...Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the murder of King Duncan is not so easily culpable as many characters hold a certain level of responsibility. While it is easy to hold Macbeth responsible, as he was the one that committed the act, Macbeth is not the only one that played a hand in the inevitable downfall of Duncan. Upon a closer look at the events leading up to the murder, other influences in Macbeth’s decision emerge. While some were more influential than others, it still cannot be ignored that Duncan’s death may not have ever occurred if it weren’t for these other characters. The Weird Sisters, also known as the three witches, are ultimately the ones that unfolded these long series of events leading up to Duncan’s murder and even the events to follow....
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...are the ones who instill negative thoughts and ideas into Macbeth’s head with their predictions and emphasize the main theme of evil and darkness. The evil witches are important to the play because they are the ones who instill negative thoughts and ideas into Macbeth’s head with their predictions. First of all, the witches’ predictions give him the idea of killing King Duncan. When the witches first encounter Macbeth, they say, “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” (Shakespeare 1:3 50-53). Macbeth is confused when he hears about the prediction and he is astonished when the prediction regarding Cawdor becomes true. After that, he immediately begins to think about his last prediction and imagines about committing murder. He says, “Two truths are told,/ As happy prologues to the swelling act/ Of the imperial theme./[..] My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/ Shakes so my single state of man that function/ Is smothered in surmise, and nothing is/ But what is not” (Shakespeare 1:3 136-138, 148-151). Macbeth already has ambition towards becoming king. However, only after listening to the witches’ words he begins to have a wicked thought of acquiring kingship through murdering...
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...foretelling. Their characteristics lead Macbeth from a life of victory, to a terrible death. Shakespeare characterizes the witches as prophets, old, and manipulative. Also, the three evil sisters have significant themes. They are the face of greed, egocentrism, and destruction. One of the characteristics of the witches is their ability to foretell the future. In act one, scene three of the play, the witches make their first forecast. “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, Scene3, lines 49-50). The sisters tell Macbeth he will be Thane of Cawdor and that he would also be king. Later in the play, the predictions are proven to be true. When Lady Macbeth learns the news that her husband is Cawdor, she influences him into killing King Duncan. The couple plans to the terrible murder and they plot to put the blame on the king’s guards by using their daggers to commit the dead. In no time, Macbeth was crowned king. Becoming king makes Macbeth have a stronger belief in the witches. Another way Shakespeare characterizes the wicked...
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...three witches in Macbeth state that what is good, is bad and what is bad, is good. They live in a world where everyone is not what they seem. Appearance versus reality is a theme that repeatedly occurs throughout the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. In this story, which takes place in Scotland in the early seventeenth century, three witches tell Macbeth that in the future, he will be king. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begin to plot King Duncan’s murder so that Macbeth can be king. The three witches, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth all prove that looks can be deceiving in both the play Macbeth and in society. To begin, the three witches use their powers to tell Macbeth his future, however,...
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...Shakespeare communicates that it is less rewarding to achieve goals through corruption than it is through fairness and hard work. In contrast to the Macbeths, Duncan’s son Malcolm who is the new King, signifies that a great leader puts honour and loyalty above blind ambition. The following quote by Napoleon Bonaparte represents the characters of Macbeth, and the internal struggles they face with their ambition: “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct...
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...goal of becoming King occurs when the witches announce the prophecy to him, and his path to corruption begins when he eliminates threats to his power. When the witches appear, they announce to Macbeth and Banquo that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland. The witches exclaim, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.52-53). After hearing this prophecy, Macbeth makes it his goal to kill Duncan and take the throne by force, even though Duncan highly respects Macbeth for killing the traitor, MacDonwald, at war, and Macbeth is loyal to Duncan. Macbeth states, “Stars, hide your fires, / Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4.57-58). As mentioned previously, even though Macbeth and King Duncan respect each other, Macbeth’s plan to destroy Duncan show his overpowering need for power, which are the first steps to Macbeth’s...
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...witches prophecies and dismisses them without a second thought. Macbeth is also highly respected and honoured both by his King and kinsmen. The kinsmen praise Macbeth for his strength and stamina on the battlefield. The bloody captain compares Macbeth to "like valor's minion carved out his passage, till he faced the slave" which is strange as at this stage as his daring and bravery in battle puts him in a good position with the king. However later in the play Macbeth sees it as a curse, as he becomes relentless and murders innocent people. When the Thane of Cawdor is deemed a traitor, the King bestows the title on Macbeth for his loyalty, devotion and bravery in battle. When Angus and Ross arrived with the news of the title The Thane of Cawdor is to be given to Macbeth, his reply to this was the Thane still...
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...Excessive ambition can lead an individual to depression.Shakespeare wrote The play Macbeth to show support for the new king James I. The king was not popular because of his choice to make protestantism the official religion of Great Britain. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth to reveal that betraying the king will ultimately lead to their demise.In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show how excessive ambition when geared the wrong way can lead to darkness and depression. Macbeth is told by the second Witch in the beginning of the play that he is the new thane of Cawdor.When he and Banquo approached them she said “Hail to thee thane of Cawdor”(1.3.51-53).The second witch starts the play on Macbeth’s ambition by telling him he is the Thane of Cawdor before he actually is....
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...O Come All Ye Faithful O come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, Born the King of Angels! O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Sing, alleluia, All ye choirs of angels; O sing, all ye blissful ones of heav'n above. Glory to God In the highest glory! O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning; Jesus, to Thee be the glory giv'n; Word of the Father, Now in the flesh appearing, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Joy to the World Joy to The world! the Lord has come Let earth receive her King Let ev'ry heart prepare him room And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing Joy to the world! the Savior reigns Let men their songs employ While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love And wonders of His love And wonder wonders of His love Silent Night Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright. Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child. Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep...
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...What part does the supernatural play in Macbeth? The word supernatural is defined as ‘Not being able to be explained by the laws of nature’. The majority of us would link the word supernatural to ghosts and paranormal activities, which these days can be proved by using complex technology. However if we look back at Shakespeare’s era in around 1606 the majority of the people there completely believed in the supernatural. Their main belief was that witches existed and had great power to change what ever they wanted. It was believed so much in this time that even King James believed that these supernatural beings existed. Although nowadays it is completely the opposite, most of us believe that these supernatural beings are just mythological. The play Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare during the time that probably he himself and the rest of the population believed in the supernatural, it includes several supernatural events and the general atmosphere is a sinister one. The very first part of the play Macbeth includes three witches other wise described by Shakespeare as the weird sisters. These three witches plan to meet Macbeth upon a heath in the storm which is surrounding them. The effect of this automatically gives the reader the feeling that the play is a sinister one. The witches communicate to each other by speaking in riddles, such as “Fair is foul and foul is fair”. We learn two things from this first part of speech from the witches, firstly we can see that...
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...action’ he is talking about an action or a motive that governs the protagonist’s life. A tragedy is commonly known as a story or play that ends with a negative or unfortunate outcome that was essentially unavoidable, usually caused by a flaw in the central character’s personality. Although it is established that Macbeth is a tragedy, there are differences in audience response to tragedy. The audience of Elizabethan times saw tragedy as the destruction of the Great Chain of Being and the danger to the order and stability of the state. The Great Chain of being is conception of the hierachical order of the universe; Elizabethan audiences believed that a bond linked all things in the universe. They saw Macbeth as a tragedy because the rightful ruler of Scotland was killed which lead to Scotland being lead by an evil King. Contemporary audiences see Macbeth as a tragedy because of the psychological destruction of a man, and the crises caused by this man. Macbeth shows the journey of a tragic hero, Macbeth has the traits of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle: nobility, hamartia (a flaw), reversal of fortune because of hamartia and finally the discovery that the reversal was brought on by the hero’s own actions. In saying this Macbeth’s downfall was not solely brought on by his own actions, the violence in Lady Macbeth and the witches helps to breed violence in Macbeth. Macbeth cannot be defined simply as a good or evil character as he is a complex character. This is...
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...MacBeth Essay The blame for Duncan’s death can be shared upon a variety of characters, although there may be a sole recipient for the majority of fault to fall upon. The three main character’s responsible for the demise of the former king include; MacBeth, Lady MacBeth and the Three Witches. Despite the fact that the Three Witches provoked this implement of the plan in MacBeth’s head, all three characters listed previously are all held responsible for the cause of Duncan’s death. The Three Witches are responsible for the original idea of taking the throne, although it is MacBeth’s ambition that overwhelms him and eventually, Lady MacBeth. When MacBeth initially meets the Three Witches’ after the battle in the scenes following the Witches’ first appearance. The sisters’ initially hail him as Thane of Glamis, and then proceed to hail him for being the Thane of Cawdor and for being King of Scotland. These prophecies implement and open his mind as to being King even though that the audience receives no indication as to what he is thinking. Initially, MacBeth is quite skeptical but then doubt turns to belief after being announced Thane of Cawdor. The Three Witches may have initiated the thought of becoming King, but it is ultimately Macbeth’s own ambition that takes it to the next level. Lady MacBeth is portrayed as a catalyst in the act of regicide for which MacBeth commits. Lady MacBeth is instantaneously overwhelmed by the idea of becoming queen, and thus shows her as ambitious...
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...from a brave, dutiful soldier, to a backstabbing, greedy villain. It is all thanks to the three witches, who ruin Macbeth with their snippets of lies and truth. The presence of the witches adds a supernatural tone to the tale and is the crucial factor influencing Macbeth’s actions, and therefore, the storyline. The three mysterious beings can be accredited with telling Macbeth their prophecies, making him see Banquo’s ghost, as well as making him see the three apparitions. At the very beginning of the story, Macbeth would never think of wronging his king in any way. He is a loyal general and is perfectly content with his position of Thane of Glamis. Upon meeting the witches for the first time, he hears their three prophecies. The last statement, “All hail Macbeth, thou shalt be king thereafter!”(I, iii,), seems so unrealistic that he almost immediately dismisses it from his memory. However, it is just enough to tip him over the edge. It plants a seed of doubt in his mind, and more and more, Macbeth finds himself thinking about what it means. That little sentence is what ultimately causes Macbeth, along with Lady Macbeth, to corrupt and murder his beloved King Duncan. Macbeth also learns from the witches that Banquo “shall get kings, though [he] be none”(I, iii,). This leads to Macbeth’s decision to assassinate his best friend Banquo, along with his son, in order to make sure his kin are not kings in the future. The first occurrence of the witches is the tipping point...
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...which the late King Duncan ruled and he was killed by his former general Macbeth, over power to rise as king of Scotland. Macbeth however was never intending to kill the king, it all started when Macbeth and his good friend Banquo meet three strange women who they later found out to be witches, they told Macbeth of a prophesy that he will be given the title of Thane of Cawdor and soon after be crowned king of Scotland, and as for Banquo his children will become kings. Even though the two wish to hear more the three witches disappear and as predicted King Duncan proclaimed Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth hears the news of her husband becoming the Thane of Cawdor, when Macbeth reaches home he tells his wife of the prophesy of the three witches and this enables the wife to produce a plan in order to kill the king in their own home and make it look as if they were the witnesses to the crime rather than the doers of the crime by framing the kings guards and claiming it on the fact that they had too much to drink making Macbeth the King of Scotland and making Lady Macbeth Queen of Scotland. This however introduces the themes of the play which is corrupting power and destiny/ prophesies. Lady Macbeth elaborates on corrupting power when she speaks to the doctor “I still have the smell of blood on my hand. All the perfumes of Arabia couldn’t make my little hand smell better. Oh, oh, oh!” (Shakespeare 183). Surprisingly Lady Macbeth cracks under the pressure of killing all the people...
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...characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. All elements of motivation lead up to the climax of the play: the murdering of King Duncan in Act II. What plants the seed of motivation for Macbeth (who later motivates his female counterpart, Lady MacBeth) is introduced first and foremost in Act I, scene i with the three weird sisters. The witches declare they will meet again when the “hurlyburly” (I.i.l.3), or storm, is done upon a “heath” (I.i.l.7), or open land covered in small shrubs, to meet with Macbeth. In Act I, scene iii, the three weird sisters meet with Macbeth as they predicted in scene i. “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (I.iii.l.50) cries the third witch, announcing the prophecy of Macbeth to Macbeth himself. This prophecy proposed is similar to the prophecy in the Harry Potter series that motivates the infamous antagonist, Lord Voldemort, to kill the protagonist Harry Potter in order to fulfill the prophecy that stated a boy was born (Harry) with the power to vanquish Lord Voldemort and his power. Like Macbeth, Voldemort had to eliminate (or attempt to) Harry so he could get what he wanted: to be an unstoppable evil force. Macbeth had to eliminate King Duncan to get what he wanted: to be king. The three weird sisters telling Macbeth that he is destined to be king is what plants the seed of motivation in Macbeth’s mind but what waters that seed is not yet revealed until Act I, scene iv when King Duncan, the current king, declares his son Malcolm to be heir...
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