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Macbeth comparative essays
Lady macbeth and the witches influence on macbeths actions
Macbeth has tragic flaws in the novel macbeth
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The tragic downfall of Macbeth can be contributed to several key factors. Macbeth’s downfall can be attributed to his blind ambition, the influence of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s own insecurities and misgivings. Blind ambition combined with immoral goals, with Lady Macbeth’s influence and Macbeth’s personal doubts all lead to his inevitable downfall.
The greatest factor to Macbeth’s downfall should be attributed to his blind, uncontrollable ambition. This factor is first seen with the second appearance of the witches, upon which they meet Macbeth. Macbeth’s first thought to the prophecy “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.63) is he must murder the king. This thought provides the groundwork in which Macbeth can seed his thoughts and follow through on them. Macbeth knows what he is thinking is very wrong “Stars, hide your fires,/Light not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4.56-57) therefore proving he has a conscious. The presence of a conscious further shows how ambitious Macbeth is when he actually commits the deeds. The way Macbeth views his situation, “… I must fall down, or else o’erleap, /For in my way it lies.” (1.4.56-57) also highlights on how his ambition is making him think, for his first reaction to Duncan’s words is he must kill him to obtain the crown. Even though Macbeth is afraid of what he is going to do, he knows that his ambition will carry him through it: “I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/And falls on the other [reasons]” (1.7.25-28) Through the persuasion of Lady Macbeth and a ghostly apparition/hallucination, Macbeth finally commits the deed of what he is so afraid to do.
Thus brings the second factor that causes Macbe...
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...’d in surmise, and nothing is/But what is not.” (1.3.150-162) The following meeting with the witches also shows how much Macbeth is insecure, that he needs the help of the witch’s prophecies. What this shows is how conflicted and unsure Macbeth is what he is to do, and that, combined with his insatiable ambition is what ultimately leads him to his downfall.
When one looks at all of the information, it is clear that Macbeth could not have escaped his downfall. The burning ambition that raged within him made him make irrational and deadly decisions that lead to equally devastating consequences. The influence of Lady Macbeth also drove him to commit his first murder, something that was needed to start the chain of events that made Macbeth increasingly unstable. Those two factors combined with Macbeth’s major insecurities and doubts are what doomed him from the start.
The most apparent flaws, and perhaps the most tragic in Macbeth's character, is his lack of patience and temperance. These shortcomings haunted Macbeth, causing him to let his "overvaulting ambition" rush fate, and hasten his doom. Macbeth could not wait for an appointment to a position of more power. Instead, he murdered the king to take his place.
After a long and hard battle, the Sergeant says to King Duncan, “For brave Macbeth,-well he deserves that name,- disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody execution , like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage till he fac’d the slave;” (1.2.16) . This quote shows that Macbeth is viewed as a valiant soldier and a capable leader. However, it does not take long for the real Macbeth to be revealed- a blindly ambitious man, easily manipulated by the prospect of a higher status. His quest for power is what drives his insanity, and after having been deemed the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth’s ambition can immediately be seen. In a soliloquy, Macbeth says, “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings; my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastica, shakes so my single state of man that function is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.140). Macbeth has just gained more power, and his immediate thought is of how to gain an even higher status as king. He imagines how to kill Duncan, and then is troubled by his thoughts, telling himself it is wrong. This inner struggle between Macbeth’s ambition and his hesitation to kill Duncan is the first sure sign of his mental deterioration. Although Macbeth does kill Duncan, he questions whether or not he should to do so, which is far different from how Macbeth feels about murder later in the play. Macbeth becomes king, and this power leads
In fear of losing this power to his friend Banquo or his son Fleance, whom of which the witches said would be king after Macbeth and would yield a long line of kings, Macbeth had them murdered in the woods while they were out horseback riding. This proves that he truly believes in what the witches have to say about him and his future, which leads him to back to seek out more of the witches half truths to see what else would come of his future. The next set of prophecies that the witches had to offer were shown in a set of three apparitions. The first said “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff. Beware the thane of Fife,” the second apperition then spoke “none of woman born can harm Macbeth,” the third aperition then said “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him”(Shakespeare,168-170). Some say it was the witches fault for Macbeth’s actions next, but in reality it was Macbeth’s and Macbeth’s alone. Due to these three prophecies Macbeth’s level of arrogance went up along with his hunger for power as well, his level of common sense was decreasing faster and faster. Macbeth’s lack of common sense caused him to make rash decisions without thinking them through. Such as when he says “From this moment the very firstlings of my
He was a war-hero, and was uninterested in what society perceived him to be. His superstition and dependence on the witches visions show his weakness as a character, and especially as a leader. His beliefs in the witches eventually lead him down the wrong path when he returns to the witches for another proclamation of their visions, which all are apparently true, but misunderstood by Macbeth. In the end, as the visions become reality, Macbeth realizes that he has failed to grasp a hold of the tangible aspects of his life, and was too concentrated on the unknown. He states in Act IV scene I, ""Tell me now, thou unknown power--Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution thanks; Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one word more."
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.
Throughout the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth continuously makes bad choices and the consequences of these decisions catch up to Macbeth and result in his mental deterioration, however with Macbeth’s almost infant feel for ambition this makes him susceptible to manipulation, which then grows into an insatiable appetite for power. The acts of this, with the manipulation from outsiders, causes his blind ambition, his false sense of security and then finally his guilt, which all contribute to his derangement. Some will argue that all the choices made by Macbeth were continuously his own, that he had these opportunities as a man to put his foot down and say no, and be able to draw the line where things should come to an end, the fault of a mental deterioration was not there, that from the beginning Macbeth was an evil man who had a twisted way of achieving things. Macbeth’s ambition is to remain king for as long as possible, and he will kill anybody who stops this from happening. Macbeth feels as if he was given a childless rule, and that his legacy will not continue on in fear his rule will be taken away by someone outside his family.
Factors Contributing to Macbeth's Downfall in William Shakespeare's Macbeth 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 up his dormant ambitions to be king.
Firstly, he defeats his enemies. Next he is praised by the other soldiers and King Duncan appoints him as the Thane. For example, if a person desires for a manager title, the person will work hard to earn it, and it is possible that other workers will see this and boost the chief individual’s desire. It is from here that the person might think they deserve the title and look for more power. Similarly, Macbeth must have thought somewhere in his mind to be king. In the book Witches’ Caldron: a study of motive in Shakespeare’s Macbeth Dr. K.C. Mathur says that although the witches did prophesy he would be king and even boosted his desire “They did not create the thought of murder of King Duncan. It was Macbeth’s own latent ambition embodying his power drive and seeking affirmation that invites the witches.” (Witches Caldron, 6) Dr. Mathur also says “Macbeth had acquired this status and it is not surprising that he thinks of achieving higher status by being aggressive and domineering. It is this psychological impulse that is projected in his ambition for the crown and not any criminal instinct or latent evil.” (6) There was a negative environment of witches and the association of Lady Macbeth around Macbeth which influenced him to murder. The environment creates a huge part in the play and if he had a good environment it is possible that he would have remained loyal to King
To begin, Macbeth experiences an internal downfall due to his ambition where he battle between his desires and moralistic values. Initially, the idea of attaining power over Scotland by killing King Duncan sparks a sense of fear and paranoia in Macbeth, however, his conscience struggles to take over his ambition: "that we but teach/ Bloody instructions, which being taught, return/ To plague the inventor. [...] I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Valuing ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on th' other-" (1.7.8-28). At this moment, Macbeth contemplates on killing King Duncan as he visualizes the long term consequences of committing the crime. The reader can grasp his moral judgement as he understands that by proceeding with the murder, he is only causing his own demise and punishing himself. With that b...
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.
Macbeth’s private ambitions are initially displayed in the beginning through asides and soliloquies, making him seem ‘golden’; displaying Macbeth as ‘good willed’ and ‘honest’. However, it is until Macbeth encounters the three witches, that his own flaws are shown. The three witches arguably play the most import part in the play- with their prophecy’s fanning the flames of ambition within Macbeth, serving as the primary motivation to plot the death of Duncan- and as result Banquo; with there prognostics resonating deeply with his ambitious tendencies. As the prophecies come true, the possibility of becoming king increases and Macbeth immediately "yields to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix [his] hair" (1.3 144-145) as he fantasizes about killing Duncan. Macbeth becomes self aware of his thoughts; however, the idea that Malcolm poses a threat to his ambition outweighs his own moral conscience. He summons darkness to conceal his thoughts of murdering from heaven: "Stars, hide your fires;/ Let not light see my black and deep desires:/ The eye wink at the hand!" (1.4
Macbeth’s blind ambition leads him to surrender to his dark desires that taunt him throughout the play. Macbeth is frequently tempted to result to the wrongful methods that seem to roam inside of him. In the beginning however Macbeth tends to ignore these desires and depends on chance. He declares “if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare, act 1, scene 3, 143-144). This declaration by Macbeth shows his initial stand, which is reliant on fate and sin free. Yet as Macbeth’s character develops throughout the play, he moves farther from his dependence on chance and closer to his darker desires. Eventually his blind ambition to become king overp...
instill in him the need to be King. Still, desire is not enough for Macbeth and he is thus driven "to seek certainty as his one objective. He wants certainty from the witches . . . at whatever cost" (Campbell 228). Macbeth, however, is not completely lost yet; honour and justice remain in him, and although it takes him some time to fully consider the consequences of the witches' words on him, he rejects his horrible thoughts of murder and postpones all action: "If chance will have me king, why,chance may crown me, / Without my stir" (I. iii.143-144). For the time being, Macbeth's true essence is in control, that of loyalty and honour.
Macbeth, whom initially was a very reasonable and moral man, could not hold off the lure of ambition. This idea is stated in the following passage: "One of the most significant reasons for the enduring critical interest in Macbeth's character is that he represents humankind's universal propensity to temptation and sin. Macbeth's excessive ambition motivates him to murder Duncan, and once the evil act is accomplished, he sets into motion a series of sinister events that ultimately lead to his downfall." (Scott; 236). Macbeth is told by three witches, in a seemingly random and isolated area, that he will become Thank of Cawdor and eventually king. Only before his ambition overpowers his reasoning does he question their motives. One place this questioning takes place is in the following passage:
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) ...