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Charting the downfall of macbeth
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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. Macbeth’s downfall was partially caused by Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth’s influences made Macbeth feel like less of a man. One part of the play shows Macbeth being denounced as by his wife as she essentially calls him a coward for not wanting to kill Duncan. She says, “Woulds’t thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’, like the poor cat i’the adage.” (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 40-45) ... ... middle of paper ... ...h’s end because they drove Macbeth to kill Duncan and they let him over relax which lead to his death. Macbeth may have been a bad king, but he was not responsible for his collapse. The first reason is because Lady Macbeth questioned his manliness and drove him to kill Duncan which led him to murder more people as he got away with the first murder. The second reason is because of Banquo’s suspicion causing Macbeth to be fearful and later on, insane. The final reason is the witches as they encouraged him to let his guard down and they told him he was going to be king which led him to kill Duncan. These three influences were the main causes of Macbeth’s fall. If they had not been there he may have been a fair and just king. These evil outside influences drove a great man down into the ground. But as Geoffrey Chaucer said, “All great things must come to an end”
Shakespeare created a character in Macbeth who is strongly influenced in his decision making throughout the drama of The Tragedy of Macbeth. This drama is a Tragedy, hence the title, and has a hero, in Macbeth, who has a downfall. Readers become aware of the aspects that lead up to this predicament. Macbeth’s downfall was contributed equally from Lady Macbeth, the three weird sisters, and Macbeth’s ambition.
In Shakespeare's final play, Macbeth the main character Macbeth is very weak, and if it was not for the other characters he would not have committed any of those heinous crimes. The play opens with Macbeth accidentally running into three witches who give him his fortune. The go on to explain that he would become the new Thane of Cawdor, and from that point he would go onto commit many murders. Macbeth also has a wife who seems to be very controlling, and is able to persuade this already weak man to actually go through with committing these murders. I believe that the Macbeth was brainwashed by the witches, and then forced by his wife Lady Macbeth to commit these murders, and he can not be held accountable for his weakness.
Instead of encouraging him to do right, his wife, played the biggest role in his demise. Lady Macbeth used different strategies to persuade Macbeth. For example, she questioned his manliness to trigger his anger because she knew he wouldn’t want his own wife to question him. So, he followed along, uncertain of what his actions might cause to himself and to the people around him. “Are you afraid to be the same man in reality as the one you wish to be?” said Lady Macbeth, meaning that she knew Macbeth does In fact want to become king and is onboard with idea, he was just not ready to take actions in order to achieve the position.
Ambition is Macbeth’s primary flaw that causes the valiant soldier, who would die for the king, to murder his way to control the throne. Now, others could argue that the Witches are more responsible for Macbeth's downfall because they spoke prophetically to Macbeth and wanted to see the outcome of Macbeth’s endeavor to take the throne for their own amusement. The Witches did not commit the heinous crimes, Macbeth committed acts of treason and murder. The Witches did not tell Macbeth that he would need to murder King Duncan to become king, nor did they tell him to kill Banquo. Macbeth is the main character who is responsible for his downfall, because when Macbeth is first introduced in Act 1, he is a brave and honorable soldier, who is also the Thane of Glamis. He is labeled by King Duncan as “brave Macbeth,”: “For brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name…” Before Macbeth met the Witches, he served the king with complete devotion. After the meeting the Witches, he begins to contemplate becoming King of Scotland. However, his ambition is not satisfied, when he finds out that Malcolm, King Duncan’s son is heir to his throne. Macbeth speaks of his ambition in Act 1, sc.7 line 25, “Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’ other” (Shakespeare). Ambition leads him to murder King Duncan, start committing heinous crimes, and continue his path
In a sense, the play is divided into three main sections: everything up to killing Duncan, after killing Duncan to before seeing the apparitions and everything after the apparitions. By comparing the fallout and effect of internal and external forces in each of these sections, one can conclude which one has greater influence overall. In the first section of the play, Macbeth is introduced to his prophecies by an external force, the witches, and it is this external force that causes his ambition to be put into action. Banquo even states that the witches prophecies might “enkindle [Macbeth] unto the crown” (I, III, 130) which in other words means that an ambition will awaken that is already lurking within him. Even though ambition is latent within him, were it not for the external force of the witches prophecies, it would never have become prevalent enough to be able to take over. This awakening of ambition is what leads Macbeth to kill Duncan, the first step to his downfall. As for Macbeth’s weak will and insecurity over his manhood, once again, it was brought about and manipulated by an external force, Lady Macbeth. She used them both to her advantage to carry out the killing so in fact, when it comes to the first section, one concludes that it is external forces that lead to the quite important fallout of killing Duncan. Thus, external forces have a greater influence on Macbeth’s downfall in this section. Furthermore, after Duncan has been killed, Macbeth is a changed man. In the second section, Macbeth is solely driven by ambition and his insecurity over his throne. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he would “better be with the deed,/Whom we, to gain our peace have sent to peace” (III, II, 21-22). In other words, he is envious of Duncan as he is now peaceful since he is dead and does not have to deal with the
Macbeth, the main character in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth was not secure in his manhood. This insecurity led to the downfall of Macbeth because he felt the need to prove himself to Lady Macbeth. After he proved himself by killing Duncan, Macbeth became desensitized to killing.
Because he wasn’t in a proper mental state, Macbeth was a terrible king. He ruled Scotland like a tyrant and shut himself off from all of his friends and subjects. His terrible leadership of the country caused most of the politicians to wish for him to be overthrown. Some of the nobles-- such as Ross, Lennox, and Macbeth-- left Scotland and went to England where Malcolm had been staying with his relatives, the royal family of England. In England, Malcolm and the others from Scotland are planning an attack on Macbeth so that Malcolm can claim the throne that is rightfully his. This shows that Macbeth’s choices caused his downfall because they led him to insanity and that caused him to be a terrible leader that needed to be
In William Shakespeare's famous play Macbeth, there are many reasons for Macbeth's gradual downfall. Numerous factors contributed to Macbeth's ruin, such as his own character flaws and his demanding wife, Lady Macbeth. The Three Witches, however, caused Macbeth the most trouble. First, the sisters stirred his dormant ambitions to be king. In addition to this, the witches' prophesies gave Macbeth a false sense of security. Finally, their predictions falsely led Macbeth to believe he would some day be happy. The Witches' contributed the most to Macbeth's destruction by first stirring his deep lying ambitions, also by giving him a false sense of security and finally, by allowing Macbeth to believe he would someday be content.
The first component that influenced his decline was the temptation the witches offered when they bestowed their future predictions on Macbeth. Up to this point Macbeth was considered a noble man as King Duncan tells when he says;
Ambition leads to the downfall of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth had a reputation for being honorable and loyal. Macbeth’s ambition was always present, but it became stronger when he heard the prophecy from the three witches. Macbeth is willing to kill whoever gets in his way in order to fulfill his deepest desires, he basically
What drove him to become a power hungry tyrant was his wife. She put ideas in his head that changed him. A day before Macbeth would not speak of the idea of killing the king and now he was considering it. By killing the Duncan, gaining the title and king, and not being caught, Macbeth was given an enormous boost. He now felt invincible and let power finally get to him and corrupt him. With this new amount of power, Macbeth was not willing to let it slip away. To protect his power, he did whatever was necessary. Macbeth cowardly had Banquo killed, going against everything he ever believed in. Killing Banquo was not enough for Macbeth. Shakespeare shows to the audience how power can make a person go higher in the world but at the same time make them more vulnerable. Macbeth was now vulnerable, to solve this he sent the murderers to kill Macduff.
It is in human nature that the more power one desires the more corrupt actions one must do to attain it. In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, a Scottish noble's craving for power leads him to do terrible deeds that leads to his demise. Shakespeare shows that power corrupts by using Macbeth who corrupts under the thought of have power over others. Macbeth becomes corrupt under the thought of becoming king and gaining almost complete control over the people that he rules. Macbeth wants the power badly enough to do horrible deeds such as commit regicide. Lady Macbeth becomes very ambitious and allows herself to become seduced to the idea of becoming Queen. Her ruthlessness urges Macbeth to commit regicide by questioning his love for her and his own manhood.
Macbeth's destiny and his lust for power, confirmed by the Three Witches and Lady Macbeth, leads to destruction. Every act that Macbeth commits effects the kingdom as a whole. Macbeth's indecisiveness and his understanding of success cause this destruction. This lust for power leads Macbeth, as it would all men, to an evil that exist in everyone. It is his destiny to fail.
Macbeth’s visions and the prophecies of the witches cause Macbeth to make poor decisions, which lead him to his eventual downfall. Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power hungry and overzealous. A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders.
Although a combination of external forces and Macbeth’s own vaulting ambition doom the tragic hero (Macbeth) and result in his downfall, he is also doomed because of his own actions. This is because the tragic hero chooses to commit certain actions of his own free will which create a trail of destruction which leads to his eventual downfall. This may be seen in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth where the protagonist, a well-respected nobleman allows his ambition to cloud his better judgement. This causes him to listen to misleading advice which eventually causes him to commit many crimes which plunge his kingdom into chaos leading to his eventual demise.