Who is responsible for Macbeth’s downfall, the witches, or Macbeth? Who is responsible for the scorpions in Macbeth’s mind, the savage killing of several people in cold blood, the conception near the end of the play that Macbeth grasps of nihilism, and Macbeth getting so shielded in the prophecies that he can barely see straight? Is it Macbeth... or the witches? The play by William Shakespeare, Macbeth, has many motifs and famous quotes. However, it raises a lot of questions. One of which is the question mentioned earlier, who is responsible for what happened? Who’s fault is it that Macbeth is so mad he says, “Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” (3.2.38). Is it really the witches fault?
The role of the witches is to tell Macbeth his prophecies. The
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However, when they are telling Banquo his prophecies, he chooses not to act upon it, and the prophecy of his children becoming kings never comes true. In Act 4, Scene 1, the witches show Macbeth a line of eight kings; the last one with a mirror in his hands, followed by the ghost of Banquo. On the other hand, this prophecy never comes true because Banquo never acts upon it. In the play Macbeth, Banquo says, “May they not be my oracles as well,/And set me up in hope? But hush, no more.” (3.1.9-10). This means that Banquo will not act upon what the witches are telling him. What the witches are telling Macbeth would also never be coming true if he hadn’t acted upon it. As Banquo puts it in the play, “The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s/In deepest consequence.” (1.3.126-128). To reinforce what Banquo says, Macbeth already knows that he is thane of Glamis. There is a battle going on, and the thane of Cawdor died, but Macbeth has yet to hear wind about it. The witches could have knowledge about this, and just told him what he wants to hear about being king