Lady Macbeth's Downfall

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, mentioned three ways by which one can persuade others: ethos, persuasion through trust in the speaker; pathos, persuasion through appeals to emotion; and logos, persuasion through appeals to logic. These three ways were used by many writers to write pieces of fiction, and by many world leaders to make history, persuading a nation to go to the battlefields. In the same sense, William Shakespeare, the writer of many well-known plays, uses these three methods as the backbone of most of his writings. One of these well-known plays, The Tragedy of Macbeth, is about a war hero, Macbeth, who ultimately murders the king of Scotland in order to take the throne. The protagonist, Macbeth, transforms from a war hero to a tyrant and continues to choose evil because he is persuaded by other characters in the play through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos, proving that the poor influence of surrounding people can result in one's own downfall.

However, some may say that Lady Macbeth is the culprit to Macbeth's descent to evil. Lady Macbeth is the one who convinced Macbeth to kill king duncan instead of waiting for the power of becoming king she wanted him to take it. Also, Macbeth never would have killed all the innocent people he did if he hadn't started with duncan. After killing King duncan Macbeth became paranoid which lead to the killing of banquo, his closest friend. If lady macbeth never convinced him to kill King Duncan nobody else would have died. On the contrary everything that happens is a result of what Macbeth does, no matter how much convincing from lady macbeth. In the end it all falls on Macbeth calling the shots.

William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a

Macbeth commits murders and violent acts to earn his absolute power, but his corrupt mindset of yearning power leads to instability in the Scotland. After hearing from the witches, Macbeth admits that, “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.” (Shakespeare 1.3.52-55). Macbeth is influenced by his greed for power to use ruthless actions, in this case to kill Duncan to receive the crown he thinks he needs to earn that power. Overwhelmed by his greed, he is already thinking about the “murder” as he

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. Moreover, this realization leads Lady Macbeth to think about murdering King Duncan for her and Macbeth to gain power. In addition to Lady Macbeth’s cruel character, she reveals her desirous thoughts towards the crown. Lady Macbeth continues her speech and mentions her unquenching thirst to take Duncan’s power. “Make thick my blood. Stop the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace with the effect and it!” (lines 33-37). Again, Lady Macbeth shows her lust for power. Her exceptional amount of greed continues to motivate

Shakespeare was one of the greatest writers of his time. Throughout his plays he constantly uses different metaphors and motifs to give a more detailed picture of the play to the reader. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the motif of blood often represents guilt and courage.

Due to the killings, her guilt began to change her as a person. With the appearance of blood, Lady Macbeth realizes what horror she has created. Blood haunts Lady Macbeth in the worst possible way. Lady Macbeth can not wash the blood from her hands, staining permanent guilt. “Out, damned spot!... yet who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him” (5.1.36). Lady Macbeth feels as if she can not be mentally cleansed until her hands are. Lady Macbeth's failure to relieve the guilt causes her to commit suicide. “The queen, my lord, is dead… she should have died hereafter” (5.5.20). Lady Macbeth had too much guilt to deal with which is why she needed to be in peace. Blood changed Lady Macbeth and overwhelmed her with guilt.

The need for Macbeth’s trial stands due to the given evidence for the charges against humanity, murder, and treason. He ruthlessly killed King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family. Their deaths are in vain if we do not indict him. Macbeth needs a prosecution because he willingly took the immoral path of aimless slaughter and selfish ambition. Even if Lady Macbeth pressured Macbeth, he killed King Duncan impelled by his own selfish ambition and lethal thoughts. Those cowardly notions symbolized as the imaginary dagger covered with blood (II. I, 50). However, his other assassinations were purely from his heart. We especially notice his greed when he plots to kill Banquo since Banquo’s offspring could be kings given by the witches. (III. I, 52-53).

There are many reasons a once great man may fall. Hubris leads Macbeth into taking far too courageous actions, his lack of questioning makes him blind, and his own actions lay the blame of the Murder solely on his shoulders. While most can agree Lady Macbeth had her part in persuading him, one cannot blame her for the act simply because she wanted it to happen. Macbeth is the murderer, his wife didn't make one.

The witches played a colossal role in Macbeth’s downfall and ultimately, his death. Since the first part of the prophecy stated Macbeth as being the new Thane of Cawdor, he believed he could continue to become king as well. In knowing his prediction, Macbeth also realized that since the king was in good health, so he would have to kill the king himself. For the rest of his prophecy to come true he would have to kill the king for himself. “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.51).The witches sparked this greed and ambition in Macbeth that caused him to kill the king. Not only did the witches tempt Macbeth, they also deceived him and

In August 1606, the play Macbeth – written by the ultimate playwright William Shakespeare- was published. Macbeth discusses how murder and greed can be altered to a point where it becomes a person's way of acting and thinking. Lady Macbeth is the leading character in the play of Shakespeare. Her ambitions and power is the main reason for her corruption. She used her position to gain power and stay strong enough to support her husband and lord, Macbeth, however it drove him to evil, causing him to murder and cause distractions. As a result, their relationship feeds the story and pushes the engines of the play's tragedy. The subject or theme of the play is ambitions as we can see this with both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

“Blood itself - the color, the smell, and importance - is vital to life and shocking to see.”-Anonymous. Throughout Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, blood plays an important role. Blood represents guilt for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It’s not until after the murder of Duncan that their guilt begins to manifest.

Those who are weak often manipulate others to do the things they cannot. Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth describes two characters’ desire for power, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth displays many facets to her personality. She is such a diverse and complicated character that it is hard to know if she is truly evil or weak. However, no matter how strong and evil Lady Macbeth appears to be to others, her weakness is clearly apparent when she is alone.

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. 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’.