The Responsibility In Lady Macbeth's Tragedy

In the tragedy of “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth’s actions make her partially responsible for the tragedy, however, other factors also contributed. The witches offered great enticement towards Lord and Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s fatal flaws of ambition and vulnerability to persuasion by others also resulted in the murder of King Duncan and thus, the tragedy.

It is evident that Lady Macbeth’s ability to persuade and manipulate Macbeth played a part in the tragedy. Lady Macbeth is shown early in the play as an ambitious woman who sees that the most obvious route to the throne involves murder, but, unlike her husband, does not falter in her amvition to achieve her goal- for Macbeth to be crowned king. She knows her husband is …show more content…
It is obvious that the witches play an important part in the tragic events as Shakespeare introduced them at the beginning of the play. Their prophecies of Macbeth provoke many thoughts in his head and the first and second prophecies of him becoming Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor came true, Macbeth begins to worry and ask himself “Why hath it given me earnst of success commen cing in a truth?” Showing the very first signs of his change in mindset. The witches were strongly believed to posses supernatural powers in the Elizabethan Era, so it was justifiable that he would believe and consider the third prophecy that he will become king. The use of repetition of the words, “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter” attract Macbeth’s attention as the words feed off his desire for what the witches promise. There is a great contract before and after he meets the weird sisters since they plant the seed of evil within him. Almost as if fate not only exists, but is inescapable. This brings into the play the idea of fat and the large impact which it has in ‘Macbeth’. Without the witches’ prophecies, Lady Macbeth would not have considered Macbeth being crowned and therefore, would not have acted upon it as the possibility would have been too low. However, the witches could foretell the future, they add temptation and influence Macbeth, but they …show more content…
Macbeth is seen as a loyal, capable general in the Scottish army and the reports from the captain illustrate this “brave Macbeth, - well he deserves that name, -disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution.” Macbeth is displayed as being a good, ambitious man and shos substantial loyalty to King Duncan. It is only when the witches put the idea in his head that he ever considers becoming king. They manipulate his sheer amount of ambition and this striving for power affects every aspect of his life which eventually leads to his demise. Macbeth’s good moral values are revealed with Macbeth’s unwillingness to commit the murder and the fact that he supports the news that the king is a representative of God and to murder such a good king would cause “the frame of things disjoint.” He uses heavy euphemism in his soliloquy and replaces the word “murder” with “his taking off”, “horrid deed” and “assassination”. This suggests that Macbeth cannot bring himself to kill Duncan. A motif of blood is present throughout the play and symbolises the regret and guilt that Macbeth feels about the murder. However, due to Macbeth’s ambition, the idea of regicide put forth by the witches causes him to over think the situation and with Lady Macbeth’s manipulation of this fatal