The witches could foretell Macbeth’s future and by doing this give Macbeth temptation and have a big influence on his actions, as he wants greatness and power so he will try and get it, but they cannot control his destiny. He can change his mind as he pleases and so change what has been foretold to him, as shown in act 1 scene 5 before Lady Macbeth’s speech when he is no longer going to go through with the murder. The three witches introduced these ideas of greatness and power to Macbeth but they alone cannot control things, in the end it is the individual that is either tempted or is strong enough to resist and so making their own decisions.
We are introduced to Macbeth as an ambitious warrior of the king’s army. He is ambitions before he met the three witches and the telling of the three prophesies, yet he never would have thought about or considered killing king Duncan without the temptation of greatness, which the witches placed in his head. However, his fierce nature, bravery and the temptation together along with the support of his wife, are enough to make him go through with the killings. In the end it his ambition that makes him commit a chain of dreadful events.
Duncan’s murder is the first in the chain of events, which ends up with the killing of Macbeth himself and the death of Lady Macbeth. Macbeth in the beginning has the qualities of a brave and “worthy gentleman!” but when his strong ambition gets in the way and temptation gets the better of him it starts to wrong for him.
After Macbeth has gone through with the first killing he has no real choice but to go through with the following murders to cover up his wrong doings. This wouldn’t have happened if the witches hadn’t foretold Macbeth’s future, so they are partly responsible but Macbeth didn’t have to kill Duncan in the first place if he didn’t want to.
Early in the play Lady Macbeth is shown as a strong, individual and determined character, this is revealed by the way she can easily manipulate Macbeth and take advantage of him. This is specifically shown in the line “That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. In act 1 scene 5 it is also shown that Lady Macbeth finds it easy to manipulate her husband, before Lady Macbeth’s speech Macbeth is no longer going to go through with the killing of king Duncan but Knowing that Macbeth is easily led she takes advantage of this and urges Macbeth to go through with the murder. Although yet again it is Macbeth that casts the final decision it seems that Lady Macbeth can persuade him to do as she wishes as they are in a loving relationship and Macbeth wants to please her!
On Macbeth’s fist meeting with the three witches it is the witches that found Macbeth and told him the three prophesies. Banquo acted suspicious of the witches, “That man may question?” and so warned Macbeth but he wouldn’t listen. Macbeth wanted to know more about the foretelling and so met them again wanting more from them “answer me”. This showing that he is depending on them to let him know more, “Tell me”, this giving the witches a little more control over Macbeth’s actions and the events occurring because of this. Although after their second meeting he starts to realise they’re not what they originally seemed, he starts to see faults in what the witches have said realising they were deceiving him with only half-truths!
Towards the end the witches fade out, become silent and have little part in the play, revealing that they most likely have less control than you think. Macbeth is left to make his own decisions and mistakes, as there isn’t really anything the witches can foretell him anymore as he as already committed Duncan’s murder and is having to commit more murders to cover this up and there isn’t anything the witches can do to get him out of this trouble.
To conclude, Lady Macbeth finds it easy to manipulate Macbeth and he is easily influenced by the three witch’s foretelling. Together the witches and Lady Macbeth can only help to control and contribute to the events but Macbeth is always going to be the one who decides what his actions are going to be and so controlling the events mostly himself as they cannot force him to commit the murders. I agree to an extent that none of the events would have occurred without the witches input but I don’t think that they themselves controlled the actual events that happened.
