Macbeth Essay

Throughout the play “Macbeth”, Shakespeare uses two main characters Macbeth and Banquo as foils in order to highlight how the choices we make ultimately impact our final outcome and our destiny.
During the course of the play, Macbeth and Banquo are given prophesies provided by the three witches. Macbeth, upon hearing his own prophesies, was delighted at such wonderful news without thinking first if these witches of whom he knew nothing about, could even be trusted. As the play progresses, we find out that these witches actually begin to manipulate Macbeth who believes every word they say. Not only does Macbeth let his actions be governed by what the witches told him, but he also returns numerous times to seek their “wisdom” and gather more information about his upcoming fate. This shows Macbeths inability to be patient and let fate happen as it may. Instead, he decides to take his future into his own hands, and in doing so, creating his own downfall. Macbeth’s strong ambition and greed are the primary driving forces which cause him to commit such horrifying and thoughtless murders. In the essay “Introduction to Macbeth”, Ian Johnston states that, “His imagination is in the grip of a powerful tension between his desire to see himself as king and his sense of the immorality of the act and of the immediate consequences, which he knows will be disastrous” ("Introduction to Macbeth" 2).   This particular author states that his imagination and his greed are what ultimately determine his final outcome. He also states that Macbeth has an idea of what the consequences will be but decides to follow his greed rather than his morals. Macbeth, while greedy, was also influenced by his inability to not be easily manipulated by others. In Act 1 scene 7, Macbeth shows his ability to be manipulated by others as Lady Macbeth says, “…when you durst do it, then u were a man…” (Act 1, scene 7, 54). Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood in order to manipulate Macbeth into going...