Macbeth Essay, Research Paper

In Elizabethan times, witches were a natural part of life. Macbeth witnessed this, as seen in the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. The evil forces that the weird sisters, who were witches, possessed, put Macbeth’s mind in another direction. This direction was the beginning of his moral downfall and the destruction of his destiny. The weird sisters warned Macbeth of this in the three apparitions but he continued living his life without realizing that they were speaking of him.

Without the weird sisters, Macbeth would have lived a very different life. It is unknown whether it would have been better or worse. The weird sisters affected Macbeth in the worst way. They tempted him by addressing him as Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis and future king, without ordering him to do anything to obtain these positions.

All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!

All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter.

(Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 48-50)

With this information Macbeth was provided with incentive to kill Duncan the King of Scotland. He was tempted into believing that if the King was murdered, he was to become what the witches predicted. While the witches never said this, Macbeth assumed that that was what they meant and the subsequent murder of Duncan was carried out by Macbeth himself, but, he also ordered special murderers to kill Banquo, Lady Macduff and her children. The murder and bloodshed had absolutely nothing to do with the witches. Macbeth acted totally out of his own will and beliefs.

Although Macbeth murdered Duncan, it was not planned and thought out. When Macbeth heard the prediction given to him by the three witches, he wrote a letter to his wife (Lady Macbeth). On reading this letter, Lady Macbeth believed that if Macbeth murdered Duncan he would take his place at the Throne. Lady Macbeth did not know that Duncan thought of her husband as a hero and really wanted him to be Thane of Cawdor, as the original traitor would be killed. When Macbeth returned home, Lady Macbeth told him that he must kill Duncan and persuaded him by calling him a coward.

Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,

and live a coward in thine own esteem.

(Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 42-43)

Macbeth gave in to his wife and killed Duncan, only because he was a very proud man and had too much pride. Eventually Lady Macbeth’s conscience took over her and she committed suicide.

The witches ruined Macbeth’s life with the temptation that led him to become a murderer. Knowing that they ruined his life they then wanted to ruin his death. They told him their three prophecies. The apparitions predicted the death of Macbeth, but he was too blind to realize. They told him about an armed head, which said to beware of Macduff. They also said “a bloody child,” which meant no man born of a woman could harm him. The third apparition told him there would be a child crowned with a tree in his hand. This meant that Macbeth would live until great Birnam Wood came to Dunsinane Hill.

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;

Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.

(Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 71-72)

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!…

(Act 4, Scene 1, Line 77)

Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn

The power of man, for none of woman born

Shall harm Macbeth.

(Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 79-81)

Be lion-mettl’d, proud, and take no care

Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:

Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until

Great Birnam Wood to Dunsinane Hill

Shall come against him.

(Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 90-94)

With the apparitions telling him this, it showed everybody, besides Macbeth, that his destiny had been destroyed by one temptation, given to him by the witches, and that his life was over.

The weird sisters’ evil forces and power affected Macbeth’s moral downfall by giving him reason to kill, which eventually killed him. The sisters knew about the three apparitions, and that they were about Macbeth. Also that Macduff was not born of a woman. Macbeth’s destiny was observed early in the play, but only to the audience, when the apparitions told him of their prophecies. By the time Macbeth realized what was happening, it was too late and he was beheaded.

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