in this business". Lady Macbeth is scornful of her husband. She accuses him of cowardice and lack of her love for him, (act 1, sc.7, 43) "And live a coward in thine own esteem". This is where Macbeth is feeling as if he has to do something that will make his wife change how she feels about him at this point, she is therefore influencing him a great deal. At this time one part of Macbeth wants to do it and the other doesn't, assassination is also a part of his thinking.
When Macbeth begins to hesitate, Lady Macbeth explains her plan. Macbeth is impressed both by his wife's plan, and by her attitude. Lady Macbeth really tries hard to persuade Macbeth to carry out the murder. She plays her womanliness against her husband's manliness. Macbeth then begins to worry, (act 1, sc.7, 58) "If we should fail?".
Lady Macbeth replies, "wind up your courage to its strongest point, (like the tight string of a cross bow)", (act 1, sc.7, 60) "But screw your courage to the sticking place". Lady Macbeth then tries to tell Macbeth that he should carry out the murder because they will not remember a thing because they will be so drunk. Lady Macbeth manages to persuade Macbeth, and Macbeth is determined to carry out the murder, (act 1, sc.7, 79) "I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat". Lady Macbeth is obviously feeling very happy with herself as she has persuaded him to go ahead wit the murder, here she has influenced him.
Macbeth's mind is in confusion. He hears the signal and goes to commit the murder. Macbeth has freewill, and this action shows us that it is his own choice to go ahead with the murder. At the end of act 2, scene 1, Macbeth crosses the barrier and joins another world, the witches world, (act 2, sc.1, 64) "That summons thee to heaven or to hell".
Lady Macbeth has made the preparations for murder. Macbeth enters, distracted. He has committed the murder and is obsessed with the thoughts of guilt. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to pull himself together. Here, Lady Macbeth is carrying on influencing her husband and she is trying to reassure him and telling him not to worry. He has brought the daggers away from the murder scene and refuses to take them back. Macbeth begins to feel guilty and very scared, (act 2, sc.2, 47) "I am afraid to think what I have done".
At the beginning I thought Lady Macbeth was the one pushing Macbeth to kill Duncan but as the play goes on she becomes weaker as Macbeth becomes stronger. By Act 4, Macbeth isn't troubled by what he has done but Lady Macbeth is.
The main source of fear for Macbeth was the witches prophecies. From the witches first prediction of Macbeth being King, which made Macbeth kill to become King. Macbeth hears all prophecies and he has put all his faith in these prophecies, he thinks what the witches say must be true because of the first prediction.
Personally I feel it is his wife, Lady Macbeth, who seems to be the most powerful influence on Macbeth's decision to kill. Shakespeare presents her character in great detail and he shows her to be a controllable woman who always like to be very dominant and a authoritative woman who thrives on the power she holds over her husband. Macbeth is then shown to rise up and join his wife in a struggle for power of his own. Lady Macbeth seems to be a ruthless and overpowering woman who dominates her husband and his actions. She seems to make Macbeth's decisions for him without giving him any say in his own actions and she orders her husband to do what she determines to be the best for him. It is Lady Macbeth who arranges the plan to kill Duncan, because she knows that Macbeth would never commit such an act on his own. This is clearly shown when she says to him, (act 1, sc.5,72-74) "Only look up clear; To alter favour is ever to fear, Leave all the rest to me". She intends to keep him under control by making his decisions for him, this shows how much she influences him.
Lady Macbeth manages to gain power by always insulting his manliness and boasting her own aggressive manners. Whenever Macbeth begins to ignore her commands then she immediately begins to call him a coward.
Macbeth announces that he has killed the guards and says that his love for Duncan drove him to do it. The killing of the servants is basically him and no influence from Lady Macbeth or the witches.
I feel that Macbeth is mainly influenced by his wife, Lady Macbeth but the witches influence him a little aswell. I feel that it was his own ambition that made him kill the servants.
Francesca Rotheram Macbeth Essay