Macbeth's Personal Responsibility for his Character Change

There is a Hungarian proverb "When ambition ends, happiness begins." In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we can derive a corollary for this, "when ambition starts, happiness ends." The play starts with Macbeth as being a loyal subject in King Duncan's army. During the beginning act, after his return from battle, Macbeth encounters three witches giving him a prophecy that he will soon be King of Scotland (a title held by King Duncan). Macbeth conveys this prophecy to his wife, Lady Macbeth in a letter. When he arrives home, the two conspire ways of killing King Duncan to overtake the throne. On the night of the planned murder, Macbeth starts having doubts and questions whether he should kill the king. However Lady Macbeth persuades him to carry out this sinister plan. Shortly after, Macbeth stabs Duncan to death. This marks the beginning of a series of murders that are initiated by Macbeth in order to keep his title of King. This includes killing his friends and their families. As time goes by, Lady Macbeth is consumed by guilt and eventually that leads to her suicide. Macbeth who is absorbed in his own life shows no signs of grief at his loss. At the same time, a messenger brings Macbeth news that woods are ?moving?. Macbeth becomes highly concerned because one of the prophecies given to him is ?Macbeth shall never vanquished be until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come against him.? (IV, i, 96-98). Macbeth travels to Birnam wood and there he is confronted with Macduff, a loyal soldier to King Duncan and his son Malcolm. Macduff takes revenge on Macbeth?s maddening ways and kills Macbeth at the end. Throughout the story, one can see Macbeth?s character change for the worse. From being a loyal and compassion...

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...s and imagines the murders. She finally pushes herself to suicide. Clearly, Lady Macbeth and the witches may have instigated the degeneration of his character, it was clearly Macbeth?s own thoughts, which drove him to his final downfall.

Throughout the story, there have been many numerous examples that signify Macbeth was driven to becoming an immoral person. He is initially provoked by his wife to commit some monstrous crimes, but soon his sins become less of her influence and more of his own initiatives. He also foolishly believed in the prophecies from the three witches that polluted his mind and drove him to a dark and sinister life. These prophecies made Macbeth hear what he wanted to hear and draw conclusions that led him down the wrong path. Finally, it was largely his own self-ambition and greed to gain more power that drove him to his self-destruction.