Upon hearing the witches prophecies, Macbeth is set on a path of deterioration that causes him to become blinded by ambition. Lacy Macbeth aids in his downfall, as she pushes him to become so ambitious that it eventually kills him. Lady Macbeth’s

icy-ness acts as the horse which takes him down the path he can’t return from. He suffers mentally, at first, by getting tormented by his power-hungry wife. Then, when she dies, it is her soul that causes Macbeth to get tormented by his own over-ambitious self. Macbeth encounters the three witches while on a journey with his companion Banquo. They tell Macbeth of future titles he is to have, yet he doesn’t believe them. They hail Macbeth, calling him "Thane of Cawdor" and tell him he "shalt be kind hereafter". This perplexes Macbeth because such titles seem far from the truth. At this point Macbeth does not crave the titles as he later will. After the witches tell Banquo his sons shall be kings, Macbeth becomes interested in his supposed fate because the Thane of Cawdor lives and Macbeth finds it impossible to perceive himself as Thane or Cawdor and even more impossible as king.

Banquo sees the prophecy about Macbeth becoming king coming true and then he proceeds to warn Macbeth that "often times, to win us harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence". Banquo, too, seems to predict Macbeth’s fate. The witches tell the truth, but in the end it is betrayal that rises up over truth. Macbeth’s mind is still stable at this point, but is beginning to become somewhat shaky.

When the king greets Macbeth with gratitude, all Macbeth can think about is the prediction that he will become king. It is now that the poison of desire begins to seep into Macbeth’s mind. After the king announces that his son, Malcolm, will become ki

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