Insecurity (obsession with the prophecies)? guilt?
2007-12-30 04:37:09 · 4 answers · asked by yayaya 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Into madness? His guilt I suppose.
If you mean what drove him to do all the things he did, I would say 1) ambition 2) his wife and 3) overconfidence.
Even in the beginning, Macbeth HAD ambition of his own, but he was unwilling to act upon it. He was not willing to kill or deceive to gain position. According to his wife, he was "not without ambition, but without the illness that should attend it." Nevertheless, he was happy to hear the initial prophecy that he would be king; he had ambition to be greater than he was.
The second factor was his wife's urging him on. It was Lady Macbeth who first decided to kill Duncan and be ruthless in order to take the throne. Macbeth even refuses to go along with her at one point, but she insults him and nags him until he agrees to her plan to kill Duncan.
Lastly, the witches (after speaking with Hecate) decide to lead him on INTENTIONALLY, in order to make him overconfident, which will be his ruin. They give him prophecies designed to make him feel secure, while cleverly hiding the truth from Macbeth. They made him overconfident, and he got sloppy.
2007-12-30 15:54:30 · answer #1 · answered by Lauren T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
His wife's ambition, guilt over the murder and the realisation that the witches' prophecies had come true but he was doomed because Birnham Wood was coming to Dunsinane.
2007-12-30 04:50:01 · answer #2 · answered by brainstorm 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Guilt, indecision over the witches and their prophecies, and his wife's ambition. There's probably others, I just can't think of them right now.
2007-12-30 05:45:02 · answer #3 · answered by Molly T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
guilt, guilt, and guilt
2007-12-30 08:24:22 · answer #4 · answered by rickmcconaghy 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋