Macbeth is Responsible

Macbeth’s ultimate downfall is brought about by his all-consuming and debilitating hamartia: ambition. While the witches manipulated Macbeth, by enticing him with a tantalizing possibility of great power and later making him feel overconfident and invincible, they only nourished the seeds of ruthless ambition that already existed in his mind. Lady Macbeth was perhaps the most dangerously malevolent force in his life, encouraging him to commit acts of great treachery, and fanning the flames of his lust for power. Despite his wife’s amoral influence, and his initial reluctance, it was Macbeth, and Macbeth alone, who carried out the first and perhaps most difficult murder of Duncan that led to further acts of deceit and betrayal.