The Decline Of Macbeth In Shakespeare's Play

I. 36-39). The murder of King Duncan signifies the beginning of Macbeth’s descent into criminality, a plunge only quickened by the consequences of his behavior—the main form of adversity he faces. The affliction that Macbeth must confront grows when he becomes aware of three additions to the prophecy. One of these

Macbeth shows that he is willing to kill King Duncan because he is interested in the witches prophecy, after they tell him that he will become ‘Thane of Cawdor’ and then the King.

At this moment in the play Macbeth thinks that the choices he makes will not effect the witches prophecy for him. After making this statement Macbeth thinks about killing the current king Duncan. However, during this time Macbeth is conflicted because he does not think he has a good reason to kill the king. "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition. Which oer' leaps itself and falls on the other" (1.7.25-28).

The fact that Macbeth believes the witches’ prophecies are not evil nor good foreshadows how he will go on to kill any other person standing in his way to more power. His ambition blinds his mind to make him even think about ruthlessly committing a murder. This forceful way of gaining power will only lead Macbeth to become a “tyrant” in Scotland and his “fantastical” desires of killing Duncan and receiving the crown will lead Scotland to failure. Under Macbeth’s rule, Scotland seems to be in a terrible condition. With distrust among the people, there is tension all within the country, as Macbeth’s totalitarian regime had rendered the prosperity of Scotland.

Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.

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.

Macbeth is struggling and entangled with the advantage and disadvantage of killing Duncan. Macbeth appears hallucination under the temptation of power: “Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’ other senses, / Or else worth all the reset I see thee still, / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not before. There’s no such thing.

‘Macbeth’s ambition is his only weakness’. Do you agree? Macbeth’s greatest weakness is his ambition, but it is also his greatest strength. Despite his ambition being one of his major weaknesses, it is not his sole weakness he exhibits that contributes to his inevitable death.

Villain, a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. Just like the definition of villain states, they show traits just like macbeth. In Shakespeare 's “ The Tragedy of Macbeth”, the character Macbeth is displayed as the villain throughout the play. Macbeth shows the readers that his amiton gets in the way and makes him do things that are considered “evil” until the end of the play.

In Macbeth, while contemplating whether or not he should kill Duncan, Macbeth says. “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself / And falls on the other”(i.vii.25-28). Macbeth is saying that he has ambition to kill Duncan, but there is no good reason to except for him to gain power. At this point, Macbeth has little power, only ruling his own homeland, so when he does kill Duncan later in the story, he is able to keep his morals intact. He is doing something that, in his mind, he needs to do.

In the beginning, Macbeth felt a deep guilt about planning to kill King Duncan. Once he did kill him, though, his conscious slowly started ebbing away. Within a short time, he was killing and manipulating many people; he even went as far as to kill the innocent wife and children of a man whom he considered his enemy. What started out as a doubt acted upon became a quick, almost unstoppable path of destruction. Every aspect of who he was, his conscious, was covered by the dark shadow cast by the corrupting sin.

Macbeth hears the witches prophecies for him, specifically “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (I iii 151). After hearing this, his mind already reels with the idea of perhaps murdering Duncan for the role. Lady Macbeth strongly

During this time he goes through an internal conflict with himself. He argues with himself over whether or not to trust the prophecy and three witches, “This supernatural soliciting/Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,/Why hath it given me earnest of success” (1.3.243-245). Unfortunately for Macbeth the King’s son Malcolm is to named the predecessor of King Duncan. Macbeth recognizes that this means the prophecy cannot come true despite the Thane of Cawdor prediction becoming a reality. This displeases him greatly despite the fact that the king has bestowed upon him a great honor.

“If good, why do I yield to that suggestion[killing Duncan]/Whose horrid image doth unify my hair” (I, III, 144-145). This quote indicates that the force of ambition is so strong within Macbeth that even he himself cannot understand why it is making him think of killing Duncan. Likewise, Macbeth’s ambition to become king is further emphasized after Duncan names his son Malcolm as his successor. Here, Macbeth says that he will have to “oerleap,/For in my way it [Malcolm] it lies” (I, III, 55-57).

When Macbeth kills Duncan, it also begins his moral descent into darkness, as he is willing to do anything in order to continue being the ruler of Scotland “Now if you have a station in the file, Not in the worst rank of manhood, say it, And I will put that business in your bosoms Whose execution takes your enemy off.”