William Shakespeare's Macbeth

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William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the tragic play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, both Macbeth and

Lady Macbeth decide, to kill King Duncan. In the play, we see the

characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth transform in their personality

after murdering the King. Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier,

gradually changing into an ambitious murdering man. Similarly, Lady

Macbeth is ambitious but she begins as a rebellious woman who

dominates her husband, gradually changing into a guilt ridden, and

weak woman. This essay will answer the question "To what extent is

Macbeth to blame for the tragic events of Macbeth.

Macbeth begins the play as a noble and trustworthy soldier.

Unfortunately, three witches tell him three prophecies and it is these

prophecies that gradually change Macbeth into a greedy, untrustworthy,

ambitious man. Lady Macbeth is also overruled by her ambition, which

is one of the main themes in the book, and not only encourages her

husband to kill the king, but also plans it herself. Macbeth is

obviously gullible as he believes the witches after a while and relies

on their prophecies constantly.

When returning from battle, Macbeth and his best friend Banquo come

across three witches who tell them three prophecies. The three witches

tell them of Macbeth's new title, Thane of Cawdor. They then surprise

Macbeth by saying:

"All hail, Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter!"

They then tell Banquo that his sons will be kings but he will never

rule a King. This news frightens Macbeth and both try to dismiss these

ideas. This is until one of the king...

... middle of paper ...

...an born shall

harm Macbeth." "Macbeth will never vanquished be until Great Birnam

Wood to high Dunisane Hill shall come against him"

These three new prophecies give Macbeth the impression that no one can

harm him. Macbeth now relies solely on the prophecies Lady Macbeth is

now becoming weak and is beginning to hallucinate by seeing blood all

over her hands. This get too much for her and she eventually commits

suicide.

Had Macbeth not been spurned on be his aggressively ambitious wife he

would never have carried out the murder of King Duncan. He would have

become Thane of Cawdor, and lived a noble life. This leads me to the

conclusion that the tragedies of Macbeth were not at all Macbeth's

fault. His only fault was his gullibility and innocence, which was

targeted and abused by the real source of evil, his wife.

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