The Destruction Of Macbeth
Kelsey Roberson
Supernatural Influence
Macbeth could once have been described as a brave warrior honoring his king and kingdom bringing a sense of safety among his people. As he has made a victorious win for his king, King Duncan of Scotland, he is greeted by a dark force also know as the three witches. They have great influence over many claiming the power to know the futures of people. When they confront Macbeth they begin to give him ideas of what his future will be like saying, " All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!" (Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 3). The witches are not being specific of what place he will be king of leading him to believe that his will be king of Scotland. Now that he believes in the witches they can have power over him by telling him things like that he will be king which would make any non powerful man who would love to be king try anything to become king.
Bending The Truth
Now that the witches have realized that they had Macbeth fully under their control they use three ghosts to try to bend the truth so that Macbeth would have false hope about the battle against him from the Kingdom in England. The three ghost each had messages for him, "Macbeth! Beware Macduff.... The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth.... [and] Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill..." (Shakespeare Act 4 Scene 1). These messages from the three ghosts have given Macbeth confidence that he will win the battle and that he shall not even be harmed. Yet an underlying message lies in all three of the messages that Macbeth has received from the ghosts. Many have loop holes like that he will not be harmed by a man born of a women meaning natural birth but Macduff his enemy was born of c-section which does not fit in that category. By the misleading messages Macbeth gets false confidence which leads to his untimely death.
Plans Against Macbeth
In order to keep Macbeth under their sort of control they needed some careful planning and as mentioned in the paragraph above they used other spirits to help them but the plan to give Macbeth his confidence was not just their thought instead they used another witch or supernatural being named Hectate, she ultimately gave them the idea that sparked the string of deception and death. As they are planning Hectate gives them their new plan, " the drop will produce magical spirits that will trick Macbeth with illusions..." (Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 5). This just shows Hectate speaking to one of the witches helping them find a way to trick Macbeth. Since they use magic and they trick him to think no one can defeat him and that he will remain king for a long time they ultimately cause his downfall by lying to him, not directly, but still causing him to fall apart and eventually be defeated by the other kingdom.
Foreshadowing the defeat of Macbeth
Macbeth decides to speak with the witches about the upcoming war against his kingdom, The Kingdom of Scotland, and another kingdom, The Kingdom Of England. Leading this so called war was man who was once under Macbeth's rule. He lived in the kingdom, but once things started to become a bit suspicious between Macbeth and the last king, Duncan, he flees to England and joins a force that is against Macbeth the force also includes Duncan's oldest son, Malcolm. Before the war the witches begin the tell Macbeth things to keep up his confidence, "Macbeth shall never vanquished...The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth" (Shakespeare Act 4 Scene 1). This is foreshadowing of who Macbeth is killed by, he is killed by Macduff. Who was born of a c-section not the natural way therefore he was killed by a man not born of a women.
Dramatic Irony
Macbeth fears that his friend, Banquo, suspects him of the murder of King Duncan and he knows that Macbeth had killed guards so knew he had the ability to kill, so to avoid getting exposed for the murders he decides to use three murders to murder Banquo and his son as they go on a long ride. After sending the murders to do the bad deed Macbeth speaks to Lady Macbeth saying," Let your remembrance Apply to Banquo; present him eminence, Both with eye and tongue..." (Shakespeare Act 3 Scene 2). Macbeth is saying that he wants Lady Macbeth to pay special attention to Banquo even though he knows his will not make it to the party and will be murdered before this is a good example of when a character knows something that another doesn't but pretends to not know anything.
Imagery
Throughout the story of Macbeth, Shakespeare used many good examples of imagery making the story feel more real to the reader using a less modern language he describes how Macbeth was fooled into his utter dismise. As Macbeth is about to murder the beloved King Duncan he describes a dagger that appears before him saying, "I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood..." (Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 1). Without the description of this part we would not understand what Macbeth was going through before he murdered a man who had never done anything to cross him, but he killed him only for power. This speech by Macbeth shows what the promise of power can drive a person to do so the description helps us get into the mind of a killer in a way.
First Meeting
After Macbeth wins a war against another kingdom. He finds himself in a dark place. He comes upon the three witches for the first time as described in the book as the weather is stormy and foggy and the painting "The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog" by: Caspar David Friedrich shows a man standing above a lot of fog just like when Macbeth first came across the witches.
Novel Connection
A similar book to Macbeth is Doctor Frautus by: Christopher Marlowe, in this novel a man trades his soul for knowledge and power as Macbeth had seeked dark forces for knowledge of his future and to learn if he should be a powerful man both men in the novels get into trouble with dark deeds and neither can be helped by the end of either novel leading to their demise.