Macbeth's Decisions Essay

Throughout life, most people have the chance to make their own decisions. With these decisions, there will either be good or bad outcomes. In the case of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, these decisions lead to a very grave consequence; a tragedy. The main character in the play, aptly named Macbeth, makes some choices that do not match with the morals of mankind. However, when making these choices to further his own prosperity, there may be some other sources that affect his thinking. When Macbeth makes the decisions to murder and torture the people in his way, he gets some influence from the witches and his wife; nevertheless, Macbeth’s choices that lead to the tragedy of the story were completely all on his part. In the very beginning of the production,

For example, when the witches notify Macbeth that he will gain a new title, they are simply telling him of the fact and are not prompting him to act upon it (Rahman and Tajuddin 138). In spite of that, he instantly conjures up an image in his head of himself killing King Duncan in order to get the position of the King, and subtly questions if his thoughts are against his own morals (Mac I.iii.130-137). This thought is not the witches’ fault, but if they never told Macbeth of his imminent future, he would not think this way. Macbeth’s murderous thought of Duncan lets readers see that Macbeth has a lust for power, which ultimately leads to the tragedy (Kesur 5561). In addition, the witches’ apparitions also play a slight part in Macbeth’s decision making. When Macbeth is told by the first vision that he needs to beware of Macduff, his fears are confirmed that Macduff is a threat. When Macbeth is told this, he decides to kill Macduff’s family (Mac IV.i.71-74). Just like the witches, the apparition does not force Macbeth to act upon what he has been told, but still steers Macbeth towards violent