Love Is The Reason For Macbeth's Downfall

A great man once told me, “life is about choices.” If the person you loved came up to you today and asked you to murder someone, so you both could benefit from it, would you do it? In a tale of all tales, love seems to always blind and lead people to their own destruction. Love is not a feeling, it is a choice. You wake up everyday and choose whether or not to love a person that day, and on that day Macbeth chose to love Lady Macbeth enough that despite her wicked motivations and harsh words, he was going to follow through with killing King Duncan. Despite Stephen Greenblatt’s assertion that emphasized, that Lady Macbeth is the main influence in Macbeth’s downfall, Macbeth had a choice to kill or to not and he is the reason for his own downfall

and his wife’s mental illness. Lady Macbeth is a woman with her own ambitions, dreams, desires, feeling, and she makes choices based off of them and the same as for Macbeth. Shakespeare, from the beginning, portrays Lady Macbeth negatively and that she has nothing but wicked intentions however, Lady Macbeth motivations, wants and desires are for the advancement of her husband.
In the beginning of The Tragedy of Macbeth, the main character Macbeth finds out the prophecy, that he will become the King but also finds out King Duncan has claimed his son as heir of the throne.

In response Macbeth sends his wife, Lady Macbeth, a letter planning to kill the King so he can fulfill the prophecy. This is the first view the reader has of Lady Macbeth’s mental illness, schizophrenia. Schizophrenia according to Mayo Clinic is, “severe brain disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally.” In Act I, scene 5, lines 36–52, she calls out onto the witches to “unsex” her and allow her to help her husband commit this murder against King Duncan. Lady Macbeth thinks that it is normal to call upon the abnormal spirits to give her strength to be able to kill King Duncan, and proves Lady Macbeth is mentally ill and can not be counted accountable for her actions. This scene is important because it marks the beginning of Lady Macbeth’s illness and how trying to support her husband leads to her mental

deterioration.
After the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth makes his own choice to hire murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance in Act III. Macbeth was motivated by the witches prophecies, that prophesied, Banquo’s son will become King. In Act III, Scene 2, both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth discuss the troubled thoughts and bad dreams they have had since Duncan’s murder. However, the agree to hide their dark emotions the night of the banquet. Lady Macbeth tries to confront Macbeth about everything that is taking place and instead Macbeth hints at some terrible event that will happen later that night. Lady Macbeth talks about how she rather be dead than live with anxiety when she says, “Naught’s had. all’s spent,/ Where our desire is got without content./ ‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy/ Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy” (III.2.4-7). This shows how Lady Macbeth is mentally not prepared for the future to come and how her relationship with Macbeth is pushing her to the breaking point and foreshadowing her death. Lady Macbeth wants to know what is happening however, Macbeth will not tell her because he wants to make these decisions without Lady Macbeth.
After Lady Macbeth is warned about the future events that will happen, at the banquet in Act III, Scene 4, she finds out that Banquo has been killed. This leads to the triggering of Lady Macbeth’s post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to Mayo Clinic, PTSD is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Although Lady Macbeth was involved with the first murder of King Duncan, she knew nothing of the murder of Banquo and his son, until Macbeth told her. At the banquet, it is argued that Lady Macbeth can also see the ghost of Banquo along with her husband in Act III, Scene 4, but Lady Macbeth notices that her husband is affected by the death of Banquo and is not stable enough to continue the banquet that evening. Finding out the news that Banquo is dead and that Fleance has escaped, became more than either of the characters could handle but for different reasons. Lady Macbeth can not handle it because mentally she was not prepared to be apart of another murder and unlike King Duncan’s were she asked spirits for strength, she could not do that for Banquo’s death. However, Macbeth is going crazy because he is worried about fulfilling the prophecy and that if Fleance is not dead than his throne is endangered.
In Act IV, the witches then prophesied that Macbeth needs to beware of Macduff, making the apparitions confirmed about Macbeth’s fear of Macduff. In response to the witch Macbeth decides on his own again that he was going to follow through with another murder. Later in Act IV, Macbeth finds out that Macduff has fled to England and decides he will surprise Macduff’s castle at Fife and kill Lady Macduff and their children. Lady Macbeth has no knowledge of this until after Macbeth has followed through with it and murder Macduff’s entire family, the result of Macbeth committing all these murders leads to Lady Macbeth’s PTSD taking over her life. In Act V, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth sleepwalking is observed by the Gentlewoman and the doctor, this leads the doctor becoming concerned about Lady Macbeth safety and that she will eventually harm herself. After these observations the doctor tells Macbeth that he can not cure Lady Macbeth and that she is not physically ill, but mentally ill. As mentioned early, according to Mayo Clinic, post-traumatic stress disorder is triggered by a dramatic event and can lead to nightmare in which Lady Macbeth’s case, all of the deaths triggered King Duncan’s death and the guilt is causing her to sleepwalk and have nightmares.
Everything takes a sharp turn for the Macbeth’s, when in Act V, Scene 5, Macbeth finds out that Lady Macbeth has committed suicide.

It is shown by research according to National Alliance on Mental Illness that, about 90% of individuals who die by suicide experience mental illness. Macbeth is torn to piece when he finds out how his wife has died, and mentions how she should not have died this early and should have lived until tomorrow. This scene is very crucial to the defense of Lady Macbeth and whether or not she is evil, because it displays that even though Lady Macbeth pushed her husband to kill King Duncan, her intentions were for the benefit of Macbeth. It also shows how Macbeth did not think Lady Macbeth was evil and that how, “She should have died hereafter./There would have been a time for such a word./Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.” Macbeth wished he would have had time to mourn his wife’s death and that shows how he did not see her as an evil

character.
Stephen Greenblatt argues in his assertion that, “Lady Macbeth influenced Macbeth to put aside his natural unwillingness to murder.” However, if you take out the one scene where Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to kill King Duncan for the benefit of Macbeth than Greenblatt’s entire argument is invalid. Lady Macbeth is the real victim here by her husband, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has no knowledge of Macbeth going to the extreme and killing Banquo, Lady Macduff, Macduff’s children and the attempted murder of Fleance until he tells her. Already suffering from schizophrenia in Act I, when she is calling upon spirits, Lady Macbeth health deteriorates more after each person Macbeth kills, also triggering her PTSD which leads to her death. Since Lady Macbeth is not the main character in the story, readers find it easier to point and blame Lady Macbeth instead of the “Tragic Hero”, Macbeth for Macbeth’s own downfall. Macbeth had the choice to commit all these murders and he did it without concern of his wife health and wellbeing, and eventually realized how wrong he was and how it cost Lady Macbeth’s life.