How Does Macbeth Change Throughout The Play

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play about a man named Macbeth. Later on, this play shows us his moral sense and the result of guilt in his head as well as the effects this causes. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is known as a brave and very noble warrior who led his army to victory. Macbeth was also highly rewarded for this act as Thane of Cawdor. What you will notice throughout the play is that Macbeth changes, a lot, which led him to fall. Macbeth’s downfall was influenced by two major elements of the impact that caused him to change from a noble warrior to a cowardly tyrant.

In the first act, Macbeth tended to do whatever his wife Lady Macbeth told him to do, in other words, he would get manipulated by her. Lady Macbeth’s transformation will cause her to manipulate her husband, Macbeth, to do what she wants. In Act I, Scene V, Lady

Macbeth’s thoughts on life do impact his downfall. In Act V, Scene V, Macbeth finds out about Lady Macbeth killing herself, he says “She should have died hereafter; / there would have been a time for such a word” (20-21). Although Macbeth says this he appears not to be deeply saddened by his wife dying. Macbeth only cares about winning the war and mentions how she should have died anyway. He is consumed by power, rather than love and humanity. In Act V, Scene Viii, Macduff challenges Macbeth to fight because he killed his family, he is looking for revenge, but Macbeth refuses and does not want to fight him because he is not of woman born, so he fears he will kill him, Macbeth says, “I will not fight thee” (26). Macbeth refuses to fight Macduff, so Macduff calls him a coward. Macbeth will not take that comment even though he does fear Macduff he still does not want to seem like a coward to his people so Macbeth takes on the challenge but Macduff kills him. Macbeth’s downfall was led by his ego and taking risks he shouldn't