Macbeth Essay

Helen hu

Hum9

Heather Mackey

6/4/15

Macbeth Essay (final draft)

Do we blame a child when his parents ask him to make mistakes? No, we don’t. Do we blame a criminal who did many cruel things or the tempters? There are many reasons cause a person to do bad things. People can be influenced by others’ words, and then the question arises if the person who encourages the crime takes the responsibility of the crime or not. In the play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the witches tempted Macbeth and Lady Macbeth encouraged him to kill the king Duncan. It could influence Macbeth somehow, but in his deep mind was a time bomb, which might make him decide his final choice. Although, people who encourage crime should be blamed, in fact the person who does the crime is most at fault even if there is somebody who instigates him to do the evil that goes against people’s own conscience.  Therefore, Macbeth has changed totally in the end and his own greedy and desirable heart is the most evil thing to blame.

The temptation of the witches who hinted about evil was strong in the play and their words were so powerful to Macbeth that he might be influenced by it. The witches were the representation of evil and they were fortunetellers. The words they said made greedy Macbeth happy and thus he thought their words were powerful and wanted to believe them with no doubt. After the witches told him he is going to be the next king he was curious and wanted to know more. He said: “You only told me part of what I want to know. Stay and tell me more.” (17) Clearly, the witches convinced Macbeth and he might be influenced by their prophetic words. Later, his desire for the crown drove him to find the witches by himself to know more. This time, Macbeth sought out the witches to demand information from them. It is a turning point because the witches were always considered as the source of evil, but this time when Macbeth approached, their position had changed. The witches said, “I can tell that something wicked is coming by the tingling in my thumbs.” (133) At this point, Macbeth found the witches in an active action. Thus, the witches thought Macbeth as an ‘evil source’. It indicated that his own desire for power was instigating his actions, not the witches. Macbeth was totally in control of the information he received from the witches. Clearly, if Macbeth was firm enough he would not be influenced by others words to be evil.

The words of his wife, Lady Macbeth, also seemed like a reason for Macbeth to kill the king Duncan. Lady Macbeth told him that he could feel safe to do the crime because she would handle every situation. She encouraged Macbeth by saying: “You should project a peaceful mood, because if you look troubled, you will arouse suspicion. Leave all the rest to me.” (35) Thus Lady Macbeth told Macbeth she had the ability to control everything and that could make Macbeth trust her and do the crime. Furthermore, she manipulated Macbeth by denying his masculinity. She said: “You are too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively at your first opportunity.”(31) At this point, she provoked Macbeth by denying his masculinity.  It made Macbeth want to prove he is a man by killing Duncan, which was Lady Macbeth’s purpose. However, Macbeth would not have been so easily convinced from the words of his wife’s mouth if he was so pure and loyal to his master.

The seeds of desire and greed had grown in Macbeth's heart constantly and deeply. Those seeds grew and caused him to step fully into the river of blood. After the witches had talked to Macbeth about being the next King, his desire was shown clearly. He said, “Why do I find myself thinking about murdering King Duncan?” (21) Macbeth was so ambitious about being the King, which was unlike loyal Banquo.  After Macbeth and Banquo both heard witches’ words, only Macbeth was thinking about murdering. Even if Banquo knew that his son would be the king as well, he was still loyal to Duncan. Clearly, Macbeth’s own desire for the crown and desire to make sure of his position by killing the sitting King Duncan. Also, there is another evidence that shows he was easily influenced by others’ words. He was eager about being the king. Therefore after Lady Macbeth’s words he chose to kill Duncan. “Now, I am decided, and I will exert every muscle in my body to commit this crime.” (47) People will think it was Lady Macbeth’s fault for his changing here, but actually it was an excuse for covering Macbeth’s own desire. If he was firm and loyal enough like Banquo, he would not change easily by a few words from Lady Macbeth. Before Lady Macbeth tempted him to murder, Macbeth had already had an evil thought about killing the person who blocked his way to be the king. He said, “Stars hide your light you no one can see the terrible desires within me.” (29) He was talking to himself, saying that his desire of becoming the king had grown with his ambitious heart, and that was the time before Lady Macbeth said anything to encourage him.  Apparently, Macbeth’s murdering of killing Duncan was the most undeniable fact that shows his evil and desirable heart. 

Finally, Macbeth’s greedy hearty gave him more impetus to do more crime without others’ words, which was his own doing not others. He was thinking by himself about killing Banquo because he was afraid about Banquo would put him down. He was talking to the murderer about why he wanted to kill Banquo. “As long as Banquo lived, I am sick. I’ll be healthy when he is dead.” It shows that he wanted to stabilize his position. Therefore nobody could threaten him.  Also, at the point he had killed Duncan, he did not stop, even if he realized and felt guilty about what he did. He said, “Rather than have to think about my crime, I’d prefer to be completely unconscious.” (61) He had already felt guilty about it, but he began to deny his own sense of guilt and for comforting himself. He chose instead to do without thinking rather than stopping the crime. This led to Macbeth’s craziness and then he stepped deeper and deeper into the blood river. Thus, the evidence obviously shows that Macbeth was most at fault for all the crime he did and not because of people who encouraged him but because his selfishness overwhelmed him from the beginning to the end.

In much literature, hubris and ambitious characters are often the source of a tragic hero's demise. Like Macbeth, the character Gilgamesh was ambitious and his aspiration for fame that everybody in the world could remember him permanently by defeating a strong monster drove him crazy even though the monster was innocent. His desire was enormous and nobody could stop him because that was his own fault. Also, in the play Antigone, the King Creon destroyed his own son by his hubris and made a tragedy at last. He thought that everybody should follow his law. If there was somebody who betrayed him, he would get so angry and kill him even his own son. Clearly, his hubris led to his failure in the at last like Macbeth.