Who is guilty for the tragedy of Macbeth?

To answer this question, we must first consider what events could be described as part of the ‘tragedy’ of the play. In terms of death, there is, of course, the murder of King Duncan by Macbeth, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Following that, there is the murder of the chamberlains, the assassination of Banquo, the brutal murders of Lady Macduff and her children, the suicide of Lady Macbeth, the inevitable deaths in the ensuing battle and finally, of course, the death of Macbeth.

We must remember, though, that it is not all about death. Before her suicide, Lady Macbeth was plagued by guilt, sleepwalking and hallucinating, bemoaning what she perceives to be as blood on her hands. Macbeth, too, was driven from a heroic general to a quivering wreck, content to murder in order to retain his ill-gotten gains. This itself is a tragedy: a young, hopeful man turned ruthless killer, suffering from psychotic episodes and visions of ghosts, leading him to be distrusted and eventually turned against by his countrymen for his tyrannical behaviour.

So who, then, is this tragedy the fault of? Could it be Macbeth? He was, of course, the one who stabbed King Duncan in the first place, and this is generally considered the event that triggered his eventual downfall. However, Macbeth is reluctant at first to commit the murder: “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,/ Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,/ Who should against his murderer shut the door,/ Not bear the knife myself” and then “I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on th' other”. These quotes strongly show that he is not only aware of the fact that the murder is wrong and that he should protec...

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...Without her persuasion, King Duncan would never have been murdered, meaning that none of the other ensuing deaths would have occurred either, and Macbeth would have stayed the heroic, brave man he was.

However, this is not definitive evidence. There is plenty of other material within the play that can be taken as suggesting that the blame may lie on another character (for example, Macbeth persuading the murderers that they must kill Banquo, despite the doubt of his wife, or perhaps the constant secrecy and impenetrable words of the witches, which confuse Macbeth and lead him to do things he may not have otherwise done).

It is very likely that the blame lies not on one single character, but on many. For the purposes of this, though, I believe that the majority of the guilt lies on Lady Macbeth, and that is my conclusion.

Works Cited

'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare