The witches and Lady Macbeth are major instigators throughout the play. They push, encourage, or trick Macbeth into committing horrific acts and sealing his own fate, as redemption becomes more and more unlikely. In Act I, the witches appear and provide Macbeth with a first temptation: they tell him that he will be king, among other things. This awakens in Macbeth an underlying or hidden ambition - that is, to kill Duncan, and claim the throne.
When Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter, and is thus informed of the prophecy, she immediately leaps into action. She persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan. She does this, mainly, by questioning his manly strength, and feeding his desire for power. She also tries to comfort him after the act.
Thus, we can say that Lady Macbeth builds upon what had already been planted by the witches in Act I. In Act IV, they reappear, but in a much different light. Now, they taunt Macbeth; they show him a procession of eight kings, all of which are descended from Banquo; they mock him by showing the (fatherly, manly, and kingly) success of Macbeth's moral foe. Thus, the witches exacerbate Macbeth's growing madness, and push him further toward his doom (that is, into open conflict with Macduff).
What about Lady Macbeth? At this point in the play, she has gone insane. Her death is crushing to Macbeth (see the "Tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy), and may well be his "final straw." All that is left for Macbeth to do is face Macduff, about whom the witches had warned him; Macbeth is unprepared, however, as they had declared that no man born of a woman could kill him. Sadly for Macbeth, Macduff was born by Caesarian.
Ultimately, we can argue that Lady Macbeth and the witches instigate both stages of Macbeth's downfall: first, they goad him into killing Macduff, and second, they add to his madness, despair, and insomnia. They are the spark, so to speak, which ignites the bloody action of the play.
How do Lady Macbeth and the witches manipulate the influences they have upon Macbeth, and how effective are they?
Lady Macbeth chides her husband on lacking the courage to do the deed, and because Macbeth is a warrior above everything everything else, her comments manipulate him a good deal. Indeed, "manliness" is an idea the play interrogates in various ways, such as when Macbeth says "I dare do all that may become a man/Who dares do more is none" (1.7.46-47). This is the notion that his wife use against him: "When you durst do it, then you were a man / And to be more than what you were, you would/Be so much more a man" (1.7.51-53). Some productions show Lady Macbeth kissing her husband, seducing him sexually even while she questions and then builds up his manhood to convince him to kill Duncan. In short, it is by means of his manhood, fundamental to his notion of himself as warrior, that Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband.
How do Lady Macbeth and the witches manipulate the influences they have upon Macbeth, and how effective are they?
Because the witches offer Macbeth the hope of getting...
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something that he didn't think was within his reach, they are often considered the force that manipulates Macbeth into killing Duncan, but I would agree withmalibrarian in that I don't think they make Macbeth do anything that he isn't already disposed towards doing.
I would also agree that the real manipulation comes from the lady, but I would cite a different part of the play as evidence--Macbeth has already decided that he has no good reason to kill Duncan, and even informs Lady Macbeth of his decision (he says Duncan has been good to him, he has sworn an oath of loyalty, Duncan is a guest in his house, and, finally, everyone loves Duncan. He decides that he may get what he wants after all, because he is fated to do so, not because he has killed to get it. Lady Macbeth's response is one of the most manipulative speeches in all of literature: she asks him if the hope that he 'dressed himself' in the night before was "drunk"--and then she goes on to question his love for her (from this time on shall I account thy love) and his courage. He's had enough, but she is relentless--she questions his manhood, saying he would be a man when he's done the deed, not before. Finally, she questions his faithfulness to her. Her most famous move is when she says she'd rather rip her nursing baby from her nipple and smash its brains out than break a promise to him. So subtle. But effective, because soon, he acts.
How do Lady Macbeth and the witches manipulate the influences they have upon Macbeth, and how effective are they?
The witches seem to be the best manipulators around. They take a man, Macbeth, who was being rewarded by King Duncan for his loyalty and courage in defending the Scottish realm, and manage to turn him into a murdering, power-hungry evil being, simply by saying, "someday you'll be king." (One could say, though, that Macbeth had to have some ambition in him already if he could be so easily swayed, while his friend, Banquo, stayed loyal to Duncan, despite being told his descendents would someday be kings.)
Lady Macbeth is, in my opinion, an even better example of a manipulator. She is determined that her husband not become weak in fulfilling their plan to kill Duncan and take the throne for themselves. She worries that Macbeth is "too full o' the milk of human kindness" - that he is really too good inside to follow through with killing Duncan. (Ironic, then, that she is the one later who cannot make herself stab Duncan as he reminds her too much of her father.)
Check out the links below for more complete information on these fascinating characters!
What is the influence of Lady Macbeth and the witches over Macbeth’s actions?
Lady Macbeth and the witches do contribute to the murder of Duncan in Shakespeare's Macbeth. The extent of their responsibility is ambiguous, however.
The witches certainly tap into dormant ambition already present in Macbeth. It doesn't take much for Macbeth to make the leap from being told he would one day be king, to thinking about how to achieve the crown: assassinate the king. Minutes after he is told that the first of the witches' predictions has come true--he has been named Thane of Cawdor--he is already thinking about assassinating Duncan. He refers in his aside in Act 1.3.138 to a "horrid image" in his mind, a horrid image that "unfix[es] my hair."
Lady Macbeth thinks about assassinating Duncan immediately upon hearing of the predictions, then hearing that Duncan is coming to spend the night at her castle. She suggests the idea to Macbeth, and he does not reject it. Later, however, when Macbeth decides not to assassinate Duncan, she vehemently argues with him and convinces him to go ahead with it (Act 1.7). And Macbeth does.
Both, then, play significant roles in the killing of Duncan. How much of a role they play compared to the role Macbeth plays, is something you'll have to decide.
How do Lady Macbeth and the witches influence Macbeth to change?
The Weird Sisters influence Macbeth to change simply by telling him that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then king. When he learns he has been made the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth begins to hope for the throne in a way that he seems never to have done before. Judging by the captain's description of him in battle, Macbeth has been loyal and brave, a good subject and kinsman to King Duncan. Once the witches plant the seed of ambition, it begins to grow out of control, prompting Macbeth to dream of killing Duncan—and possibly his son, Malcolm—prior even to returning home to the company of his murderous wife.
Lady Macbeth influences her husband to change by persuading him to go forward with their plan, even after he decides they would "proceed no further in this business" (Act I, Scene 7, line 32). Lady Macbeth insults her husband's masculinity, convincing him he will not be a man if he does not keep his promise to her and take the throne now. After he does commit the murder, she insists that his guilt makes him a coward. Soon enough, she realizes she's created a monster who is even capable of killing innocent women and children without a second thought.