A mere thought can be a dangerous thing capable of bringing many lives and nations into ruin. When the seed of doubt is planted; it slowly manifests, eating away at one’s reasoning eventually blinding them to all logic. If not recognised and treated as what it is it could destroy your life but it will inevitably change you whether for better or worse. William Shakespeare illustrated this in his play Macbeth.
Some may say that the weird sisters within the play are responsible for the actions of Macbeth and that his wife, Lady Macbeth, acted as a catalyst to persuade and manipulate Macbeth to commit regicide, but truly all they did was simply put thoughts into his head. They set the play in motion but Macbeth is fully responsible for his own downfall. When we first see Macbeth with the sisters he is greeted by many titles. First by his own title, Thane of Glamis than as the Thane of Cawdor, followed by King of Scotland. This is the prophecy that set the story in motion.
At this point Macbeth was given two options; wait for the prophecies to come to fruition themselves or take fate into his own hands. In no way did the three weird sisters have any influence in the choice that Macbeth would later make. They merely called him by his future titles, Thane of awdor and King of Scotland. Shortly after this Macbeth was promoted to the status of thane. This lead Macbeth to believe that the prophecy was true, but believing is completely different from the actions he later committed. He was still regarded highly as a great war hero and as thane of Cawdor he was next in line to become kin aside from the king’s sons.
If Macbeth had waited he would have been the thrones successor. There was another character that greatly influenced Macbeth’s descent into darkness. Lady Macbeth was the individual that so firmly believed that Macbeth had to take the life of King Duncan . SHe urged that if his life were to remain intact, It would take years before the prophecy before his destiny would come into fruition. At this point Macbeth was faced with two options; either he would kill the king and hasten his ascension into the crown or wait for allow time to pass and let him acquire the crown by natural means thus diverting him from his utter demise.
Macbeth chose to kill the king, and thus chose his own death, but was he was not manipulated to do so. ” Psychological manipulation by definition, is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or abusive tactics. “[1] Lady Macbeth showed no signs of these traits. She was completely honest and upfront with Macbeth, nor was she deceptive in any way and never exhibited any signs of an abusive relationship. Every action Macbeth made after consulting his wife were purely out of his own greed and desire to become a king.
While some believe that Macbeth’s mental state allowed him to be exploited by both the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth the facts simply don’t allow this to be the case. In the play we see that Macbeth’s mental health starts to deteriorate during the second act after he kills the king. Macbeth himself even states that sleep no longer restores his wary mind as seen in act two scene two when he says “Still it cried, ‘Sleep no more! to all the house: ‘Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall steep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!
We see Macbeth suffer the consequences of his malicious deeds. All the murders, planned murders conspiracies towards murder start to haunt him filling his mind with anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations. All of these symptoms happen after Macbeth had already killed King Duncan making it clear that He was of sane mind while he committed his evil deeds. In terms of being able to maintain their sanity Macbeth shows much more strength than his wife. Wee see this in the first scene of act five where Lady Macbeth establishes one of her most infamous scenes.
Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; two: why, then, ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood In him? ” IN this scene we see Lady macbeth’s mind surrender to guilt brought about by her involvement in the King’s murder. Notice how she does not feel bad for supposedly manipulating Macbeth, but she feels guilty because she herself was involved.
She worked along with Macbeth as a partner in crime and has desperately tried to cleanse her hands of her guilt. If she had manipulated Macbeth she would not have had to sully her hands therefore meaning that she would have felt no remorse. Macbeth was in no way manipulated to murder the king or any other members in the book. When we first see him with the weird sisters they give him a two part prophecy. The sisters gave him simple information with the intent stir his thoughts. In no way did they influence Macbeth to kill the king or even tell his wife.
At this point of the story Macbeth is nervous but still of sane mind. When he tells his wife she places the thought of killing the king into his mind but the fat that she not only took part in his murder but she also felt enough guilt to later take her own life shows that she did not manipulate him. We also see this through her relationship with Macbeth. No underhanded, deceptive, or abusive tactics were shown to be used by her. Macbeth also maintained his sanity until after his act of treason proving that no one used his weakness of mind to catalyze his demise.