Macbeth Essay: Laurel Kitada, period 4 - team 8 ASHER

Laurel Kitada 

Period 4 - Team 8

Macbeth Essay 

William Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth is the prime example of how human nature’s tendency towards curiosity and fulfilling a believed destiny unravels man.  The main character and the play’s name-sake, Macbeth, is transformed into an overly confident individual, whose avarice trumps what should be innate moral values: wisdom and grace.  Beginning with the Weird Sisters’ prophecy foretelling Macbeth’s future as the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the King of Scotland (the witches also address him by his current title, Thane of Glamis), Macbeth develops excess of undesirable characteristics which in turn drive the action of the play.

Upon encountering the three witch sisters for the first time, Macbeth’s curiosity is whetted – an insatiable desire. Macbeth wonders the validity of the prophecy of fate, wondering why the Weird Sisters addressed him with such incorrect titles; however this doubt is short-lived, for Macbeth acts in accordance with his fate described by the witches.  Disregarding his newly earned trust and loyalty by King Duncan, the current King of Scotland, Macbeth is solely concerned with fulfilling his fate, and with his egocentric logic, he decides to murder Duncan himself to ascend the thrown.  With his fate no longer mysterious, Macbeth has taken control over his destiny and it is through his own actions that the prophecy will be fulfilled; though the Weird Sisters foretold the general titles he would gain, Macbeth’s perception of fate, his comprehension of what his actions would have to be to guarantee the foreseen outcome, is what will cause conflict to further develop. 

Not only does Macbeth’s awareness of his fate affect himself personally, but it also affects his relationships with his wife Lady Macbeth, King Duncan, and Banquo – all of which are murdered by his intentions through either unrelenting guilt or physical combat.  Prior to the knowledge he received by the Weird Sisters, Macbeth was a respected, loyal, and confident Thane; though his relationship with his wife Lady Macbeth is not explicit, it is possible that even prior to the pivotal dialogue, Act 1 Scene 3, it was a balanced relationship without pressures of opportunity, of the means, or of the ends.  Rather, once Macbeth understands the truth of his fate, he does all in his effort to become the Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland.  To do so, Macbeth must place his ambition above all else, even the people he has grown to appreciate the most: Lady Macbeth – Macbeth must partner with her to ensue the murder of King Duncan; King Duncan – Macbeth must betray his superior’s trust and destroy the life of a well-esteemed ruler; and Banquo – Macbeth must strip Banquo’s family from gaining a royal title and murder a faithful comrade.

Hecate, the ruler of all witches, states that “security is mortal’s chiefest enemy” while she meets with the three sisters to reprimand them for speaking to Macbeth without her presence.  This line so accurately capture’s Macbeth’s pride and ambition and suggests that overconfidence is man’s greatest struggle.