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IllFate

IllFate Macbeth’s destiny and his lust for power, confirmed by the Three Witches and Lady Macbeth, leads to destruction. Every act that Macbeth commits effects the kingdom as a whole. Macbeth’s indecisiveness and his understanding of success cause this destruction. This lust for power leads Macbeth, as it would all men, to an evil that exist in everyone. It is his destiny to fail. The tragedy of Macbeth opens up with him returning home from a victorious military battle, displaying his honor and excellence. This is, also the first time he is presented with the opportunity for power. His success covered him with glory in defense of the crown. Macbeth is busily basking in his own glory and soaking up credit when Duncan basically steals his spotlight from right over his head, proclaiming Malcolm, Duncan’s son, as the heir-apparent. This action also belittles Macbeth’s achievement, since the procession of the throne is not necessarily dictated by bloodlines. Duncan is basically announcing that Macbeth, while noble, is inferior to his son Malcolm. This is where Duncan provokes Macbeth to hate him and also points out what Macbeth must do to become King. Duncan even tempts Macbeth, by pronouncing him as the Thane of Cawdor. This gives Macbeth a taste of power and he begins to have a desire for more. This desire or ambition is his fatal flaw. Shakespeare, by using Macbeth as a guide, shows that even the honorable men can fall into the hands of evil just like everyone else. No one is safe from his or her own ambitions of power and success. It is clear that Macbeth ends up a far more brutal and simpler man then he begins. Robert Heilman says “ When we share the point of view of Hamlet, we experience the fear of evil action and of evil inaction”, showing how the reader is able to relate to the feelings that Hamlet has throughout the tragedy. How can one of such honor, fall into something as evil as the murder of King Duncan? Macbeth’s feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis” (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor” (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying “All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter” (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn’t need to do anything to become the king saying “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.”, showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth’s doubt. An argument can be made that “the weird sisters do not in fact tempt Macbeth to evil designs upon Duncan, but only prophesy a future in which he rises to the kingship.”(Sisson 117). Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth her thoughts on the matter and he tries to refuse. Though with his own ambition to succeed and his wife’s persuasion he is convinced that King Duncan needs to die for the prophecy to become a reality. Macbeth, and wife, decides that he must make this prophecy come true and does so by murdering King Duncan, showing his desire for power. Was it not his destiny to kill King Duncan and take the crown? The three witches did say he was going to become King. To Macbeth the word success means, in effect, what happens ought to happen. So with this meaning of the word ‘success’, Macbeth was able to rationalize his murdering King Duncan. Shakespeare puts it simply in the first scene saying “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”(I, 1, 11), foreshadowing the idea of evil as a means of success. Macbeth achieves his goal, power and Kingship, by committing unforgivable crimes against everyone in the Kingdom. These crimes are a part of the destruction that he causes. Barbara Everett says “For the man of success there is power but no future, no existence in the natural.”(238), which fits Macbeth character quite well. He is successful and he has power, though to keep this power he continues to do evil things. It is also true of Macbeth for the reason that he has no existence in the natural after he murders King Duncan. This is where evil starts to take control of his life. Macbeth is a man who needs to be in control of his own fate. He desires Kingship and more then that he desires the power that goes along with being King. Lady Macbeth plays a major role in destruction, by encouraging Macbeth to kill King Duncan. She even goes as far as planning out how he could kill him. She drugs the guards and Macbeth sneaks in and Kills King Duncan. Macbeth now full of rage and adrenaline kills the guards, showing that he is starting to lose control. The Three Witches tempt him wtih the idea of power and alude to the method of gaining this power. According to the L.C. Knights “The equivocal nature of temptation, the commerce with phantoms consequent upon false choice, the resulting sense of unreality, which has yet such power to “smother” vital function, the unnaturalness of evil, and the realtion between disintegration in the individual and disorder in the larger social organism”, showing that through the witches temptation not only is Macbeth destroyed the Kingdom is as well. They are part of the ‘larger organism’. The witches also give misleading advice throughout the tragedy. This advice causes him to become scared and makes him feel as if he needs to kill more people to protect himself. This false sense of fate and power on his part is a major factor in his downfall. So, the witches influence Macbeth by causing his ascension, his madness, and his demise. They cannot thus compel his will to evil; but they do arouse his passions and stir up a vehement and inordinate apprehension of the imagination, which so perverts the judgment of reason that it leads his will toward choosing means to the desired temporal good.) Bibliography:

Word Count: 1145