To what extent, if any, is Macbeth a victim of the witches’ prophecies?
Macbeth is mostly a victim of the witches’ prophecies. Macbeth would never have considered killing Duncan without their words about the future, and his wife’s powerful hold over him. Macbeth regrets the deed after he has done it and wishes that he could bring Duncan back to life. The witches were expected by the people in the play to be tricksters and untrustworthy, yet Macbeth ignored these feelings because of their “fair” prophecies about his future.
Macbeth considers the murder of Duncan carefully and decides “[that] we shall go no further in this business.” He is really an honourable man who respects and loves his king. He already has the “golden opinions” of the other Thanes and his king, and he is Duncan’s friend.
Lady Macbeth goads Macbeth into killing Duncan by saying “and live a coward in thine own esteem.” and various other insults. Without Lady Macbeth as a “spur to prick the sides of [his] intent”, Macbeth would never have killed Duncan. When Lady Macbeth stated earlier that her husband was “too full of the milk of human kindness” she was right. Even if Macbeth had heard the witches’ prophecies and then not told his wife, he would still have become king, but he would not have had to kill Duncan and damn himself. Lady Macbeth works with the witches (unintentionally) to bring about her own downfall and her husband’s.
The witches wanted to create havoc in the human world by targeting Macbeth. They are equivocators, twisting the truth or telling half truths to confuse their victims and drive them to ruin. The first witch says of Macbeth “by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” By this, the audience can tell that the witches have a hand in Macbeth’s nature, because he was not wicked before they told him the prophecies. Without the witches’ prophecies, killing Duncan would never have occurred to Macbeth. Macbeth was not ambitious enough to think of killing Duncan to become king, and he would not have known that he would become King after Duncan died because of Duncan’s two healthy sons, ready and named to rule after Duncan.
Macbeth regrets killing Duncan almost as soon as he has done the deed. He says to Lady Macbeth after killing Duncan “Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!” He loved his king, and killing him was a betrayal as well as treason. By killing Duncan, he has damned his immortal soul and killed his sleep.
When Macbeth is first told of the prophecies, he is afraid. Banquo remarks “Why do you start, and seem to fear things that do sound so fair?” Macbeth is afraid of what he might have to do to become king. Macbeth’s powerful imagination is also his downfall. He was the one who first imagined that he must kill Duncan to become king, and he is drawn to Duncan’s chamber by an imaginary knife.
Macbeth is mostly a victim of the witches’ prophecies because he would never have considered killing Duncan without their promises of Kingship. However, his ambition and his wife’s ambition also attributed to his regicide.
Year 11 English Essay