Whose Fault Is It?

In the play Macbeth, many murders take place but the killing of King Duncan is the most significant one. When Macbeth first learned of the three prophecies, he did not believe in them, nor did he trust a single word that came out of the three witches’ mouth. Once the first prophecy became true, he started to wonder whether the same will happen to the others as well. The biggest mistake was when Macbeth wrote to Lady Macbeth and told her of the three prophecies. This was the major turning point of the play. Thereafter Lady Macbeth was convinced that Macbeth will soon become King and this greed led her to mastermind the killing of King Duncan. Even though Macbeth was the one who actually committed the murder, it was Lady Macbeth who provoked him into doing so. From that fact, I can personally say that Lady Macbeth was the one who was truly responsible for the murder of King Duncan.

During the Elizabethan period, where Shakespeare wrote his play Macbeth, women were treated differently. Unlike what is portrayed in the play where Lady Macbeth was the one who was in control and forced Macbeth to do things, the women during that time where made to stay at home and attend to house keeping chores and learn how to be good housewives. Many of the young women were made to stay at home after a certain age which prevented them from going to universities and colleges to obtain higher education. Women were the ones who usually attended to house matters while the men took care of the duties outside. Women were considered to be emotionally, mentally and physically weaker than men and were thought of as the inferior gender. Women were thought to be as compliant, polite and kind but Lady Macbeth was totally the opposite. She was the one who was in charge and it seemed to me that Macbeth couldn’t do anything about it.

As we find out when Lady Macbeth first receives the letter from Macbeth which tells her of the three prophecies and that the King is going to stay with them, she immediately begins to think of a plot to kill him. When she learns that the first prophecy has come true, her urge to kill King Duncan greatly increases and she advances with her plan. She talks to her husband about the plan but it seems that he is not interested in what she has to say. So she decides to test his manhood but Macbeth replies back and says “I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more, is none” (Act 1. Scene 7). He tells her that he knows to do what’s right. She thinks that her husband is too kind and has a good feeling that he is going to back out of this plan. It is expressed in Act 1 Scene 5; “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’th’ milk oh human kindness/ To catch the nearest way”. Lady Macbeth even calls the spirits from the underworld to help her in this dark and dreadful deed. “Come, you spirits. That tend on moral thoughts, unsex me here”. She wants to remove her woman qualities so that she becomes a man who has the ability to commit such a crime. By provoking Macbeth that he wasn’t manly enough and calling him a coward, was enough for Macbeth to commit the murder. She says that “I have given suck, and know/how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:/I would, while it was smiling in my face,/Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums,/and have dash’d the brains out, had I sworn/As you have done to this.” (Act 1 Scene 7).

Even though Macbeth didn’t want to kill the King because he was a loyal servant to him, the fact that he was a guest in his own house and even that they were related. But in the end it was Lady Macbeth’s persuasion talking and her strong argumentative qualities that lead to Macbeth’s ultimate decision. Ironically Lady Macbeth’s wasn’t as tough as she seemed. She was not mentally strong at all because in the end she commits suicide and takes her own life away. She had not only been involved in Macbeth’s downfall but also hers too.

In conclusion, I truly believe that it was completely Lady Macbeth’s fault. It was her greed to become Queen that led her to commit such a hideous crime. But what I am sad to say is that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were good people. But once they learned of the prophecies, their hunger for greater success was their weakest link which contributed to their downfall.