In his literary criticism of William Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, William Hazlitt proposes that both Lady Macbeth and the Witches are equally responsible for killing Duncan.
Hazlitt explores the characteristics of Lady Macbeth and the Witches to emphasize their part in Duncan’s murder. To begin, Hazlitt highlights the extent of Lady Macbeth’s ambition. Lady Macbeth is so adamant on advancing up the political chain, that she becomes ruthless and “wicked to gain a great end”. Unlike Macbeth who has conflicting thoughts about murdering Duncan, Lady Macbeth is relentless until the act is done, and therefore, is more responsible for the murder. In addition, Lady Macbeth’s strength of will prevail over Macbeth’s perplexed state of mind. Her unyielding
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Even though she gets Macbeth to do the dirty work, Lady Macbeth remains the mastermind of the two. Moreover, Hazlitt underlines the Witches devious qualities. The Weird Sisters are known troublemakers that enjoy meddling in others’ lives, and are “equally instrumental in urging Macbeth”. The foul witches, who kill pigs for pleasure and sink ships for revenge, prophesized marvelous events for Macbeth, however they spoke ambiguously, purposefully entangling Macbeth into their latest act of mischief. Without these agitators, Macbeth would have never thought of attempting to kill Duncan as he was a just man, king, and part of Macbeth’s kin. Finally, the Weird Sisters are fiendish things. The impious creatures are controllers of fate with tremendous power, who realise their capabilities, and are aware that “[Macbeth] is not equal to the struggle with fate”, however, they continue to torment him by showing him half-truths. The Witches actions leave Macbeth in awe and he becomes curious to prove their prophecies true. Macbeth is merely a puppet to these horrid Witches as they are have control over fate, and in turn have control over Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth’s