Macbeth Essay

Macbeth was ultimately responsible for all of his actions, and therefore he must be held to blame for his downfall. Although he was facing pressure from many forces, including his wife, the witches and his own “vaulting ambition”, in the end it was his choice to go ahead with the regicide and his following actions.

Macbeth would never have even considered murdering Duncan, if not for the trickery of the witches. The witches, by prophesising to Macbeth that he would become first the Thane of Cawdor, planted the first seeds in his head, and after he become the Thane of Cawdor, the seeds began to grow. Macbeth was originally misled to believe that if he became Thane of Cawdor without having to do anything, he might become the king without having to do anything. In the end, his own ambition warped this, so that he would’ve done anything to become the new king. However, Macbeth was explicitly warned about this by Banquo, who described the witches as “instruments of darkness” wh...