Macbeth

3 Pages 717 Words

Macbeth
Macbeth is the tale of an over ambitious man pushed into committing a brutal murder that escalated into a massacre of people. Shakespeare’s depiction of women in this play shows how manipulating they can become when they lack physical strength. Both the witches and Lady Macbeth played key roles in shaping Macbeth into a power hungry tyrant. But the blame for the murders cannot be places solely on one person for each one was guilty in their own way.
Through out the play, we encounter three witches who represent Fate. The witches were known to toy with people using their magic as they described in Act1 scene 3 when they sent a storm out on a poor sailor. Being able to see the future, they met with Macbeth and hailed him as three things, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and shalt be king hereafter. They knew that once Macbeth was honored as Thane of Cawdor, his ambition and lust for power would be revealed. Macbeth had fallen into their power when their predictions came true. If they had never spoken with Macbeth, the idea of Macbeth becoming king would have never been raised, preventing these murders.
When the play began, Macbeth was more of an easily manipulated person and so was pushed into proceeding with his initial reaction. Lady Macbeth was as ambitious as her husband was and stronger. She wanted the power for herself and her husband. We see how badly she wanted this when she prays to the spirits to “unsex her” and to “stop up the access and passage to remorse” so that they could follow through with this cruel act. She was so heartless that she planned on framing innocent men for the murder of the king showing her masculine thoughts in this woman’s body. Lady Macbeth knew that her husband would talk himself out of the plan and so she manipulated him by questioning his manhood and calling him a coward if he didn’t go through with it. This pushed him over the top and he continued with the scheme so as to ...