How Did Macbeth Commit His Crimes

Mohamed Mohamed

Mr. M. Chalmers

ENG 2D

5 December 2016

Macbeth: How He Is Influenced By Outside Forces To Commit His Crimes

Macbeth, the tragic hero in William Shakespeare's “MacBeth”, commits several different crimes in the duration of the play. Macbeth’s influenced into committing his crimes by outside forces such as lady Macbeth, the witches, and king Duncan in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth is influenced by lady Macbeth into committing the murder of king Duncan, she influenced him by persuasion. The witches are another outside force that influenced Macbeth, although they influenced him in the crimes of murdering Duncan, Banquo, and the family of Macduff, by giving him knowledge. The third influencer of macbeth is Duncan,
by the lack of fulfillment that Duncan gave Macbeth, it practically led him to his own murder.

Lady Macbeth influenced and aided macbeth in the crime of Duncan, she persuaded and assured him to commit the macabre crime, consequently sparking his reign of terror and misfortune. Duncan granted Macbeth with extravasating titles such as Thane of Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor, very honorable appellations, yet Macbeth and his poue were too eager to settle at that. The ambition of macbeth and lady Macbeth were far too immense, wanting more than they have and are willing to do anything to obtain it, even if it’s a crime like murder is the only way to obtain it. At that point in time Macbeth wasn’t the tyrant he becomes by the end, still having fear and emotion within him, he did not want to do the deed and felt ashamed to do such things to someone like Duncan who granted him trust and honor. Macbeth truly did not want murder his beloved cousin in Duncan, he was against the idea, the thought of doing such a horrendous deed was unthinkable in his mind at the time. Although Macbeth did not want to murder his king, Duncan, lady Macbeth convinced and persuaded him through her divine words, and emotions into agreeing to do such a thing, corrupting his mind and giving him nothing but ambition and the thirst for power:

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal (1.5.27-29).

This passage practically reads that lady Macbeth wants to empower Macbeth with her poisonous words, that she will renounce with her words great bravery, and diminish any reasons she finds to not murder Duncan, all that stopped him from the crown, with fate and supernatural help, the person who shall have the crown there with.

The second outside force that aided Macbeth to commit his crimes and later to his downfall were the witches or “weird sister”, they granted him with knowledge, knowledge that he should not know, and that corrupted him, causing the downfall of the tyrant.
In the beginning of the play the witches told Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor, and later on King of Scotland, before this knowledge Macbeth had no thoughts or intentions on becoming king, not even Thane of Cawdor, but these prophecies implanted the thought and ambition Intro his mind, thus leading to the murder of Duncan. In the beginning Macbeth was also told that Banquo's descendants shall become kings, Macbeth wanting none other than his blood to have the throne after him, murdering Duncan in hope that the prophecy would perish, and his blood would claim the throne after, thus the witches influencing the second great crime. Later on in the play after Macbeth’s second encounter with the weird sisters, he is told to beware of Macduff, he gets the family of Macduff murdered, therefore the witches influenced Macbeth into committing the third great crime. The witches influencing Macbeth into the three great crimes of the play, in essence leading Macbeth to his ultimate downfall. When Banquo and Macbeth encounter the three witches they speak, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1.3.03)”. In this passage from the play the witches are speaking the prophecies that they have predicted, conveying his future, and that his fate is to become king. When Banquo’s skeptically requests for his fate, the witches say "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater (1.3.68).” "Not so happy, yet much happier (1.3.69).” "Thou shall begets kings, thou be none (1.3.70). In the first quote the first witch speaks that Banquo will be lesser than Macbeth in royal ranks, but greater because he will be the father of future kings. The second quote is spoken by the second witch, and prophesizes the fact that
Banquo