The Power of Greed and Malevolence in Macbeth William Shakespeare's Macbeth is not necessarily a play of fate, but rather a tragedy that occurred as a result of uncontrollable greed and malevolence by Macbeth and his wife. The weird sisters only make suggestions about Macbeth's road to kingship; they do not cast spells to make true all their predictions. These interpretations lead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan and secure the title Thane of Clawdor. While in kingship Macbeth elects to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, for Macbeth was fearful about losing his throne to Fleance. Senseless violence and inner rage cause the King of Scotland to murder Macduff's children and wife.
As a result of his insecurity of his lack of manliness, Macbeth’s soul couldn’t be cleansed again. Macbeth proved to his wife that he was a “man” but the consequence of murdering the king was the beginning of the corruption of Macbeth’s soul because of the sense of power he had. Macbeth saw his actions as justifiable because he was motivated by his self-interest. Although Lady Macbeth pushed Macbeth to abuse his powers, it was ultimately his own doing because he had a choice to go or not go along with it. Macbeth decided to go through with his plan to kill Duncan, “I am settled, and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat/Away, and mock the time with fairest show/False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (1.7.92-96).
So do you think Macbeth will want to wait or want to make these predictions come to be true? Macbeth’s growing aspiration changed him from a honorable and respected man to that of a ruthless murder whose guilt eventually caught up with him. Macbeth is guilty of first degree murder because even though he was being manipulated by his wife, Lady Macbeth, he still murdered the king with his own bare hands. If he really didn’t want to manslaughter the king, he would not have gone through with the plan, but instead he chose to. He is guilty of slaying the beloved King Duncan and others as well.
As the play proceeds, Macbeth becomes more reliant on the witches prophecy to drive him to become king.They are obviously deceiving and are only saying these things for their own self benefit. Macbeth causes himself to become more depressed because he is guilty of killing King Duncan. This influences him to become ignorant to his actions of killing, this makes him kill more people for his self benefit. He would never have wanted to kill King Duncan or even become king in the first place if the witches had not influenced him by telling him this prophecy. Even though the Witches play a major part in causing Macbeth to kill and cause tragedy and start the wheels in motion, Lady macbeth and his own ambitions are the real culprits of corrupting Macbeth.
After killing Duncan he feared Banquo for his knowledge of the witches prophecies and had him killed as well. Macbeth seemed to be losing himself after Duncan's death due to his obsession with the witches prophecies, so in turn, the witches could be partly responsible for Macbeth's downfall. Lady Macbeth can also be held accountable for Macbeth's decline of sanity and power. Although it didn't take much, her persuasion lead to the killing of Duncan. She wanted Macbeth to take the rank of king as much as he did.
Macbeth may have been a bad king, but he was not responsible for his collapse. The first reason is because Lady Macbeth questioned his manliness and drove him to kill Duncan which led him to murder more people as he got away with the first murder. The second reason is because of Banquo’s suspicion causing Macbeth to be fearful and later on, insane. The final reason is the witches as they encouraged him to let his guard down and they told him he was going to be king which led him to kill Duncan. These three influences were the main causes of Macbeth’s fall.
He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan. Macbeth feels a great deal of remorse after he has killed the king.
Macbeth feels that Macduff is a traitor, when he finds out Macduff chose not to attend his banquet. In a spiteful, impulsive act of revenge Macbeth orders several murders to Macduff’s castle to kill his family. Macbeth thought that the killing of Macduff’s family would shatter his will to fight leaving him demoralized. In fact, the murder of his family did the exact opposite. The death of Macduff’s family made Macduff fight harder than ever, in order to avenge his family's name.
Overall I think that Macbeth is to blame for the death of King Duncan because however much someone tries to make someone commit a murder, it is always the murderers fault, as he did not have to listen to his wife or the 3 witches. When the witches told Macbeth about him becoming King, they may have meant that Duncan might have died naturally. But instead he made an immediate reaction and started thinking in an evil way with tragic consequences.
Macbeth has gone far enough to kill the innocent and loses his sense of self. Macbeth indirectly is associated with the murder of Macduff’s family, the track record of the other murders leads to Macbeth. Macduff’s family being murdered shows what appears to be normal to Macbeth but the reality is, he isn’t killing for Scotland he is killing for himself. The spilling of treacherous blood gives others drive to eliminate him as he betrays those around him, as Macbeth has spilled family blood of Macduff and Malcom motives increase to spill vengeful