Three Forces Acting Against Macbeth
Macbeth
In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, there are three forces at work attempting to destroy the character Macbeth. The first fateful force of evil is represented by the Weird Sisters, or the three witches. The second influence or evil force comes from his wife, Lady Macbeth. The third and final force attempting to destroy Macbeth, is Macbeth’s own character.
The first forces of evil acting on Macbeth are the three Weird Sisters. They provide the initial nail that gets hammered into Macbeths head; they lead him to believe that he will be King of Scotland. This prophecy gets Macbeth thinking, but not wildly enough to do anything about it. The Weird Sisters, without Macbeth knowing, persuade him to kill the current King of Scotland, Duncan. In telling Banquo his own prophecy, it eventually leads to Macbeth’s betrayal of Banquo, and Macbeth kills Banquo. Later in the play, the witches tell Macbeth three more prophecies. These new prophecies lead him to betray Macduff, and also to believe that he is ultimately immortal. So, covertly the witches play a major role in the downfall of Macbeth.
The second force brought into the play is Lady Macbeth. After reading Macbeth’s letter, a new side of her character is awakened. She convinces, against Macbeth’s better judgment, that they should murder King Duncan. She uses very powerful and moving emotion and persuasion to persuade Macbeth to commit the evil deed. However, after the deed is done, Lady Macbeth is overwhelmed with guilt. This unending guilt haunts her so much, that she eventually commits suicide. Ultimately, she is a huge driving force for Macbeth to go down this road of murder, but after the first death, she cannot handle it anymore, and even works against Macbeth to try and stop his evil reign of tyranny.
The third force of evil acting upon Macbeth is his own character. Initially, his conscious serves him well and he does not want to do anything evil. He is described as
In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, there are three forces at work attempting to destroy the character Macbeth. The first fateful force of evil is represented by the Weird Sisters, or the three witches. The second influence or evil force comes from his wife, Lady Macbeth. The third and final force attempting to destroy Macbeth, is Macbeth’s own character.
The first forces of evil acting on Macbeth are the three Weird Sisters. They provide the initial nail that gets hammered into Macbeths head; they lead him to believe that he will be King of Scotland. This prophecy gets Macbeth thinking, but not wildly enough to do anything about it. The Weird Sisters, without Macbeth knowing, persuade him to kill the current King of Scotland, Duncan. In telling Banquo his own prophecy, it eventually leads to Macbeth’s betrayal of Banquo, and Macbeth kills Banquo. Later in the play, the witches tell Macbeth three more prophecies. These new prophecies lead him to betray Macduff, and also to believe that he is ultimately immortal. So, covertly the witches play a major role in the downfall of Macbeth.
The second force brought into the play is Lady Macbeth. After reading Macbeth’s letter, a new side of her character is awakened. She convinces, against Macbeth’s better judgment, that they should murder King Duncan. She uses very powerful and moving emotion and persuasion to persuade Macbeth to commit the evil deed. However, after the deed is done, Lady Macbeth is overwhelmed with guilt. This unending guilt haunts her so much, that she eventually commits suicide. Ultimately, she is a huge driving force for Macbeth to go down this road of murder, but after the first death, she cannot handle it anymore, and even works against Macbeth to try and stop his evil reign of tyranny.
The third force of evil acting upon Macbeth is his own character. Initially, his conscious serves him well and he does not want to do anything evil. He is described as