Macbeth - The Effect of the Witches Prophecies.

William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is an unfortunate one. Although Macbeth does take the actions that lead to his downfall, he is not fully responsible for his behavior. After encountering three witches who foretell the future for him, he desperately wants to believe what they say since everything they told him is good on his part. It is said that the witches were just figments of his imagination. In either case, the prophecies told act as …

…murder. It now seems that if Macbeth had not tried to fulfill the witch's prophecies, he would probably have been living as the Thane of Glamis and Cawdor at the end of the play. It could be said that he was responsible for his own downfall, however, as proved, Macbeth only took these actions to fulfill the prophecies of the witches by giving into the greed, the lying, and the murder that came with it.