Why Do Macbeth Take The Actions

What causes Macbeth to take the actions he does?
We are usually held accountable for the actions that we decide to take. Several times we are influenced to make those decisions which, usually are influenced by someone else. The outcomes of these actions might turn out positive or against us and destruct us entirely. Macbeth takes many decisions over the course of the book. Some might define them as good and many might see them as atrocious. The Thane of Glamis(Macbeth) encounters the three witches one day; they informed Macbeth that he will have an exceptional future, a future where he can be king. Macbeth’s greed and ambition strike him and take over as soon as he hears present king; King Duncan is granting the throne to Malcolm, his son. Not knowing how else to proceed, he sends a letter to his passionate wife about his encounter with the witches. Lady Macbeth- the very determined character that she is, manipulates Macbeth into taking the throne of king by killing all who comes in the middle.
Greed, ambition and his own free will caused Macbeth to take the actions that he does. Lady Macbeth brings out the greed and ambition that is needed to take the actions that he does and the three witches presented Macbeth about the idea of becoming king which he believes and he is then tempted to do evil.

The 3 witches and their prophecies are the catalyst of the whole book. They presented Macbeth and Banquo with prophecies right after the war, but Macbeth however seemed to be more impacted by these prophecies. The prophecy that made Macbeth greedy was the third and last prophecy, “All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter”(I, iii, 53). This prophecy simply means that Macbeth will become king. What actually led Macbeth to believe these 3 mysterious women was the fact that the first prophecy was true; he was already Thane of Glamis. Later on, Macbeth receives news that he has earned the title of Thane of Cawdor and this was another one of his prophecies that comes true. What leads him to fully believe all the witches’ prophecies were truthful and they have to become true was when Lady Macbeth manipulates him in to believing that killing Duncan is his fate and he shall do it for the happiness of both of them. When he knows killing Duncan isn’t fate and a voluntary choice he must make when he is going over the facts that he cannot kill Duncan because he is his host, subject and kinsmen, but still falls into Lady Macbeths’ trap of killing the King. At the end of the Banquet held at Macbeths’ palace he tells Lady Macbeth that he is determined to go and meet the witches because he wants to know what worse is yet to come his way. He trusted them so much that he went back to ask more. “I conjure you by that which you profess howe’ er you come to know it- answer me” (IV, i, 51-52). This means I don’t know how you know what you know but answer my questions. When Macbeth goes back to the witches he goes with his free will and no one has told him to go back. He goes back out of pure greed to know more about what is going to happen next. He shows eagerness in knowing what is to come his way.

Lady Macbeth who is, Macbeths’ wife is a really strong influence on him. She will do anything to reach her goal of becoming queen, even if that causes the deaths of many. She is intelligent and very passionate for what she wants. She purposely doubts Macbeth to prove that he is a coward and doubting him will only make him want to prove her doubt wrong. “Letting I dare not wait up on I would” (I, vii, 47). She says this to Macbeth when Macbeth decided that he will not kill the king, she doubts him by asking are you a coward you are always saying I can’t after you say I want too. Macbeth then tries to prove that he is not a coward and stands up to his word, and that he will kill Duncan and that he is also stronger outside of the battlefield. In order to prove that he is not a coward he tries to deter the fact that she purposely doubts him and he gives in to this idea of becoming king. Before Lady Macbeth tries to convince him to kill Duncan, he was so set on the idea that killing Duncan is wrong when he goes over the factors that he is his host, subject, kinsmen and Duncan is a great leader and that he would be missed greatly. It was his will to do it, because he knows the pros and cons of killing the king and he knows that doing it would be a bad idea, but he still did it because he needed another reason to and Lady Macbeth gives him that reason. Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth into getting what she wanted, in this book women are show cased as violent and evil and maybe not causing evil themselves but surely providing the ideas or suggestions for evil plotting. Manipulation is another one of Lady Macbeth’s tactics. Lady Macbeth knows what is wrong and right but she still tries to convince Macbeth that killing Duncan isn’t wrong and she provides the ideas for the destruction of Macbeth.“What beast was’t, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you are a man” (I, vii, 52-54). Catching Macbeth on something he promised and telling him that unless you

don’t prove to me that you can kill Duncan you aren’t a man. So to prove that he is man he will kill Duncan but he also kills Duncan because he has assurance that they won’t get caught from Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth brings out Macbeth’s passion and greed to kill Duncan, but she only provides the brains he still had the option to say no but he keeps on agreeing with the full proof plan and proceeds with his own will. He doesn’t try to resist the idea of killing Duncan when he knows that it’s wrong, but after Lady Macbeth gives assurance that they won’t get caught he agrees straight away with no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ and he probably had greed and ambition inside of him already to kill Duncan after it was mentioned that Malcolm will be king and he just needed a great plan.
Everyone has their own will to do anything they want to. Macbeth chooses to do wrong with his free will. He decided to commit many crimes. The first crime he commits is the crime of killing Duncan.
“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come” (I, vii, 1-7).
Meaning if the deed could only be done if I did it then it would be the best to get it over with. If the assassination of the king would work like the net, catching everything and preventing any consequences, then I would gladly do it. In simpler words he is willing to kill Duncan, no matter what

happens. The witches prophecy was that he will become king of Scotland and it wasn’t he would have to kill Duncan to do it. Macbeth thought that the only way to be king is to get rid of him, he commits the murder with his free will, he hasn’t been fated to do it by the witches or anyone, and he does it with his own voluntary choice. The next crime he commited is, he goes ahead and kills Banquo. Banquo was his best friend, which became an obstacle that he could only pass by, by killing him. “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared” (III, i, 52). In this Macbeth is saying that; to be king is nothing if I cannot be safe as the king, I am really afraid of Banquo. There is something loyal about him which makes me fear him. He is afraid of Banquo and that is why he killed him. It is not because he was told to or had to, he just chooses with his own will that getting Banquo out of his way is his best option to succeed. The third, vicious murders that he commits are the murders of Macduff’s family. Macduff’s family was innocent and didn’t know what prophecies were given to Macbeth. He says this right after he finds out that Macduff is someone he should be afraid of and all he can think about is killing his family. “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line”(IV, I, 165). In other words he is saying that I will raid Macduff’s castle and kill his wife, children and anyone else that stands in line for his inheritance. He kills them because he is angry and he couldn’t think straight so he decides to murder the poor family and kids, he doesn’t have to but he makes his own choice too. He could have attacked Macduff because it is Macduff he should be afraid of not the family.

Macbeth takes the actions that he does due to greed, ambition and his own free will.
The witches surely started everything, they caused Macbeth to think that becoming king was something he was fated to do but Macbeth did everything because of his own free will. Lady Macbeth uses many different tactics to change Macbeth’s decision to kill the king, but Macbeth only kills Duncan because he saw his benefit in the crime. His free will was one of the main reasons that was responsible for his actions. Free will is your voluntary decision to do what you choose to do. Everyone makes their own choices and we usually tend to make choices that benefit us and that is exactly what Macbeth was doing, he was taking actions in which he was beneficial in, but he didn’t realize that he was slowly destructing himself. If you are doing things out of your own greed it can cause downfall and you will always be responsible for the actions that you take no matter who influenced
them.