Macbeth could be seen as either a victim or a villain, as in the play events occur that could support both of these arguments.

the need to kill. After Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth telling her if the three witches and what they had spoke to him about she takes them as a fact but fears Macbeth wont have the will to kill the king. She then asks the gods to remove her femininity and compassion for the king and Macbeth and asks to be replaced with cold remorseless ruthlessness to try and persuade Macbeth to kill the king. This is the event which gets Lady Macbeth thinking about her husband becoming king and she uses the witches’ prophecies to persuade Macbeth into killing King Duncan. After finding out Duncan is going to stay at their castle lady Macbeth quickly sees an opportunity for Macbeth to kill the king and become king, but Macbeth being a loyal Thain refuses to kill the king reminding himself of all the reasons why it would be wrong. Lady Macbeth then persuades Macbeth by belittling him saying he is not able to murder, and threatening to take her love away from him if he refuses, for these two reasons Macbeth responds by deciding to go along with Lady Macbeth’s plan of killing King Duncan in his sleep. So Lady Macbeth being the main influence of Macbeth’s decision to go along with the murder threatening to take everything away from him and so people would say he had no other choice and was the victim in this situation.Macbeth would be seen as a villain through many eyes just simply for the murders he made sure of. The main one most people would say is the murder of his best friend banquo, Macbeth orders seven murderers to murder Banquo and Fleance in order to ensure his sons become King not Banquo`s . The murderers succeed in killing Banquo but not Fleance as he fled; this means Macbeths sons will not become kings of Scotland. This maybe seen as the most important murder because Banquo was Macbeth’s best friend and had been for years. The second murder was the attempted murder of Macduffs family only the son was successfully murdered, but the reason for that was because the Three Witches prophesied Macbeth’s ascendancy to become king in Act 1 Scene 3, here they prophesies his downfall with the three Apparitions (visions/ghosts).The first Apparition tells an eager Macbeth that he should fear Macduff, saying beware Macduff; / Beware the Thane of Fife. Macbeth’s weakness when dealing with his wife is a big reason people would see him as a villain as if he was a stronger person towards his wife he would of not bin convinced to kill King Duncan and the whole crises wouldn’t have started. Throughout the play Lady Macbeth has been the back bone to Macbeth’s decisions and the one who picks him up once he’s feeling guilty after an incident so he doesn’t feel guilty for example when lady Macbeth and Macbeth speak in private, Macbeth is again plagued by guilt we thought may have vanished. Lady Macbeth attempts to strengthen Macbeths resolve. But only to make sure he doesn’t regret doing any of the things he did. Macbeth’s failure to pay attention to his conscience in this play is a big factor in his murders at first before he murdered Duncan he just about managed to keep in touch with his conscience and refused to kill the king but then his failure to stand up to his wife crushed that connection between him and his conscience. For example in act 1, Macbeth wrestles with his conscience, certain that he should not kill King Duncan yet guiltily having to remind himself  of all the reasons why it would be wrong. It may not have been the most convincing decision but at least he made it and if he could of stayed with that attitude throughout the play he may not of made the decisions to order the murder of his best friend and a loyal thaines family but he didn’t and people would see that as I villainous action. Once Macbeth heard the witches prophesies about him becoming king he must of felt that becoming king would be an amazing experience and suddenly the ambition to make the prophecy come true would have become greater. Maybe that is the reason he didn’t retaliate to his wife’s aggressive comments and when she threatened him, if that was the case then he shouldn’t have let his ambition to become king get out of control. The last reason Macbeth would have been sin as a villain is his reliance on the witches’ prophecies, yes he had some believe in witches but enough believe to kill his King, his best friend and a child? Most people would agree that is extremely ridiculous.For my personal opinion taking into account that the reasons for him being a villain outnumber the reasons for him being a victim quite substantially, I think he is definitely a villain, but most men in his situation would do the same that’s the nature of a man with a little bit of power, he wants more and more and he will do anything to achieve that. The argument lady Macbeth basically controlled Macbeth is quite a strong one but if Macbeth is going to become king he must at least be able to stand up to his own wife. I think he is a villain purely because he lacked the personality to stand up to his own wife most people would think he is a villain because of his murders. But would he of murdered all those people if he could stand up to his wife? The answers no. By murdering King Duncan he has walked half way into a river of blood and he has also thought, I’ve killed the king now a couple more people won’t do any harm to secure my place on the throne and he wouldn’t of murdered the king if it weren’t for lady Macbeth, and because of that I definitely think Macbeth is a villain.