Macbeth: Succumbing to Evil

Macbeth: Succumbing to Evil

Evil is the intent to cause ruin and mischief. In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the main character, is the epitomy of evil. In this short tragedy, Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will becom king. He commits a plethora of murders and eventually confiscates the throne. As he becomes more of a tyrant, the bloodbath continues. Macbeth is innately evil due to his continuing wickedness.

Macbeth allowed Lady Macbeth to manipulate him into performing evil deeds. For example, Lady Macbeth says, "When you durst do it, then you were, you would/ Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place/ Did then adhere, and yet you would make both" (I.VII.49-51). Lady Macbeth is basically challenging Macbeth by questioning his manhood. She knew that it would be the right button to push because he was just given the title "Thane of Cawdor" and hurting his pride would definitely make him want to prove himself to her. She also twists her way out of killing Duncan herself by saying, "Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, i had done't" (II.ii.12-3). Evil is bringing ruin to one's life, which is what Macbeth did to King Duncan; therefore, this murder helps prove he is innately evil. Macbeth is deceived and kills King Duncan himself showing that he was very capable of committing the murder all along. Macbeth fails to realize that Lady Macbeth does not care for him as a husband as much as she would a king. Macbeth continues in his evil ways by telling Lady Macbeth to "make [their] faces vizards to [their] hearts,/ Disguising what they are"(III.iii.33-4). This is a metaphoric comparison of vizards being masks to their hearts and evil intentions are being disguised. Macbeth is convincing Lady Macbeth to hide her real emotions before people find out about their evil plans. One could see why Lady Macbeth would manipulate Macbeth to steal the throne because she would then have all the rights and privileges of being the queen. Although some may argue Lady Macbeth had influence on him, Macbeth still had to make the choice for himself.

The three witches in the play did not play as big a part as one would initially think. For instance, the witches prophesied, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!" (I.iii.50) Upon hearing this prophecy, Macbeth did not have to go and kill Duncan to attain the position of king because the witches did not say that was the only way. If the witches had said "Macbeth is going to be a peasant", Macbeth would not have given away all his possessions and belongings. In this situation, he ultimately makes the decision to kill Duncan in his sleep because of selfish greed for power. It is believed that the witches were not even real but weyward projections of Macbeth's imagination (Epstein). If the witches were in Macbeth's imagination, then one could not pin the blame on the witches'