Macbeth :: essays research papers

One thing leads to another. This is a statement most heap are familiar with, especi aloney if they read William Shakespeare&8217s Macbeth. It tells what happens to the tragic protagonist, Macbeth. At the start of the play, Macbeth is a highly praised and loyal nobleman admired by all until he becomes a victim of the witches. Their promises evoke his unrestrained ambition. From then on, Macbeth&8217s actions snowball out of his control and under the witches&8217 power. His unholy deeds trouble his sleep, and the complimentary victims return to haunt him. Evil spirits take over his every move and thought. The luring prophecies, sleepless nights, hallucinations, and deceptive apparitions are all products of sorcery used to vitiate Macbeth&8217s moral judgment and lead him to further degradation.By pricking Macbeth&8217s desire for power and prestige with promising prophecies and giving him confidence with the apparitions, the witches win him to commit evil deeds and to continue doi ng so endlessly. Their tempting prophecies bait Macbeth into their deceitful plot. Banquo, a fellow nobleman, warns him about the prophecies, &8220But &8216tis strange and oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray&8217s in deepest consequence (I, 3, 122-127). Banquo is a smart man, and it is unfortunate that Macbeth ignores his advice. To be sure that Macbeth self-destructs by his own sinful behavior, the sorceresses create prophetic images that ensure him security. Not knowing they are all part of the deception, Macbeth easily succumbs to their plan. He aimlessly kills, believing aught can harm him, but he is dead wrong. The witches true intention is best revealed in Hecate&8217s orders, &8220And that distilled by magic sleights shall raise such soppy sprites as by the strength of their illusion shall draw him on to his confusion (III, 5, 26-29). Macbeth&8217s biggest misfortune is encountering the witches , and an even bigger mistake is to revisit them. The cunning precis of the wicked women successfully leads Macbeth to evil and confuses him enough for him to lose command of his actions.Even away from the witches, Macbeth still cannot escape their evil influence. By using hallucination, haunting spirits, and spiritual images, they over-power his ability to make right judgments. Macbeth&8217s hallucinating experience begins when he sees a dagger leading him to kill King Duncan. Macbeth&8217s reaction to the nap was, &8220Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight, or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a fatal creation, talk from the heat-oppressed brain?