Who’s To Blame for Macbeth’s Downfall?
(An Understanding of Who Was at Fault for the Downfall of Macbeth) Power is a necessity for many people, so much so that it can drive a person to do the unthinkable. Although the play started off with Macbeth being a joyous, and truthful character, he is bound to fall because of his greed for power. Although many people solely blame Macbeth for his own downfall, they don’t realize that he was not the only one who pushed him to his limits. Firstly, there is the obvious answer that Macbeth himself was the cause for his downfall. However, his wife was no less innocent in the acts, she also is to blame for his destruction. Lastly, there were the witches, who gave him what he desired, which ultimately began his downfall. As stated by Eric Fromm in his book, Escape from Freedom, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching
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These three sisters were seen many times throughout the play, and each time, all were creating mischief for multiple people. The first time they came upon the stage, they brought a very disturbing message, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through the fog and the filthy air.” (1:1 Lines 10-11) This message has a simple meaning: good is bad and bad is good, the play is difficult to understand at first, but when understood, the fog is lifted. As described by Lucinda Kent in her webpage article, Sex, death and ogres: Why Game of Thrones and fairytales appeal in uncertain times, “The ogres and witches and giants of fairytales stand in as metaphors for those obstacles that we all face in our own lives.” When they speak to Macbeth, they give him prophecies to look forward to, and this drives Macbeth to start creating ideas about how he could become king. These prophecies ultimately create a situation in which Macbeth has only greed on his
The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.
Who is responsible for Macbeth’s downfall, the witches, or Macbeth? Who is responsible for the scorpions in Macbeth’s mind, the savage killing of several people in cold blood, the conception near the end of the play that Macbeth grasps of nihilism, and Macbeth getting so shielded in the prophecies that he can barely see straight? Is it Macbeth... or the witches? The play by William Shakespeare, Macbeth, has many motifs and famous quotes. However, it raises a lot of questions.
Macbeth had become everything that he had ever wanted to be which was the king of Scotland and when the witches told him that someone else was going to take his crown he went to extremes to try to keep them from doing that which was eventually what lead to him dying. The witches had told Macbeth that the sons of Banquo would take his crown so he decided to have Banquo and his son killed Macbeth said, “Our fears in Banquo stick deep/ And in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared”(3.1.49-51). Macbeth did everything he could to protect his crown, but that is eventually what lead to his downfall and his death. He killed his best friend Banquo which was when his ambition had gone to far and was the beginning of his decline.
In the play Macbeth there was a lot of stuff that went on that could keep the reader interested. One of these things are all of the murders in the play. With all these murders happening, there has to be someone to blame. In the play Lady Macbeth is to blame for the murders because she called evil upon herself, influenced Macbeth to be a murder, and she wanted power.
From honored soldier to murderous tyrant, Macbeth killed his way into power. He was informed of his “destiny” and stopped at nothing to achieve it. He had multiple chances to rethink his actions. He didn 't however, he kept on his march to power leaving only himself to blame. Macbeth is the only one to blame for his actions and ultimately, his death.
Often times, people go through rises and downfalls in their lives that they themselves are responsible for. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, both main characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, himself, are responsible for the downfall of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed. However, Shakespeare accomplishes in showing that Macbeth is more responsible for his own downfall than Lady Macbeth because he listens to the witches and follows his ambition rather than his conscience. To begin, Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed by insulting him when he changes his mind.
Macbeth is firstly at fault due to his own hubris. From the start of the play we hear praise for Macbeth from the captain when he addresses Duncan, “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel,Which smoked with bloody execution,Like valor’s minion carved out his passage” (1.2.16-19), this sort of praise was likely commonplace after the battle, and likely was heard by macbeth himself, and being the proud man he was may have led him to feel deserving of greater power and authority. Another way his hubris is to blame is for being convinced by his wife's scorning oh his manhood should he not kill duncan “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what
At the end of the play, Macbeth’s ambition caused him to lose Lady Macbeth to suicide and to no longer have moral sense. Ambition led to Macbeth’s downfall because Lady Macbeth and the witches caused him to make brainless decisions that caused his collapse. Macbeth’s ambition led to his downfall because of Lady Macbeth's ambition. Lady Macbeth had
Macbeth shows his downfall when the English army comes to his castle and an English soldier starts to call him a “tyrant”(5.2.12). This demonstrates Macbeth's downfall because everyone used to think that he was a good strong leader and that he could do anything. When everyone realized that it was Macbeth who killed king Duncan and the others, they were disappointed in him. His downfall ended up leading to his punishment. In the play everyone finds out that that Macbeth killed Duncan and the others, Macduff brings an army to attack Macbeth at his castle.
Macbeth started off as a valiant and courageous soldier, who would do anything for the king. By the end of the play, Macbeth was a tyrant and a horrible leader who killed those who trusted him to maintain the throne. It takes many factors to take a strong man and transform him into an evil monster. Macbeth’s downfall was caused by the deception and temptation of the witches and their prophecies, Lady Macbeth’s greed and aspirations for her husband to be king, and Macbeth’s own greed, jealousy and ambition.
The Most to Blame for King Duncan’s Death In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth it talks about a hero coming back from a viscous battle, from a group of rebels trying to take over the castle that the king’s lives in. After the hero comes back from a bloody battle he encounters three witches that tell him that he will have three titles one in the past thane of Glamis, one in the present thane of Cawdor, and one in the future king. After the witches tell Macbeth about the prophecy he gets the idea of wanting to be the new king and feels that Duncan should isn’t fit to be the king. After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a brief argument on wither Macbeth should kill Duncan.
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
Macbeth is responsible for his destruction because in life we make our own decisions however he was heavily influenced by the three witches and Lady Macbeth. The witches foretell Macbeth becoming king and Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill the king, which backfires on her. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can be compared to Ahab and Jezebel in the Bible in that they both got selfish and went after things that would catch up with them and cost them their lives. Macbeth is ultimately responsible for the decisions he made but he was first influenced by the three witches visiting him telling him he would be king.
It is clear that it was Macbeth’s fault for his downfall because of he, himself chose the wrong path. He had the choice of avoiding people but, he did not even after feeling guilty of what he did. Macbeth’s downfall in life cannot be blamed on anyone else, but
Macbeth is also a power hungry man who would do just about anything to achieve his goal of becoming King. When Macbeth first hears the prophecies from the three witches he instantly became invested with the journey to become king. Similar to Lady Macbeth, nothing was going to come between him and his potential power, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man. That function is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.52-55). This quote exemplifies how Macbeth’s initial solution to becoming king was murder.