Macbeth’s misinterpretation

Introduction

            Shakespeare’s Macbeth was a character whose sad ending was attributed to the bad decisions he made due to one major misinterpretation of a prophesy by the three witches. At the beginning of he play Macbeth is introduced as a brave soldier who has gone to war against his kings’ enemy and has won. He seems to be a brave and capable worrier who can stand up to everyone and answer to no one. However, the three witches who meet the two worriers after their successful battle show us a different side of Macbeth. The witches display Macbeths all consuming ambition and tendency to self doubt.

The prophesy

            The three witches that met both Macbeth and Banquo after their battle inform both men of two prophesies, to Macbeth, the witches prophesized the fact that he would be granted the title of Thane of Crowdor and that he would be king ‘hereafter’. The witches went ahead and prophesized to Banquo that he would father a line of kings but he would not ruler himself. The first parts of the witches prophesy comes into fulfillment when Macbeth is informed that he has been granted the title of thane of Crowder, he then believes that all that remains is for him to be king over Scotland (Vivo 2). Macbeth’s interpretations to the three witches prophesy only served as fuel to funnel the Macbeths already growing greedy ambition to rule Scotland.

Results of the misinterpretation

Murder as a means to an end

            Once Macbeth realizes the passing of the first part of the first part of the prophesy, he immediately shares his conviction with his wife who is equally power hungry but more ruthless in her pursuit of power. His wife offers him a solution that would easily catapult him to power. She suggests that Macbeth kill King Duncan and goes ahead to challenge his ‘manhood’ when he falters in plan. However, despite his self doubt tenancies his misinterpretation of the witches’ words coupled with greed and ambition eventually led Macbeth into murdering the king. After this murder, Macbeth is to shaken that his wife has to take charge of the murder and frame someone else for the murder (Knight 52). He goes ahead ad also kills the guards who discover Duncan’s body under pretext while all he wants to do is tie up all loose ends of the murder. After this ordeal Macbeth is made king due to the fact that he was the closest kin to the king and the fact that the kings heir had fled for fears of their lives. As a result of his misinterpretation, Macbeth turns from a celebrated hero to a cold blooded killer for the throne of Scotland.

            Even after successfully securing the crown of Scotland, Macbeth is still fully aware of another prophecy made by the witches about his best friend and the fact that his friends descendants’ would rise to the throne. Macbeth misinterpreted this to mean that his best friend or his descendant would challenge his throne, he therefore ordered for his friend and his friends’ sons’ murder.

            Further prophesy from the three witches summoned by Macbeth to interpret Banquos’ frequent ghostly visits to Macbeth spelt more murders from Macbeth. The prophesy from the witches that warn him against Macduff makes him go on a killing spree. He orders the execution of Macduffs’ family and seizes his property. By the time Macbeth had finished with this murders he was no longer a hero but a villain who killed any person he thought was a hindrance to the fulfillment of his misinterpreted prophesy (Bloom 69).

The end results of Macbeths misinterpretations

            There were no positive results that come as a result of Macbeths misinterpretation of the prophesies by the witches. In the end not only was Macbeth left alone by his wife who killed herself due to guilt, but it led to an uprising against him led by the very people he had tried to eliminate in his quest to fulfill the prophesy. He ended up being killed by the very person whom he had been warned about in the prophesy while he had been assured of invincibility (Ziles 73). In time, some of the prophesies made by the three witches came to pass, however not all of them were fulfilled.

Conclusion

            In the end, Macbeth, once a respected hero of Scotland, turned into an evil murderer not only due to his ambition, but also because of the power of spoken words. His misinterpretation of the witches prophesies pressured him into doing all things possible to ensure that the prophesies came to pass. In the end his greed for power, ambition and lack of proper judgment led to his demise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. Macbeth. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Print.

De, Vivo A. William Shakespeare: an Analysis of Macbeth's Character. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2009. Internet resource.

Knights, Ben, and Chris Thurgar-Dawson. Active Reading: Transformative Writing in Literary Studies. London: Continuum, 2006. Print.

Zilles, Sebastian. The Evil within-A motif analysis on Shakespeare ́s' Macbeth'. GRIN Verlag, 2008.