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To What Extent Is Macbeth Responsible For His Own Actions

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“… And damned all those that trust them.” To what extent is Macbeth responsible for his own actions? It is clear that Macbeth is a character whose judgments are easily influenced by those around him, yet it is not these people who are ultimately responsible for his uncontrollable ambition and ruthless murders. Macbeth’s character flaws – his unconfined ambition and gullibility - are used by the witches and Lady Macbeth to manipulate his thoughts through prophecies with multiple meanings and attacks on his nature. Despite this, Macbeth is a man free to make his own decisions, and through his nightmares, insomnia and madness it is clear the he feels remorse for his actions leaving him the only one responsible for his gruesome path. One of Macbeth’s character flaws, his unconfined ambition, is exploited by the witches and Lady Macbeth, leading him towards the grisly path he follows but not …show more content…

The witches, three supernatural and evil characters, are not trusted by Banquo upon encountering them, who tells Macbeth to be cautious. Yet in his gullibility, he ignores him and takes to heart their first apparition, their prediction that he will be made king. This fuels his existing ambition and creates the beginnings of the ruthless mindset he later uses to murder Duncan. He is also easily convinced through the witches’ second apparition that he has become invincible, ‘None of woman born shall harm Macbeth’, a belief which eventually leads to his death as he believes Macduff cannot harm him. The ambiguous words of the witches can be interpreted in different ways – as Macduff states that he was ‘from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’, their prophecy does not apply to him. Macbeth’s gullibility combined with the interactions with the witches can also share part of the blame, yet Macbeth is responsible for his own

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Macbeth’s responsibility People of our society struggles the most to take responsibility for their actions. When someone does something wrong they will deny it because they know they did wrong. Shakespeare uses scenes in the play to show the responsibility of character and how they react to their responsibility. Macbeth is responsible for what happens to him because, he puts absolute faith in the word the witches say, which causes him to commit murders and internally he fells guilt for his actions.

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394 Words | 2 Pages

Many argue that Lady Macbeth and the Witches are to blame for Macbeth's actions. Macbeth’s actions were heavily influenced by them both. Ultimately, he cared about the act of killing. Therefore, Macbeth is to blame for the things he did during the entirety of the play. Macbeth already had the thoughts of killing, Macbeth also had motive for wanting Duncan dead, lastly, Macbeth was the one in the end to actually carry out the action of murdering Duncan.

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Unleashing His Demons: Blame in Macbeth The difficulty humans experience when trying to resist resorting to violence is remarkable. From noble disputes to trivia night bar fights, violence is an alluring tool. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the titular Macbeth is unable to resist the seductive nature of darker impulses. Spurred on by a trio of witches and his wife, Macbeth murders his liege, King Duncan, and becomes King of Scotland.

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At the beginning of the suspenseful play, Macbeth is consumed by his thirst for power and his lust to become the ruler. His heavy ambition persuades him to commit many acts of murder, starting with murdering King Duncan. Macbeth’s want for power guides him to be a continuous murderer, finally resulting in the horrible deaths of a great number of characters. A specific piece of evidence that points to Macbeth’s accountability

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Many thought Macbeth was actually an innocent victim, and only carried out these actions because of all his influences. “Macbeth, despite influences of the witches and Lady Macbeth, is responsible for his downfall. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth is a tragic hero who Dominic Piunti 4/25/18 Mr. Moorhouse English 10 destroys himself by his own wicked and selfish ambitions,” (Study Notes 1).

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1427 Words | 6 Pages

In the play, Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the theme of the corrupting power of ambition, Macbeth’s character flaws, and the theme of cruelty versus masculinity to show Macbeth’s misdeeds were a direct result of external influences. Throughout the play, Macbeth commits several wrongdoings including, killing King Duncan, his friend Banquo and manipulating others into carrying out his wishes. By appealing to Macbeth’s strong desires to become king, the witches’ prophecies leads Macbeth to commit several murders. Through fueling Macbeth’s inner insecurities, Malcolm prompts Macbeth to irrationally continue wrongdoings. Similarly, Lady Macbeth’s manipulative persona, encourages Macbeth to commit wicked actions.

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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,

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924 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout ‘Macbeth’ by Shakespeare, Macbeth commits a crime which he feels sorrow and extremely guilty about afterwards, this so leads to his own downfall. However there were many other factors that influenced Macbeth in the play for him to commit his actions and one of the most influential were Lady Macbeth and the weird sisters. While the question ‘Who is mostly responsible for the tragic ending’ is arguable, Macbeth is at fault terribly as he had the most blood stains on his hands. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth in Act1 as a viciously savage warrior, whose pride and victory on the battlefield wins him honour from the King. In Act 1 scene 3 the witches plant the idea of killing King Duncan and greet Macbeth as the future King of Scotland,

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throughout the play, Macbeth deals with being manipulated into committing heinous crimes that gets him and Lady Macbeth what they deeply wish for. I believe that Macbeth was a victim in this instance because because the witches had told him a prophecy that appealed to him. also, his wife Lady Macbeth manipulated him for her own greedy desires causing Macbeth to make bad decisions. Macbeth was led to believe that killing people would lead him to becoming king. keep believe this because the witches had told him a phrophecy that stated "all hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter.

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975 Words | 4 Pages

5-7). In this instance, Macbeth shows that he can feel guilt, and he exhibits this by demonstrating that he does not desire to end the life of a man whose family was already victimized at his hands. Guilt is the one thing throughout the entire play that stops Macbeth dead in his tracks and causes him to take a moment to consider his present and future courses of action. Although Macbeth was lead to commit murder by the witches’ manipulative predictions of the future, he is the one who ultimately makes the choices that prove that he is in control of his actions, even when his actions cause him to be filled with

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1337 Words | 6 Pages

The witches, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and other characters seem to act one way, whether it be good or evil, but their intentions are usually impure and meant to harm others in order to benefit themselves. Macbeth’s guilt is caused by the foul play the witches involve themselves in. If not for their prophecy, Macbeth would have never known of his fate and would have gained the kingship without involving murder, leading to his guilty conscious. The use of Supernatural elements is added to the plot of the play in order to show readers what led to Macbeth’s downfall, and what contributed to his guilt. His guilt arose from the

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198 Words | 1 Pages

In the play Macbeth, I think he only has himself to blame for everything that happened in the play. He only had himself for everything that happened as his ambition took over him for example when lady Macbeth dies that was because he left the daggers and she had to collect them and she saw blood on her hands as she was hallucinating this trigger something in her and made her obsessed with guilt. If macbeth had also stayed away from the witches and not have listened to what they told him but he decided to go back to them.

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1211 Words | 5 Pages

Macbeth is constantly power hungry and has an excessive desire to be on the throne. He comes across as very greedy and selfish. Macbeth chooses to live a life of evil by making some decisions that are not considered virtuous. He says, “The prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down” (I.iv.).

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713 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth’s ambition is unbounded by moral constraints, placing no limitations on his desires. As a result, Macbeth is committing a transgressive act, rebelling against the social norms of the hierarchy and the great chain of being. The supernatural stimulates Macbeth’s unchecked ambition to an extent. Due to his “vaulting ambition”, Macbeth chose to comply with the witches prophecies and Lady Macbeth’s aspirations. His greed, jealousy and ambition develop once temptation and deception overtake his mental health.

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259 Words | 2 Pages

Macbeth is the tragic play by Shakespeare that tells a story about a king by the same name who shows what power and influence can do to a good man's psych. Macbeth does the unspeakable in many situations throughout the story but is this his own doing or could it be someone else's influence? How much of what he's done is his fault? The story of Macbeth begins on a battlefield with Macbeth and his friend Banquo as a bloody battle ensues.

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