Who or what is responsible for the tragedy in Macbeth?
Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare, is full to the brim with tragedies, betrayals, and malice. Many characters could be blamed for causing these tragedies, most notably The Witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth himself, and no one character causes the single overriding tragedy of the play; the murders of Banquo, Duncan’s servants, and Lady Macduff, and the death of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
The three Witches, or weird sisters, play an extremely important part in the life of Macbeth, and are responsible for, if not the entire tragedy, starting off the sequence of events that lead to the death of many characters. They are oracles; they can predict the future and read the fate of mortals such as Macbeth. However, as with many other oracle characters, they speak in rhyme and riddle, and Macbeth inevitably misinterprets their prophecy. They greet him with praises; “All hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter!” making him feel important, and reassuring him with the phrase; “Fear not, Macbeth. No man that’s born of woman shall ever have power upon thee.” This gives him a false sense of
…show more content…
He commits the murders of Duncan and Banquo, although he was goaded and provoked by his wife, and becomes foolhardy and over confident when misinterpreting the Witches’ prophecy. He is driven into madness and hallucinations by the terrible deeds he has done, seeing visions of ghosts, and blames himself (partially correctly) for the suicide of his wife. He is almost relieved when the army arrives at his gates, thinking that he is still unstoppable through all his tragedy. However, his main fault was to listen to the voices telling him to murder, mainly his wife, and carry through with the acts even when his own mind told him not to. Therefore Macbeth, too, is a guilty party in the tragedies that take place in