To What Extent Do the Witches, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth Contribute to Macbeth’s Tragedy?

Macbeth is a universal text and is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. When we talk about Macbeth’s tragedy it is both the tragedy of the single state of man and the tragedy of his wider social relations, these being Lady Macbeth, Duncan, Banquo, Macduff’s family and ultimately Scotland. A tragedy is commonly known as a story or play that ends with a negative or unfortunate outcome that was essentially unavoidable, usually caused by a flaw in the central characters personalities. Macbeth is a weak and ambitious character even though he bravely and physically defended his king and country in the battle at the beginning of the play. In saying this Macbeth’s tragedy was not solely brought on by his own actions, the “sexless” witches and coercive Lady Macbeth significantly contribute to Macbeth’s tragedy. Shakespeare depicts this through by confronting audiences with universal and powerful themes of appearance versus reality, gender, and power and ambition.

The witches radically contribute to Macbeth’s tragedy through the insurrection of appearance versus reality in which they set the action of the play in motion when they prophesize that Macbeth will be the King of Scotland and greet Macbeth as “Thane of Glamis” (1.3), “Thane of Cawdor” (1.3) and refer to him as “That shalt be king hereafter” (1.3). Shakespeare uses symbolism as a technique to illustrate that the witches are evil. For example, thunder and lightning show that the witches are the metaphysical component in the play. After hearing their prophesy, Macbeth genuinely thinks about being in control and having power. His thoughts also automatically turn to "murder". But Macbeth is also terrified by his "horrible imaginings" (1.3)."My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical," says Macbeth, "Shakes so my single state" (1.3). Macbeth knows it will be a horrible act killing Duncan and is disgusted by his own thoughts. However, originally Macbeth is ambitious and is tempted by the prophecy. Though the witches did not tell Macbeth to murder Duncan and they didn’t force him they are the initial source for Macbeth’s temptation as well as his downfall from this point. It is clear to the audience that they have mischievous intentions as they acknowledge their desire to entrap Macbeth which results in his tragedy. Lady Macbeth, who really influenced and manipulated Macbeth for the worst is also another key factor in Macbeth’s tragedy.

The play is notorious for its inversion of traditional gender roles. In Act 1-Scene 5, Lady Macbeth reads to herself a letter she has received from Macbeth. The letter announces Macbeth’s promotion to Thane of Cawdor and details his encounter with the witches. Lady Macbeth holds the most responsibility in Macbeth’s tragedy. It is her ambition that drives the action; she deeply desires to have power in this male orientated World so in order to have power she manipulates