Macbeth, nevertheless, had already thought of becoming king before meeting the witches. He was a highly ambitious man and a well respected soldier, described by Duncan as ‘O valiant cousin worthy gentleman’, and was referred to as being ‘brave’ and ‘noble’. Macbeth, in the end, becomes a selfish character whose ambitions only benefit himself. Throughout the play, Macbeth ruthlessly pursues his own interests. He may be physically strong and courageous on the battle field but he is morally weak. Macbeth has a conscience, but ultimately he is not strong enough to let it guide his actions. In his soliloquy; ‘If it were done, when ‘tis done’ (Act 1 scene 7), his reasons for not killing Duncan appear to be more selfish than anything. One of his reasons is that he would ‘jump the life to come.’ This shows to the reader that he does not care about killing Duncan, but he only cares about risking punishment in the afterlife. In other words, he is principally concerned with the precedent he would establish by killing Duncan. Also, if he kills Duncan he could also be vulnerable to ‘assassination.’
The audience notes that, despite being preoccupied with his own ambitions, he has taken note of the witches’ prophecy regarding Banquo. He mentions it twice, ‘your children shall be kings’; ‘Do you not hope your children shall be kings’. The audience questions whether this is a sign of his jealousy that Banquo will be, according to the witches, father of many kings. It is Macbeth’s own ambition to become king and to sit on the throne of Scotland. One way he proves this is by killing his best friend Banquo, because he wants to keep the throne to himself. When he tells the murderers to kill Banquo, he shows that he feels sorry for Banquo by saying “Banquo, thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out to-night.’ This makes the reader feel that Macbeth has lost trust in his own best friend and that Macbeth is no longer loyal or trustworthy just because of the witches’ prophecy of Macbeth being king.
Despite his attempts to hide it, Macbeth has a conscience. It does not speak through voice of reason or logic. Rather it surfaces in the form of vivid images; a bloody dagger, a voice crying ‘sleep no more’, hallucinations and other vile images. These images and sounds create an eerie atmosphere and make the reader feel uncomfortable. They show the reader that Macbeth is suffering physically and mentally as a result of listening to the witches and committing murders in order to gain more power even though he was very powerful in the first place.
Not being able to follow the signs of his conscience, but rather be controlled by Lady Macbeth and the prophecies from the witches, is a great sign of weakness. Macbeth is unable to maintain his true essence of being a moral and upstanding citizen. Does he actually deserve to be king?
Lady Macbeth, who really influenced and manipulated Macbeth for the worst is also another key factor in Macbeth’s downgrade. After Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter about his fortune that was foretold by the 3 witches, she conducts a deadly plan to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth, in a soliloquy, calls on evil ‘spirits’ to take away her womanhood and make her cruel. She eventually persuades Macbeth into following her plan so that Macbeth can become King. Macbeth falls seduced into Lady Macbeth’s plan because of his ambition to become King and ultimately the witch’s prophecies. Lady Macbeth’s cunning planes to persuade Macbeth, reveal to the audience how hungry she is for power and how evil she actually is.
Even though it was Macbeth who originally thought about murdering Duncan, in his soliloquy, Macbeth wrestles with his conscience and his fears of the consequences of killing Duncan. His reflections conclude with the recognition that ambition itself is not enough to drive him to murder. Lady Macbeth, firstly employs emotional blackmail; ‘From this time, such I account thy love’. Then she launches an assault on his manliness, accusing him of cowardice. It is her constant needling of Macbeth that pushes him towards the decision to kill Duncan. The way Lady Macbeth constantly persuades Macbeth to commit the murder conveys to the reader that Lady Macbeth is infact Macbeth’s source of evil. She is strong willed and knows her husband well enough to exploit his sensitivity about manliness.
Macbeth is to easily persuade by his wife. If he truly was morally tough he would have acknowledged that killing your guest, especially the king, who in the medieval times was thought to be appointed by god, was wrong. But his weakness prevails once again and he goes along with Lady Macbeth.
In conclusion, Macbeth did have three forces that motivated him to commit his evil acts and bring a whole lot of chaos to Scotland. The three forces were his own ambition of becoming king and holding that title, Lady Macbeth’s constant pushing and well thought of plans and ultimately the witches prophecies of him being king and planting the seed. All three factors added to his motivation of committing these many evil crimes. Although in the end Macbeth dies, his carnage and chaos still leaves a mess behind. All in all, Macbeth should be blamed for these acts because of his weak conscience and character as well as his ambition of doing whatever it takes, even if this means murder, in order to become king. Finally, if the witches had not made such prophecy of Macbeth becoming king then none of the above events would have taken place. Therefore, I believe that it is the witches who are to blame for Macbeth’s downfall as well as Macbeth himself.
