The witches plant the idea of being king into Macbeth’s mind and this encourages Macbeth to think about his future, which made him kill Duncan. The witches prophesy the struggle between the forces of evil and good, which Macbeth would involve. This describes a character as being much worse if the audiences’ first impressions of Macbeth were good and positive. The witches influence Macbeth by telling him that he would be the king, which makes him became impatient and tried to hurry it as quickly as he could.
In my opinion, the three witches are responsible for the introduction of these ideas in Macbeth’s mind.
The setting of the scene when the witches plan to meet Macbeth is very important; they meet on a moor in thunder and lightning. These surroundings symbolize an evil image; the moor is very lonely, infertile and cold place, while thunder and lightning are associate with evil. This shows that at the beginning of the play, one of the themes is shown.
The witches’ languages including rhyming couplets that are contradict each other and very powerful.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair;”
The quote shows about witches’ great dislike for all good things and their love towards things that are evil and what is good they find repulsive. Shakespeare uses rhyme for the witches’ language to emphasise their evilness. The quote also creates image of witches and would have created tension amongst the audiences. This is the witches’ attitude to life, but it could also be a warning to the audiences that things to follow are not what they might seem.
The witches manipulate Macbeth and when he tells Lady Macbeth about the prophecies, an evil plan has been planted into Lady Macbeth’s mind.
Macbeth is brave when it comes to thought but when he is faced with the actions he hesitates and has to be persuaded by his wife. Lady Macbeth puts her husband under pressure to commit the murder. She put Macbeth under pressure because she is an ambitious lady, who wants the “queen” position as quickly as she could. Therefore, she has to force Macbeth to murder King Duncan as quick as she could. Lady Macbeth has feelings of humanity.
“Had he not resembled, My father as he slept, I had done’t”
She would have carried out the murder herself if Duncan had not looked like her father. This shows the audiences that Lady Macbeth is not as evil as was once thought. The audiences’ conception of this would have been that she was going to become discharge of evil deeds and Macbeth was terribly going to become independent.
“I’ve done the deed.”
This quote shows Macbeth has done the worst possible crime; he had murdered King Duncan in cold blood. Macbeth, the brave and highly respected warrior at the beginning of the play has been driven by his ambition to be a king. Nevertheless, the source of the main evil deed may not have come from Macbeth himself.
“….a wolf’s tooth, a root of poisonous hemlock, the finger of a strangled baby….”
These disgusting images are the ingredients that witches use for their spell. The language used also shows the outstanding actions of innocence and the ability to be wounded by the witches. This connects the theme of the desire to bring all good things to evil that have been effected by the evil spirits is one of an absolute evil.
The evilness of the witches has changed Macbeth from a brave warrior to an evil, murderous traitor.
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
Again, this rhyme is significant as it illustrates the change in Macbeth in the play, even the witches consider him to be evil. It is not very surprising when we look back what Macbeth has left behind him. A man who has been driven by his ambition to be a king has led to a chain of unstoppable murders.
“Stars, hide your fires, Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
According to this quote, we can see clearly Macbeth’s true feelings towards Duncan. The quote from the play tells us nobody would see the murder due to the darkness and lack of light. His darkest intentions have imagery due to the blackness and darkness of the night and evil desires of Macbeth!
“My thought, whose murder is yet but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man.”
The quote tells us that Macbeth thinks that murdering the king was not in Macbeth’s mind and he never thought of it before. In his soliloquy, the audiences learn about the point that Macbeth’s first plan to murder Duncan so that he shall have power and position earlier, eventually destroying the natural order. This shows that Macbeth is an evil person.
Macbeth has been dominated by his wife- Lady Macbeth, who forced out the evilness inside Macbeth himself. Lady Macbeth has insulted Macbeth’s masculinity.
“When you durst do it, then you were a man.”
This quote, which was spoken by Lady Macbeth to her husband, challenges Macbeth to carry out the murder of King Duncan. The shocking masculinity threat made Macbeth wants to prove to his wife that he is not a faint-hearted person and he wants to prove that he is the man. His wife has convinced Macbeth; being worried about Duncan murder made him release more evilness inside him. Lady Macbeth tells him that they will not fail if he keeps his nerve. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth the details of her plan and he admires her determination. This shows that Macbeth originally has the evil characteristic inside him and needs a bit of push, which Lady Macbeth managed to do so.
Once Macbeth killed Duncan, he feels that he has murdered nature, which is sleep. In Shakespeare times, sleeps portray innocence. This illustrates to us that Macbeth has destroyed the natural order by murdering “sleep” and lead to chaos. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that if he washes his hands there will be no reminder of the murder.
“A little water clears us of this deed.”
Macbeth responds: “Will all great Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood?”
Macbeth said that the water would not get rid of the guilt. Blood symbolizes evil and for Macbeth, it is a doubt as he was an evil and a foolish person. William Shakespeare used an irony of what Macbeth is going to do. The guilt inside Macbeth has gone easily and an evil spirit has replaced the guilt.
The killing of Duncan starts an unstoppable chain of events and Macbeth became addicted to killing people. Another evil deed committed by Macbeth is the killing of Banquo, whom Macbeth fears knows too much. After the death of Duncan, Macbeth himself became more independent. He does not need to hang onto his wife, which made him plan Banquo’s and Fleance’s death. I think he chose to do it this way because he probably thought that Lady Macbeth might take control, as she did when she found out about the witches prophecies. He tries to prove that he could do things himself. It is important to note that Macbeth is planning to murder Banquo without the consultation of his wife and none of Macbeth’s actions to plunge deeper into evil has much to do with Lady Macbeth. This shows that Macbeth does not appreciate his wife’s help at the beginning of the play.
Macbeth is busy planning about Banquo's and Fleance’s murder. This makes him totally forget about his wife. He doesn’t concern himself about Lady Macbeth until he found out she’s dead. This shows that ambitions also cause a break up in the relationship between a husband and a wife. The ambitions of Macbeth have led to evil and cruelty towards his own wife. Shakespeare develops the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as linked pair. When Macbeth is weak, Lady Macbeth is strong; when Macbeth is determined, Lady Macbeth is discontented.
“To be thus, is nothing, but to be safely thus.”
According to the quote, Macbeth is indicating that he needs security to be a king. This emphasised that “ambitions” have led Macbeth to evilness, eventually a murderous traitor. His intention is to get rid of any threat to his throne. Macbeth is a very calculating person. He really knows what he is doing, more so than in the murder of Duncan. He orders two murderers to kill Banquo.
“That is what he in times past, that held you so under fortune.”
Macbeth manipulates the people into believing that it was Banquo’s fault that they are very poor. This is shown clearly how the ambitions that lead to evilness can break up a friendship between two good friends.
“Thanks for that”
Macbeth is glad of the Banquo’s death because nothing will stop him from being a king. This emphasised that the evil spirit inside Macbeth guides him to become a traitor.
Macbeth has become deeply involved in the game of murder. Macduff, who probably has a suspicion about Macbeth, did not turn up to the feast. Macbeth has to carry on killing, as he is addicted to it so he took one little step further when he killed innocent people. He killed Lady Macduff and her sons. This shows that Macbeth has caused disorder of Scotland. Again, this shows the pure evilness of Macbeth, which ambition being the main source.
In conclusion, Macbeth is for the most part, responsible for the evil deeds. The witches only played a very small part in the evil deeds. Macbeth chose his own fate by believing in the witches and giving into temptation, both from the witches and the guidance from Lady Macbeth.
The only thing driven him on is his own selfish ambition. He worries that his ambition may be greater than his ability to achieve it. He may be like a horse that tries to jump over a fence that is too high and ends up falling to destruction. A horseman who tries to vault too hastily onto his horse’s back and finishes up falling off the other side.
