Macbeth
is a tragedy written by Shakespeare. Macbeth, a Thane of king Duncan,
meets a day at the release of a big battle, three witches who greet
him of three different manners: Thane de Glamis, Thane de Cawdor and
finally king. At this moment of the play, Macbeth is Thane de Glamis.
Hardly the witches disappeared, soldiers come to announce him that he
is at the moment Thane de Cawdor. What announced him the three
witches does look like a prediction...
Most
of the readers see in Macbeth a bad, narcissistic and devilish man. A
murderer of cold blood. Nevertheless Shakespeare tries hard to make
him nice. Macbeth is described as a good man. He is an excellent
soldier. He is a tragic hero, circumstances are going to force him to
make things against his kindness. The reversal is made during the
intervention of the witches. They reveal him a prophecy. Among other
things, they predict him that he will be a king.
From
there, Macbeth is going to make everything to become a king. He is
going to force the fate. He does not understand the prophecy. The
first part said that he would become Thane de Cawdor and he indeed
became it. But this got real naturally without his intervention.
Macbeth feels nevertheless obliged to force the fate by killing
Duncan to become a king and realize the last part of the prediction.
When he is finally a king, he is going to have to face another fate.
The one that the witches predicted to his friend Banquo. It was
announced Banquo''s children would be kings. Macbeth is again going to
commit murders to prevent this to happen.
In
the end, Macbeth is a monster, a criminal. But we can feel sympathy
for this naïve man who is influenced by the witches at first, then
by his wife. Because lady Macbeth has one very large share of
responsibility in the decision-making of her husband. She has an
enormous influence on psychic sound, it is her who finally convinces
him to commit these murders. Macbeth believes in this prediction.
However, at the beginning, he does not believe in it enough to let it
act alone. He kills Duncan. And then afterward, he believes in it too
much. He is afraid that the sons of Banquo would take the crown from
him if he does not react. He thus feels he has to intervene and
commits another certain number of murders. He returns to see the
witches who reassure him with a new prediction. Finally,
nevertheless, the fate of Banquo comes true: Malcolm his son becomes
a king, after Macbeth is killed. What can make us say that, to become
a king, he would not have needed to commit all these crimes. And that
all the crimes which he committed to prevent the prediction from
coming true were useless.