The play Macbeth gives the audience plenty of opportunity to consider the reasons for the main characters action. In this essay I will consider how far he is driven by his own ambition, how far he is dominated by his wife, and how much he is influenced by the witches.

At the start of the play we are introduced to Macbeth’s character and learn about his ambitions. Three witches meet upon a heath and discuss their plan to meet Macbeth. Immediately Macbeth is associated with evil because he will be meeting witches. The supernatural is an important theme in the play. Soon after in Act 1, Scene 2, King Duncan is talking to a captain about the battle. The captain tells Duncan how hard and bravely Macbeth fought. “For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name – Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution”. This also shows that he doesn’t care about his well being and that he has killed many men before. The captain then comes on to

“All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor”

“All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, that shalt be King hereafter”.

Act one scene five starts with Lady Macbeth reading the letter that is soon going to change her from a loving wife into a cruel deceitful woman who will stop at nothing to gain power. It shows how she dominates her husband. After she has read the letter, Lady Macbeth is determined that she will make the witches' prophecy come true. She prepares herself to try to make her husband murder King Duncan. She says how her husband is too nice to get the greatness promised and decides to push him into killing Duncan. “Yet I do fear thy nature; it is to full o’ the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”. To achieve her goal, Lady Macbeth gets rid of any kindness in herself that may stand in the way of her plans. “Come you spirits that tend on moral thoughts! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.” Lady Macbeth is very ambitious and it seams that nothing will discourage her from commencing with her plan. This links to how Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth into killing Duncan because it shows how much she wants him to become king, because it would make her queen, she possibly wants it even more than Macbeth himself.

“Were such things here as we do speak about?

Some topics in this essay:
King Duncan, Lady Macbeth, Thane Cawdor”, Act Scene, Essay Task, Prince Cumberland, Immediately Macbeth, lady macbeth, Macbeth Banquo, Norwegians Scottish, Cawdor King, king duncan, commit murder, 1 scene, “all hail macbeth, hail macbeth, “all hail, becoming king, macbeth hail, killing duncan, macbeth hail thee, hail macbeth hail, act 1 scene, act 1, own ambition dominated,