Role Of Manipulation In Macbeth

Honor, loyalty, and trustworthiness are qualities difficult to maintain, especially when outside influence, mixed with free will is involved. Manipulation, the skillful art of controlling another’s actions, is the key agent in the progression of the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. Influenced and manipulated by both the witches and his wife, Macbeth allows any good qualities attained in the past to vanish in his own corruption with the help of his free will. Macbeth, in the beginning of the play, is seen as one of the most loyal followers to the King of Scotland, Duncan. Only motivated by his drive to unseam “the merciless Macdonwald” (I.ii.2) and win honor from his battles for Scotland, the thought of becoming king never enters Macbeth’s mind until he is pushed into believing the possibility may arise. The three witches, in their own amusement, start Macbeth down his path to evil and cruelty. It is Macbeth’s free will, however that keeps him on that path. The witches implant ideas into Macbeth’s head that they know he will act upon. For example, they reveal to Macbeth that he “shalt be king hereafter” (I.iii.6) and that Banquo’s “children shall be kings” (I.iii.7). Macbeth takes the ideas that the witches plant into his cranium and makes decisions that lower his honor and trustworthiness. Throughout the play, Macbeth makes decisions to continue down his path of evil, from the murder of Duncan until the day he is beheaded by Macduff. Hecate, the leader of the …show more content…
The witches, for the purpose of amusement, and Lady Macbeth, for the purpose of attaining the throne of Scotland, drive Macbeth down an ugly road that eventually brings the destruction of the Macbeth line itself. Any worthy qualities by Macbeth were lost in the chaos that sparked and