On the other hand, the witches did play on Macbeth’s fears in Act four scene one. Two of the four apparitions he was shown were children ‘a bloody child’ and ‘a child crowned, with a tree in his hand’. Children have been Macbeth’s weakness throughout the play as he is afraid of what they may grow up into. For example, he gave an order for the murder of Fleance because he is Banquo’s son and is a threat, as according to the witches Banquo’s decedents will take the throne. Macbeth is also afraid as Malcolm; Duncan’s son is the rightful owner to the crown. Then by showing Macbeth the fourth apparition of a row of kings, who are all Banqou’s descendants Macbeth falls into a state of paranoia. The witches manipulated him in this way because by showing Macbeth the apparition of the Kings, they are strengthening fears that are already troubling Macbeth (being be stripped on the crown). In addition, if they hadn’t done so, that Macbeth would have not ordered that Macduffs castle be attacked and everyone in it killed. This action was solely caused by what the witches showed Macbeth, they aroused deep doubts and suspicions, thereby reducing him to a man of no morals, who will stop at nothing to fulfil his ambition. I think this is the most apparent way in which the witches contributed to the downfall of Macbeth, which led to the downfall of Scotland. Additionally without the witches neither Macbeth nor Lady Macbeth would’ve proceeded in any of their ‘evil’ activities -neither would have done anything immoral in order to satisfy ‘vaulting ambition’.
However even before the witches, Scotland was already in turmoil and Duncan was accountable, his country was already at war, and the following events simply built upon the existing chaos Duncan had put it in. The chaotic situation that Scotland was in would have affected the society. Everyone must have felt scared and paranoid to some extent as their country was at war; this signifies a weak leader i.e. Duncan. His naïve, trusting and generous character may have been a cause for the downfall, as it led to him being betrayed by both Thanes of Cawdor. Macbeth was a man of huge allegiance and loyalty at the beginning of the play and really it wasn’t until the King named Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, that he actually began to believe what the witches had said.
It is obvious that Duncan didn’t learn from his first mistake (trusting the first Thane of Cawdor) or he wouldn’t have given the position to Macbeth without testing his undeniable ‘Loyalty’. The scene in which Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle is rich with irony. Duncan naïvely forgets how he has just been betrayed by appearance and reality and whilst discussing with Banquo they say that the air ‘recommends itself’ and ‘is delicate’. This juxtaposes with the ‘fog and filthy air’ that the witches talked about and when Banquo’s mentions summer birds, it contrasts with the ‘raven’ that Lady Macbeth speaks of in the last scene. This shows how naïve Duncan is, this characteristic shouldn’t be found in a leader therefore showing Duncan as weak, therefore he could be blamed for Scotland’s downfall because if he was a strong leader he would have been more cautious because in the words of his son Donalbain ‘there’s are daggers in men’s smiles’.
However, I don’t believe that the blame can be laid on Duncan, as he only chose ‘Noble Macbeth’ because he thought him worthy due to his courage and bravery on the Battlefield, and it was Macbeth who betrayed him. King Duncan says to Macbeth that he has started to ‘plant’ him, meaning that he will make sure that Macbeth will grow greater and stronger as a reward for his service. This is ironic because in reality a seed of ambition is growing in Macbeth, which will lead to him murdering the King.
Furthermore the blame could also fall on Macbeth, whose greed, ambition and over confidence led to him changing from the ‘Noble Macbeth’ he was at the beginning to the ‘bloody tyrant’ and ‘Dead butcher’ he became at the end. He was apprehensive and suspicious of people whom he should have trusted e.g. Banquo and too trusting and dependant on people whom he should have doubted and suspected i.e. the witches who meddle with fate and destiny.
Since Macbeth was a tragic hero, he initially recognized that the ‘weird sisters’ represent evil so he didn’t consider their predictions seriously and the audience perceived him as good. However, when he found out that two of the predictions they made were true, he began to think they were good, but his heart told him otherwise as he says, they ’ make my seated heart knock at my ribs/Against the use of nature’. Therefore, Macbeth had felt doubt and uncertainty when he thought of the witches but acted against his better judgement and let his greed and desire to be King lead the rest of his actions. The Witches gave Macbeth a new way of thinking; suddenly he began to believe that he could be King ‘if chance will have me King, Why chance may crown me’. By this, he seems to have drawn a parallel between fate and the supernatural but afterwards he takes fate into his own hands when he kills the King, the guards, Banquo, Mcduff’s children and wife. When Macbeth stopped perceiving the witches as evil e begun to think that everything was an obstacle that he had to overleap in order to reach his goal ‘That is a step/ On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap,/For in my way it lies’.
Macbeth allowed his judgement to be clouded by his desires, and allowed people like Lady Macbeth and the witches to persuade him into actions that ruined the rest of his life and destroyed Scotland. This shows that Macbeth is actually quite weak, at the beginning of the play he is shown to be a brave man full of valour ‘noble Macbeth hath won’ but in reality he can be manipulated by a woman (the weaker sex in that time), he is ‘Too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness’.
Then when Macbeth goes to see the witches a second time, and sees the apparitions suddenly he begins to act of his own accord. It was his own idea to kill Banquo and Macduffs family, neither the witches or Lady Macbeth persuaded him. This shows his brutality, he is ruthless and doesn’t even share his plans with his wife. By this point in the play, he will stop at nothing to keep the throne, and is in a state of paranoia because the guilt is finally catching up with him.
This is shown when Macbeth cannot sleep ‘Macbeth doth murder sleep, the innocent sleep’. Shakespeare uses sleep as a metaphor for innocence, integrity and purity. The evil are condemned to no sleep, no rest so that they are continually haunted by their actions. Macbeth’s lack of sleep shows his evil character and deepening madness caused by his paranoia. This is reinforced when Macbeth cannot say Amen ‘and ‘Amen’ Stuck in my throat. He then begins to speak in third person ‘ Macbeth shall sleep no more’ this shows that he can no longer think of himself as the one who has stripped Duncan o his divine rights; he repeats the phrase three times showing his fear and guilt. The scene ends with Macbeth regretting his actions ‘To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself. Wake Duncan with thy knowing. I would thou couldst’ He wishes that he could turn back time and wake Duncan up.
The last person who the blame could fall upon is Lady Macbeth, the woman who changed from being Macbeth‘s ‘dearest partner of greatness‘ to being his ‘fiend-like queen’. Even though, she did contribute to Macbeth’s Downfall it wasn’t solely her fault, other factors influenced him especially his own ambition and shortage of self-control. Lady Macbeth did encourage Macbeth and she is the one that hatches the plan initially to kill Duncan making sure that Macbeth does nit trust fate. She shows no shame 'Give me the daggers'. She played on his emotions and criticises his manliness ‘was the hope drunk?’ Moreover, after receiving Macbeth’s letter she says ‘unsex me here/And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull /of direst cruelty’, these words especially to a Shakespearian audience invokes the image that she is calling upon supernatural powers to make her strong and brutal the qualities that stereotypically would be found in any man in those times. However, when she says this, it reminds the audience of the witches and their uncertain gender ‘that look not like the inhabitants of the earth’. This portrays her as evil, as now there is a link between her and the supernatural.
The language that Shakespeare uses is very skilful as it paints her character to the audience very well. Lady Macbeth begins to talk about how she would kill her own baby than go back on her word. She viciously contrasts images of affection and compassion with images of violence and hatred, she uses words like ‘ tender’, ‘love‘,’ smiling’ and then juxtaposes them with violent and harsh words like ‘plucked and ‘dashed’. This brutality and violent imagery suggests a nearly inhuman vicious masculine power. This demonstrates that she, a woman, is stronger than Macbeth, making him feel ashamed at his cowardice and makes him feel even more cowardly, gutless and weak when she speaks of her 'shame' at his 'heart so white'.
When the couple are about to commit the murder, Lady Macbeth, encourages Macbeth and calms and reassures him by not mentioning the word murder, instead she uses euphemisms such as ‘great quell’. This could imply that they are very aware if what they are doing because to themselves what they’re doing is for their good so the evil deed is a ‘great quell’ because it will benefit them. Then again, this technique is very effective because it makes it sound like this horrible and evil deed is actually an admirable and honourable act that they are obliged to perform. She makes it sound like a worthy act, one of many that Macbeth had to do in the war. This is a great persuasive technique as it helps Macbeth thinks that what he is doing is good and needs to be done. However, it could also imply how naive they are because they can’t actually bring themselves to say/acknowledge what they are doing.
It is true, that Lady Macbeth helped persuade Macbeth to carry of these ruthless deeds however we cannot determine the reason behind her actions. She may have been playing her role as his wife, supporting her husband once she felt that he was to possessed by his desire to be King and that there was no turning back. She hatched the plan initially to make sure that her husband wouldn’t be caught, and then she persuaded him to carry out the deed because she felt she was supporting him not using him to fulfil her ambition to become queen. Lady Macbeth could have let her desire to become queen cloud her judgement. However we are shown again and again that she isn’t evil but rather a victim of it. She is shown to be unable to cope with the actions that herself and her husband have undertaken ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean was this blood Clean from my hand?’ it shows that she regrets her actions and in the end commits suicide, which unfortunately means (traditionally) that her soul is destined to roam in purgatory for all eternity. Even Macbeth regretted his actions but his way of dealing with it was by killing several other people.
To conclude, I believe that Lady Macbeth, the witches and Duncan were all factors that led to Scotland downfall, but the main cause was Macbeth’s greed, ambition and overconfidence. At the beginning he was slightly influenced by Lady Macbeth in his decision to kill the King but by the end, he has ordered the deaths of his best friend Banquo and Macduffs family all on his own. His wife once his ‘dearest partner of greatness‘ is now not of importance when his hold on the throne is in question. In my opinion he was the one that linked the witches’ predictions with murder, he was the one who killed Duncan and he was the one responsible for Scotland’s downfall. However, I think that Duncan hold s some of the blame as well because the chaos that Macbeth brought to the country only built on the Turmoil it was already in because of the war. If Duncan hadn’t been such a weak leader and more wary of people then Macbeth may not have succeeded in committing the murder.