Who/what Influenced Macbeth the Most?

Macbeth was an evil man. He murdered many people, stole, cheated, deceived and practiced witchcraft in order to gain the title of kingship. Ultimately, he died in the end, miserable and tortured of conscience. There were three main influences that brought down Macbeth. First, the Three Witches; they planted the seed of greed and pride into Macbeth's heart. Second, Lady Macbeth; she was the reason for the first murder that started the whole obsession of killing with Macbeth. Finally, Macbeth himself; he didn't have self-control to keep his greed to a minimum. These three influences changed Macbeth throughout the play and helped result in his tragic downfall. I want to evaluate them and find out who influenced him the most.

The Witches played a big part in Macbeth's downfall, as they were the first characters who influenced Macbeth as they met him at the start of the story. They planted the seed in Macbeth's mind of becoming king, thus beginning his spiral downward into sin and evil. With their persuasive techniques and ability to either see or influence the future, their most important role seemed to be their power to influence decision-making and caused the initial deterioration of Macbeth. As Macbeth would not have normally listened to the telling of the Witches, they had to cleverly mix the truth and things that had not happened yet to gain his confidence. They influenced Macbeth's first thoughts of killing Duncan as they first told him that he would be Thane of Cawdor, and he already was, but he did not know yet. They then said that he will be King, which would have triggered his thoughts later on when he found out he was Thane of Cawdor. "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor, All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter" (Act I, iii, 48-50).

By providing five different prophecies, the witches fired up Macbeth's 'call to action' and drove his thirst for power. However, by not telling Macbeth the full truth, they gave him false hope, and expectations that ultimately led to his demise. The witches influenced him so greatly, that without their presence, Macbeth would probably never have killed anyone. The Witches played a big part in Macbeth's downfall as they kept him going, but at the same time confused him into thinking that he was invincible when he was clearly not.

Unlike the Witches, Lady Macbeth did not set out to ruin Macbeth's life; she did not contribute to Macbeth's downfall until after his meeting with the witches. But Lady Macbeth had a more direct influence on Macbeth, as she was closer to him. From the start we learned that she was more powerfully minded than Macbeth was, as she was more committed to Macbeth becoming King than Macbeth himself. She convinced Macbeth to kill King Duncan when he started having second thoughts about it. Lady Macbeth decided to take the matter into her own hands because she wanted a better title for herself. She was stronger minded than Macbeth as she knew that although Macbeth was an ambitious person, he was too noble to do such a thing as kill the King. When she found out about King Duncan was coming to stay at her castle she straight away decided that this would be the perfect moment for Macbeth to fulfill his predictions.

Knowing that Macbeth would do almost anything for her, Lady Macbeth tried in every way possible to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan. She accused Macbeth of not loving her because

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