Macbeth Forum

I need help on who is to blame for everything that happened in the storie in the story? and why? is it the three witches, macbeth, lady macbeth, etc

I personally think that Macbeth is the one to blame. He could have resisted the witches' prophecies and made choices that went against them, but he decided not to. HE killed Duncan, not the witches, not Lady Macbeth. He did. HE sent the murderers to kill Banquo. Even though everything was prophesied by the witches, Macbeth was the one that followed through on them, and he is to blame for everything.

I agree that Macbeth himself is to blame.  He is a classic tragic hero: a good man who uses his best asset (his ambition) to excess, resulting in his fall.  Macbeth chose to listen to the witches and to his wife.  His ambition is the reason he fought so bravely in the first battle and won the title of Thane of Cawdor.  When he hears that he could be king, his ambition takes over his mind and he will do ANYTHING--including killing the king he loves, under his own roof--to satisfy that ambition.

lady macbeth is the one to blame... if she didnt push him into killing duncan the other murders wouldnt have happened. after the killing of duncan macbeth became a power crazed murderer. (amoral!!!)

My teacher made us do a sheet where we had to rank things on a 1-15 scale.. 1 being most evil and 15 being less evil.  She had various things on this sheet like "A man who plots the death of a wife and children" or "a man who kills his best friend" and things along those lines BEFORE we read the play.  As we're already about to read Scene V of Macbeth, it's become apparant to us that these rank skills we used before the play are actually being brought to life through Macbeth.

As an example to Lady Macbeth being the mastermind behind all of this; yes she's a very good speaker and extremely good at manipulating Macbeth into basically doing anything that she told him to do...HOWEVER, Macbeth has total control over his actions and he should have been able to cut Lady Macbeth off and step up to the plate and say "hey lady- stop it. I have a mind of my own"  But did he?  No. He went along with the murders and ..betrayed King Duncan; killed him off.. Betrayed his best friend (Banquo)..killed him off and now Macduff and his army is after him.  Scotland went to HELL because of Macbeth.  Of COURSE Macbeth is to blame.  duh.

Well, here is a wrench to throw in . . .

What about the witches?  They equivocate with Macbeth and make him believe things that are not true.  He is heavily influenced by their predictions.

So . . . what part of the blame belongs to these sisters?

The with sisters are only to blame in the fact that they equivocated the whole thing. They instigated it. They told Macbeth he would become king but they did not tell him how that would happen. He chose to kill Duncan and speed up the process because he just couldnt wait. All are to blame but Macbeth made it all happen and it was his decision to handle it how he wished. Which, apparently wasn't the best way to go...

As we studied in our college, King Duncan is to blame. He is responsible about the disorder that happened in the great chain of beings. That's because he didn't have the characteristics of a powerful king. He trusts everyone easily and people were turning rebellious against him.

Macbeth is to blame because he's the tragic hero. It's Shakespeare's M.O.

Plus, you can't blame the witches, because in that department Banquo serves as Macbeth's foil.