In the end of the scene after Macbeth is told that he is now Thane of Glamis, he decides to let chance take over and not to do anything and see what happens.
“Why chance may crown me, without my stir”
If he had ignored the Witches prophecies then he might not have been king and his tragic downfall might not have been fulfilled, the influences of the Witches and his own conscience can be put to blame in this scene.
Macbeth sends a letter to his wife, Lady Macbeth, explaining what the Witches have foretold for him in the future. Immediately Lady Macbeth starts talking in a soliloquy, planning murder and power.
“And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty”
When Macbeth arrives she persuades him, insults him and influences him to kill Duncan that very night.
“And live a coward in thine own esteem”
This convinces Macbeth into killing Duncan that very night. Lady Macbeth uses her “womanly charm” to bully him; this puts part of the blame on her for his downfall.
Act 2
On the way to murder Duncan, Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger
“Is this a dagger which I see before me”
This tells us that Macbeth’s conscience is playing tricks on him, making him worried and scared. However he ignores this and carries on the plan to murder Duncan. At this stage the atmosphere is tense, the audience are waiting to see what will happen, whether he will kill Duncan or not and the language used makes Macbeth seem troubled and mad.
After the murder, Macbeth is distraught, leaving Lady Macbeth to deal with the rest; she persuades Macbeth that a little water will clear them of the murder,
“A little water clears us of this deed”
She deals with the murder too well as it does not affect her in the slightest way, although later on it will lead to her madness and suicide.
When Duncan is discovered dead Lady Macbeth nearly gives herself away by saying
“Woe, alas! What! In our house!”
Banquo notices what she said and is shocked and worried: this could be the key event that decides his fate and which finally cracks Macbeth beyond madness and insanity.
Act 3
Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan’s two sons flee from Scotland, fearing for their lives. Macbeth is, then, crowned king. Banquo enters with a soliloquy
“And I fear thou play’dst most foully for’t”
This tells the audience that he has suspicions of the events linked with the Witches, murder and Macbeth. King Macbeth enters and they talk with Banquo before he sets off with his son Fleance to go riding. This is when Macbeth plots his murder.
“Banquo, thy soul’s flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight”
Macbeth wants Banquo killed and also his son, Fleance because of the Witch’s prophecies for Banquo stating that he will not be king but he will get kings. Macbeth is worried about this as he wants to be king and is scared he will be overthrown.
Banquo is murdered but Fleance escapes. Banquo’s ghost then haunts Macbeth during a banquet,
“If I stand here, I saw him”
Macbeth is the only one who can see this ‘ghost’, this means that it is his conscience playing tricks on him and it is all in his mind. The guests are worried and start to suspect something ill and evil with Macbeth.
“Here my good lord. What is’t that moves your highness”
This clearly shows us the start of Macbeth’s downfall. As they leave Macbeth plans his next move. He decides to go and find the Witches and ask them what to do,
“I will tomorrow (And betimes I will) to the Weird Sisters”
This tells us and the audience that he doesn’t know what to do for himself and he needs the help from others to guide him.
Hecate (queen of the witches/ dead – from ancient Greek mythology) enters, she is angry with the three Witches because they did not let her join in with talking to Macbeth, she specifically talks about Macbeth’s fate,
“He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear his hopes ’bove wisdom, grace, and fear.
This tells the audience that the Witches know something that we don’t which makes the atmosphere tense and dangerous. The witches have a massive part to play as, although, they do not need to manipulate Macbeth into causing fate as he can do that on his own, they mess around with Macbeths mind causing him to think fir himself about power, murder and ambition but they do not tell him exactly what he has to do.
Act 4
Macbeth meets the Witches again, this time on purpose, he demands that they tell him what is going to happen.
“I conjure you, by that which you profess”
The atmosphere is dark and evil set by the images of thunder and the ugly witches.
He drinks a charm and is shown four apparitions. One says that he needs to beware Macduff, the next says to beware anyone not born of women, and then it says that he has nothing to fear till Great Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is satisfied with these predictions, however not for long as the fourth and final apparitions come, he is shown eight kings and Banquo’s ghost. This terrifies Macbeth into thinking about Fleance and that one day he might be king.
“For the blood bolstered Banquo smiles upon me, and points at them for his” Macbeth, then, after hearing news that Macduff had fled to England, decides to try and murder him firstly by murdering his family,
“Seize upon fife, give to th’edge o’th’sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls”
This shows the audience how wicked he is being by following the Witches first apparition and getting rid of Macduff so that he may be a power hungry murdering king.
Macduff learns news of his family from Ross.
“Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes savagely slaughtered”
He talks with Malcolm and they decide to return to Scotland with a force behind them,
“Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men”
Macduff vows to kill Macbeth and then they leave,
“Within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape”
This shows us how much braver and manly Macduff is compared to Macbeth, he will kill for what is right but Macbeth will kill for ambition, control and greed.
Act 5
Lady Macbeth begins to loose her sanity.
“Out damnѐd spot! Out, I say!”
And
“Here’s the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand
This shows us that she is not as stable and strong as she was when she first formed the plan of killing Duncan. Again, she gives herself and Macbeth away by telling the Doctor and her gentlewoman, the stuff she had got up to
“Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?”
And
“Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave”
The Doctor decides to ignore this, as it is heresy, but report the illness of Lady Macbeth to her husband.
Macbeth exudes confidence based on the prophecy.
“Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane I cannot taint with fear”
This shows the audience that Macbeth is not worried at all; he thinks that nothing will affect him because trees can’t move and Malcolm is of woman born so nothing can come to harm him. Compared to earlier Macbeth seems stronger (or madder) he seems more confident that he will always be king, the prophecies have made him act differently before he was amazed and cautious after that he was just reckless and overconfident.
Whilst, Macbeth is getting ready and putting on his armour, there is a distant scream, a servant comes back and tells them that the Queen is dead. Macbeth reacts strangely to this
However, Birnam wood does come to Dunsinane,
“The wood began to move”
Macbeth reacts by standing firm and not fleeing, this shows that there is still some brave warrior left in him.
“At least we’ll die with harness on our back.”
Macbeth does leave himself open to attack by letting the other soldiers in, he kills young Siward and laughs at his death,
“But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, brandished by man that’s of a woman born.”
However, he meets his downfall when he comes face to face with Macduff, who tells him that he was not born of woman. Facing his worst nightmare, Macbeth realises he can’t beat Macduff but doesn’t go out without a fight, but in the end he is slaughtered like all the innocent people he murdered as well.
Conclusion
Having considered the key events of the play and the factors in which to blame the downfall of Macbeth I have concluded that although Lady Macbeth and the witches played an important role in convincing Macbeth to kill Duncan, Macbeth was the most important of all three. It was Macbeth who agreed with them, Macbeth who committed the murder, Macbeth who decided to continue walking along the bloody path. However, it's very unlikely that all the events in the play would have happened, if there had not been help given by the witches and Macbeth's wife. The fatal combination of the three combined factors produced the tragic result.
However there are many more influences to blame for the downfall of Macbeth like the ambition to be King, power, control and greediness, these all played a part in the downfall of Macbeth, warping a brave soldier’s brain into a murdering, mad king that led to his brutal and tragic death.
