What is to blame for the tragedy of Macbeth? Is it Macbeth's arrogance, the confusion of his mind by the witches that send Macbeth on a self-destructive path to misery, or both? William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" connects witchcraft to Scotland. The play is a storm created by the three "weird sisters". Indeed, Macbeth's actions are dominated by the witches' prophecies. They follow Macbeth throughout the play and direct his actions. The motif of prophecy shows that Macbeth is destined to transform from an honorable warrior into a betrayer of his country.

The prophecy awakes Macbeth's ambition. Before we meet Macbeth, he is portrayed as a heroic and courageous soldier. It is unlikely that he would even think of murdering the king. Macbeth's first line "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" is a vivid example that he has a potential to become the witches' victim. His words reflect witches' phrase "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" and establish a connection between them and Macbeth before they encounter. When the witches predict that he will become the thane of Cawdor and then the king, he favors them. The reader's initial impression of Macbeth is immediately complicated with M

Finally, Macbeth's misinterpretation of the witches' language leads to the false sense of security and his downfall. Right from the beginning the witches speak in the language of contradiction in their predictions about Banquo: "lesser than Macbeth, and greater". Such words imply that Banquo is lesser than Macbeth because he won't be the king, and yet he is greater because his son will be. Macbeth misses the importance of the phrase that tells him that the words have to be literary interpreted. He also misunderstands the witches' final apparitions and allows his arrogance to take control over him. His reaction to the first prediction "beware Macduff" is to kill Macduff's wife and children. Even though he might realize that it wouldn't bring him political benefit, he does kill them out of mad desire to do harm. The second and the third predictions "none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" and "Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him" give Macbeth an idea that everything may still be well. He concludes "That will never be / Who can impress the forest, bid the tree / Unfix his earth-bound root?" He misunderstands the fact that the bloody child refers to Macduff's birth by cesarean section. The crowned child resembles Malcolm, who carries a tree, just as his soldiers later carry tree branches from Birnam Wood to Dunsinane. Finally, the proc

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Approximate Word count = 929
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)