One of the biggest questions in Shakespearean literature is: Who is responsible for Macbeth’s downfall? Some people see the witches as evil beings that turned Macbeth into a killer. I disagree. In Act I scene V Macbeth and Banquo come upon three witches, who tell Macbeth that he is going to become Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland. They also tell Banquo that he will beget kings, but will not be one. Right after this is said Macbeth is made Thane of Cawdor. After receiving this conformation of the witches’ prophecy being correct, Macbeth reveals in Act I scene III lines 142-149 that his mind is already turning to murder.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.
Even though Macbeth quickly pushes the thought from his mind. Act I Scene III 152-153 “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, /Without my stir.” The audience knows that the seed has been planted, but at this point in the play Macbeth is not willing to act on them due to conscious and cowardice.
Upon hearing the news of the prophecy and the truth already come to pass Lady Macbeth decides that Macbeth needs to kill King Duncan. She believes that Macbeth needs to kill Duncan because he is fated to be King and needs to take what is destined to him, or it could be lost. In Act I scene VII Lady Macbeth gives a speech challenging Macbeth to fulfill his destiny of becoming King by murdering Duncan. “Art thou afeared / To be the same in thine own act and valour/ As thou art in desire? / Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life” (lines 39-42). This is one of the most crucial scenes in the play. Macbeth is still at the point where he can choose his destiny. He can either allow fate to play out naturally. Accepting whatever fate may come, even if he does not become King, or he can ensure his fate as King through murder. By the end of the scene he has made his choice to kill Duncan. It is this choice that will lead to his downfall, because of his fear that he will meet the same fate.
This fear leads him to order the murder of Banquo and his son Fleance because Banquo knows of the prophecy and his son is going to be king. He later kills Macduff’s family because the witches warned him of Macduff during his second visit to them. This action is what will ultimately cause his downfall.
In conclusion Macbeth is to blame for his actions and his downfall. Even though the witches put the idea of him being King in his head, and Lady Macbeth attacked his manhood when he hesitated to kill Duncan. He still had free-will and could have chosen to allow fate to play out. By him choosing to manipulate fate according to his own wishes, he in fact inadvertently fulfilled part of the original prophecy (Banquo’s son being King) and created a series of events that led to the murder of Macduff’s family and his own death at the hands of a man “not of woman born”.
Works Cited
Jennifer Reidel. "The Witches' Influence on Macbeth." Macbeth and the Witches. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2016.
Shakespeare, William, and John Wilders. Macbeth. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.
