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Macbeth Paper Essay, Research Paper

Macbeth was written around 1605 during Shakespeare’s so-called “Tragic Period.” It is a tragedy about a wealthy Scottish noble, Macbeth, who kills his king to gain the throne. During Shakespeare’s time, this was the worst possible thing that a man could do, and Macbeth was doomed to die a tragic death from the beginning. Macbeth and his wife begin to do strange things because of what their conscience. Macbeth thinks he has to kill two of his former friends because he believes that they threaten his new throne. His efforts, of course, fail, and he is eventually killed. The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. There are many factors, which contribute to the deterioration of the tragic hero Macbeth, of which three will be discussed. One of the three points that contribute greatly to Macbeth s degeneration are the prophecy that was told to him by the witches. Another contributing factor was how Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth s judgment. Finally, Macbeth s long time ambition and deception, which drove his desire to be king was another factor that contributed to his downfall. Macbeth’s growing character degenerates from a noble man to a violent individual.

It is false to say that the witches are responsible for the course of action in the play. In a sense it is true that the witches dictated the whole play of Macbeth, but they didn’t dictate it they just outsmarted or put ideas in the right people s heads. The witches changed the peoples thinking so that they could stay away from all the action.

The witches are very strange, spooky, and in a way magical. The witches seem to have god-like powers that could look into a crystal ball and prophesies everything but are they really who we are led to believe? The question states that the witches were RESPONSIBLE for the course of action, but of course they just put an idea into Macbeth’s head and he did the rest. Everything from Banquo’s death to the killing of Macduff’s family was not directly or at all prophesied by the witches. In fact all they really said was that Macbeth would be king, which they could have known if they knew that he was Thane of Cawdor and that if the king was killed at any time in the next 10 or so years. Macbeth will be king, Macbeth just sped the time of when the king would die and Macbeth would replace him.

When the witches told Macbeth of the prophecies, Macbeth was VERY interested, he kept thinking about it, and when he became Thane of Cawdor and the second prophecy was fulfilled, it just sharpened his belief in the fact that he would be king.

“I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion? Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And take my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of Nature? Present fears Are less than horrible imaginings: My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man That function is smothered in surmise, And nothing is but what is not”. (1.4.133)

So here it is Macbeth saying that now that he is Thane of Cawdor, he could be king just by removing Duncan of the throne (By murdering him). So the seed of thought of Duncan’s assassination was planted at the very beginning, almost when he heard the three prophecies.

Of course after Macbeth murdered King Duncan he couldn’t let anyone find out, partly because he thought what he did was half-wrong, and because he would be killed for treason. He knew that Banquo might have an idea that he killed the king because Banquo knew the prophecies and could easily find out that Macbeth killed the king for his personal gain. “To be thus is nothing; but to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo stick deep, And in his royalty of nature reigns that, Which would be fear’d. ‘Tis much he dares, And to that dauntless temper of his mind, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour To act in safety. There is none but he Whose being I do fear; and under him My genius is rebuk’d, as it is said Mark Anthony’s was by Caesar. ” (3.1.48)

So as is pointed out by Macbeth, Banquo was very smart and Macbeth feared that he could put two and two together and then accuse him of King Duncan’s murder. However, the witches then appeared again in the play. It was around 3 quarters into the play when Macbeth visited them again and they told him some more prophecies. They said that he should beware Macduff beware the thane of fife! They said that none of woman born shall harm Macbeth, and that he shall not be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood shall come to Dunsinane. So this must mean that the witches must have had prophetic powers because the end of the play fulfills all of these prophecies. That means that they did have a very big influence on the course of the play because as soon as the first prophecies are fulfilled, Macbeth goes looking for more, and the witches again set the plot of the movie.

The conclusion that will be made is thus. The witches are responsible of the course of action in the play. They started the play off by making those prophecies, in fact Macbeth wouldn’t have even thought of killing the king if in fact the witches didn’t mention that he will be king before he dies. When Macbeth killed the king the murdering of Banquo and Macduff’s family followed mainly because of his suspicion that they might find out about that horrible deed that keeps coming back to him in dreams.

I have thought about the fact that Macbeth made his own decisions, and that the witches didn’t influence the play enough to say that they influenced the whole play. However, these are not good enough reasons compared to the points against that states they played Macbeth like a puppet, by planting ideas in his head that affected his way of thinking. After all, the play is called Macbeth, so what he did was the main part of the

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