According to Shakespearean scholar, A.C. Bradley, "while the influence of the witches' prophecies on Macbeth is very great, it is quite clearly shown to be an influence and nothing more. There is no sign in the play whatever that Shakespeare meant the actions of Macbeth to be forced on him by external powers." Bradley's argument is valid; the witches provide the spur Macbeth needs to act on his overbearing ambition, but it is ultimately the choice of Macbeth and Macbeth alone to pursue his thirst for the throne - to turn his thoughts into actions. The influence of the witches is indeed no more than an influence, as is demonstrated by Macbeth's initial reaction to their prophecies, his subsequent independent decisions to murder for the kingship, and his own admittance in the end that his actions were of his own doing and not forced on him by external powers.
Macbeth's immediate reaction to the witches' prophecies is the first clear piece of evidence that Shakespeare did not intend for them to be anything more than an influence. Upon first hearing their prophecy that he will be king, Macbeth's response is telling: he starts. This reaction suggests that before Macbeth even stumbles upon the presence of the Weird Sisters, he has thoughts of becoming king. Moreover, the suggestion is not simply that he has considered it - for starting is a sign of guilt, of which he would have little if his thoughts were innocent - but that he has considered acting on it - a crucial distinction. The prophecy itself contains little but the mention that he will be king: "All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter!" (I, iii, l. 50)1 Indeed, Bradley observes that the witches "merely announced events: they hailed him as Thane of Glamis, Thane...
A pretty good essay overall
hello.
you seem to have argued ur points really, really well... "macbeth choose with his own free will to kill and murder to become king". All ur evidence made sense, and you've got a lot of good quotes.
But you seem to be saying Bradley said .. a lot... it's almost like you paraphrased some of that guy's writing. He's a shakespearean scholar... of course he's going to know his stuff.I'm not saying don't give credit where it is due. But maybe you can find other examples, or maybe explain in ur own words. You can refer to ur shakespearean scholar just not in every paragraph.
Oh, and I think with your introduction, you need a really clear contention or topic and the way you've written the intro, it doesn't come in until the middle. Oh and try to have topic sentences for each paragraphs, I used to hate those but they're actually really useful, they tell the reading where the paragraph is heading.
But all in all a really good effort for a macbeth essay.
good luck with the play ..
ymw99
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