Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

571 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Imagery symbolism macbeth

The Downfall of Macbeth Throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth, the character Macbeth creates his own downfall. Although he first appears as a courageous and brave soldier, he quickly turns into a murderous tyrant. This transformation can be blamed primarily on himself, along with the influence of the three witches and Lady Macbeth. The three witches foretell Macbeth’s future, which leads him to believe that he is truly invincible. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband, causing him to make decisions he would not have done on his own. Despite these influences, Macbeth is ultimately responsible for his own actions that lead to his downfall. As the play begins, King Duncan recognizes and awards Macbeth as a war hero. Soon after, he receives a prophecy …show more content…

After Macbeth learns his first prophecy from the witches, he writes to his wife, explaining his idea to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth supports and encourages his idea, though she knows he will not follow through with his plan. She is aware of Macbeth’s powerful ambitions, yet she knows that he lacks the cruelty to kill the King. “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it” (I, v, 16-19). Lady Macbeth, a character with even more determination than her husband, manipulates him to make decisions that his conscience tells him are not right. She questions Macbeth, asking if he is a coward and even a man. Lady Macbeth further uses guilt to influence her husband’s decisions. “How tender it is to love the babe that milks me, I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you, Have done to this (I, vii, 55-59).” Lady Macbeth’s manipulative mentality controls Macbeth until he decides to exclude her from his decision making process. Shortly after the death of Banquo, Lady Macbeth begins to loose her mind and she eventually commits

Show More
Related

  • Lady Macbeth Corruption Quotes

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the slaughter of his former comrade, Macbeth explains to his wife, “Strange things I have in head that will to hand/Which must be acted ere they may be scanned” (3.4.137-140). This assertion from Macbeth paves the path for his future misdeeds. Lady Macbeth is concerned by her husband’s announcement and responds with, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (3.4.141). Lady Macbeth believes that her husband has lost his sanity. She no longer supports Macbeth’s murderous plans, and resents his new impulsivity. Following this conversation, Macbeth continues to kill harmless people, such as Macduff’s wife and children. He implies that he will no longer think about his actions before completing them, which is a deranged approach to life. The change in Macbeth’s behavior reshapes Lady Macbeth’s personality. She realizes that “what’s done cannot be undone” (5.1.57). Lady Macbeth now recognizes the lasting impact of the murders on herself and her husband. Initially Lady Macbeth approves Duncan’s murder, as it leads to her queenship. Her sadism and zeal for power declines after Macbeth’s killing spree. Lady Macbeth’s newfound heart is the outcome of her husband’s wicked

    Read More

  • Downfall Of Macbeth's Downfall

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macbeth, “A matchless soldier, kinsman to the king, wins the king’s battles and the king’s praise” however, “prompted by inner ambitions and external urgings”, he takes rash decisions conclusively ending in his atrophy of his title, power, and position (Bernad 49). Several factors contribute to the downfall of Macbeth, which produce a contagion effect; and ultimately end with his demise. The weird sisters disclose his prophecies which enlighten him about Duncan’s throne; Lady Macbeth abets Macbeth to realize his deep desires and come to the conclusion to murder Duncan; and Macbeth, the most significant contributor, makes his deep desires come to reality. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth are important contributors to Macbeth 's downfall, however, they are not mostly responsible. Unlike, the weird sisters and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is the most prominent contributor to his downfall; whose actions, decisions, and state of mind lead to his ruination.

    Read More

  • Macbeth's Downfall in William Shakespeare's Play

    2115 Words  | 5 Pages

    Macbeth's Downfall in William Shakespeare's Play 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare is a play set in 1040 about a Scottish general named Macbeth. It explores the transformation and effect of his ambition upon his life. Although it is set in 1040, it is written in the 1606 under the reign of James 1st. James' very recent accession to the English throne would have been of great contemporary importance and a play which focuses on Kingship would have roused interest too.

    Read More

  • Macbeth Character Analysis

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    Macbeth is a very gothic, persistent tale of a great general in the Scottish army who causes his own downfall by listening to the dark prophecies of the three witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s self-consciousness fails to play an important part in the murder of multiple kinsmen causing the death of his wife and his mental health. Macbeth is not necessarily a horrible leader; the problem with him is that his ambitions exceed his expectancies. Macbeth’s character has constantly evolved from the point he was introduced into the play. Initially he seems as an extremely humble person, but as he learns more about the prophecies, his hindsight fails to overlook the complications of his ambitions. Macbeth’s faith in the apparitions and the witches ultimately cause Macbeth’s downfall and the unnecessary death of his beloved kinsmen such as King Duncan and Banquo.

    Read More

  • Outside Influences That Caused Macbeth’s Downfall

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    All great leaders have their rise and fall. Some throw themselves into failure, some are pushed into it. Those who are pushed into it are usually influenced by evils around them. In the play, Macbeth by Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, is pushed to failure. The play takes place in Scotland and is about a young warrior who goes by the name Macbeth. Macbeth is told he would be a king by three witches. Macbeth kills the existing king and becomes a cruel, unjust king. He eventually goes insane and is killed and humiliated. Many may think Macbeth’s downfall was his own fault, those people are wrong. There were three main outside influences that were responsible for Macbeth’s fall. The first influence is his wife, Lady Macbeth, who seeks to be the queen and pushes Macbeth to pursue the crown. The second is Macbeth’s good friend Banquo who was with Macbeth when he was told he was to be king in the future. Banquo’s silence made Macbeth paranoid and that caused Macbeth to order his men to kill Banquo. This was a big cause in Macbeth’s insanity. The final influences are the three witches who drive Macbeth to kill Duncan, and they make him weak by letting him think he is invincible. Macbeth may have been a bad king, but he was not responsible for his collapse.

    Read More

  • Macbeth - Ambition

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lady Macbeth acts as Macbeth’s superior while the murder of Duncan occurs. Lady Macbeth has high ambitions for her husband. She understands that Macbeth has a lust for the throne. However, she fears that her husband would have trouble when attempting to murder Duncan and covet the throne because she regards Macbeth as “full o’ the milk of human kindness”. Since Lady Macbeth knows that her husband would never be able to perform such a task, she decides to control the procedures of the murdering of Duncan. She demands that “direst cruelty” contaminate her. She congregates everything that is evil inside her body in order to perform the evil deed of murdering Duncan. If Lady Macbeth is absent from the story, the murder of Duncan would not take place. This is so because during many parts of the story, Macbeth possesses uncertainty of whether it is righteous to take the life of such a great king in order to feed his hunger for power. Despite Macbeth doubting whether or not he should accept the murder of Duncan, he is always convinced by his wife that murdering Duncan is appropriate. Lady Macbeth even sees her husband’s weaknesses and uses his weaknesses to harass him into killing Duncan. This can be observed when, at one stage, Macbeth criticises the idea of killing a good king and believes that the killing should not proceed, his wife forces him to kill by saying offensive words. She questions Macbeth’s love for her, she questions Macbeth’s masculinity and she criticises Macbeth’s desire to be king. These three statements offend Macbeth. Because Macbeth wants to prove his manhood, his love for his wife and his desire to be king, he agrees to murder Duncan. Also, after the murder, Macbeth is worried and conscious of his guilt. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth is calm about the murder. She orders Macbeth to “wash this filthy guilt” from his hands.

    Read More

  • Lady Macbeth: The Catalyst of Macbeth's Downfall

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    He begins as a fierce Scottish warrior. But his greed, his lust for power, is what drags him down. His judgment is clouded, he can only see ideas that will help him obtain what he wants. Lady Macbeth starts off as the dominating person in their relationship. Such as that she can get manipulate him to do anything for her desires as long as she does it in various ways, like playing on his confidence. However, as the play progresses, and Duncan is killed, Macbeth seems to become the dominating partner swapping positions. Both of them have ambition, Lady Macbeth's ambition drives her to manipulate Macbeth into the most malevolent crime of regicide. But Macbeth’s ambition becomes unstable. Macbeth kills for the first time he has not choice but to conceal his wicked actions, and to have done this again because he is scared, of getting caught and having to repent of his crimes and could mean that his hunger for power became an obsessive trait, never satisfied with his current status."vaulting ambition, which o'erleap”In the end he became a tyrant condemned by his own people leading him to his death. Macbeth's view of reality became twisted. He saw things in a way that only went his way. This distorted his judgment which lead him to make the wrong decisions. Through Macbeth's constant need to fulfil his ambition he became very involved with himself. The wrong decisions that he made resulted in his tragic demise. These traits developed throughout the play with no control over his ambition, unfortunately leading to his

    Read More

  • Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is possible for a hero at his peak to be misled by dark forces. In Shakespeare’s play entitled Macbeth, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are responsible for the murder of King Duncan and the pandemonium that it creates. However, throughout the play, audiences will observe that Macbeth is more responsible for his downfall than she. Because of his greater ambition, his trust issues that leads to murdering his friend Banquo, and the blood of innocent people that he spills.

    Read More

  • Macbeth

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the start of the play lady Macbeth is the more dominant character in the relationship. In his letter to his wife about the witches' prophecies, Macbeth writes, "This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee". He knows that his "partner" will like the idea of being Queen and seems to offer the news as a kind of present, this shows that Macbeth really feels as though he has to please her. However, it is Lady Macbeth that takes charge of the situation and ensures that Duncan is murdered, rather than allowing Macbeth to have his way and let Duncan live. After Macbeth has committed the murder he is distraught and talking about the intensity of the blood on his hands, once again Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation, by saying “a little water clears us of this deed” she attempts to clear Macbeths conscience. The change in the obvious control Lady Macbeth holds over Macbeths actions, in the first two acts, becomes evident in the banquet scene ( scene 4, act 3 ), by this stage Macbeth is arranging the murder of Banquo without the assistance or reassurance of Lady Macbeth, however, when Macbeth is supposedly seeing the ghost of Banquo later on in the scene, it is Lady Macbeth who, once again, is put into a position of control, as she attempts to cover for her husband and explain his confusing speeches.

    Read More

  • Who Is The Most Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have total control over someone? People would do everything you tell them to and they would always listen to you. In life, many people wish they could have that kind of power. Although, things probably will not end too well when you go a little too far. Macbeth a play by William Shakespeare, is an outstanding example of how characters manipulate Macbeth to his downfall. The character that is the most responsible for Macbeth’s downfall is Lady Macbeth because Lady Macbeth evil and manipulates Macbeth to kill people to get what he wants.

    Read More

  • MacBeth is Responsible for His Downfall

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    MacBeth is Responsible for His Downfall. There were many wrongs committed in "MacBeth." But who should bear the major responsibility for these actions? The witches prophesying the truth? Lady MacBeth's scheming and persuasion?

    Read More

  • Free Essay on Shakespeare's Macbeth - Deceitful Lady Macbeth

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    We start to see Lady Macbeth’s actions have a huge impact on Macbeth’s character as he transforms from a decent being to an overly bitter creature. The cause of his alteration is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is constantly excreting heartless information into his mind. "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?" (I;vii;39-41) "And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I;vii;50-51) Lady Macbeth uses these quotes to push her husband beyond limits and is therefore responsible for his dramatic change in attitude. She is constantly feeding his thoughts with negative comments and later on Macbeth realizes that he has another side to him. As he moves along to discover the concealed side of him, Macbeth falls in love with himself and begins to be drawn towards his evil desires. Because Lady Macbeth was the main cause of his new hidden discovery, she is fully responsible for opening up the door and letting the darkness in. This results in Macbeth committing both murders.

    Read More

  • Who Was The Most Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

    547 Words  | 2 Pages

    The character most responsible for Macbeth's downfall is Macbeth himself. As a result of giving into pressure from his wife, Macbeth basically digs his own grave. Due to his over-ambitious personality, loyal Macbeth convinces himself to commit regicide. The quote, “I have no spur/ to prick the sides of my intent, but only/ vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself/ and falls on th’ other,” (1.7.25-28) is the part of the play where Macbeth convinces himself to kill the king. Macbeth’s over-ambition is shown once again in the quote, “[f]alse face must hide what the false heart doth/ know.

    Read More

  • Macbeth And Lady Macbeth Switch Roles

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    At the end of the play this character feels guilt for what she has done and has taken the personality, which was that of her husband in the beginning.At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth speaks and shows her shows how cruel and heartless she really is; "And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty". This shows she has no good in her, what so ever. Macbeth on the other hand, began as a good respectable character. When Lady Macbeth speaks of killing Duncan, he gives many reasons for reasons that he could not do so. Some of the reasons he gives in that speech are, that Duncan respects him, and trusts Macbeth. Duncan is also related to him by blood, and if he were to kill him he would never be able to rid himself of the guilt; wash the blood from his hands.At the climax of the play Macbeth makes plans to kill Banquo, with out Lady Macbeth, without anyone.

    Read More

  • The Downfall Of Macbeth In Mac

    1568 Words  | 4 Pages

    People and ideas can greatly affect the outcome of a person's life, determining whether the outcome will be successful or disastrous. Decisions and actions can also influence outcome. This is the case in Macbeth. Many factors cause the ruin of Macbeth and for that reason, all the blame for his downfall cannot be placed on Macbeth himself, despite the fact that he is the one that commits or has people commit the murders which lead to his downfall. Lady Macbeth's encouragement and convincing lead Macbeth to take the first step towards his destruction. The witches and their prophecies are equally accountable, since the witches reveal their predictions to Macbeth, giving him a glimpse into his future. This glimpse represents the beginning of the end of his life. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, as well as the witches and their prophecies are all responsible for Macbeth's downfall.

    Read More

More about Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

Open Document