Unleashing His Demons: Blame In Shakespeare's Macbeth

As tragic as Macbeth becomes through the play, his paranoia is also a factor that leads to his ultimate downfall, morally and physically. Macbeth, now a traitor after the assassination of the king, is paranoid of anybody who may threaten his position or how he attained it. After killing the king, Macbeth’s conscience is guilt-ridden and he is no longer able to sleep peacefully. His only worry is that someone may be plotting his murder, just as he strategized the death of the former King. If there was nothing stopping Macbeth from killing Duncan and committing treason, who is to say that no one else will make the same decision, killing Macbeth?

Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I.iii.49-51). These three prophecies cause macbeth to become extremely egotistical which is amplified by his ambition. This Grandiose self worth ultimately leads to him murdering duncan and his best friend Banquo. Towards the end of act III, Macbeth’s ego begins to diminish so he returns to the witches once again.

He says “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself / And falls on th’other”(ActⅠScene ⅶ) Macbeth has enough self-awareness to realize the dangers of killing the king yet his temptation to complete the prophecy is too strong. Another example of ambition is when Lady Macbeth plans the murder of Duncan and continually urges Macbeth to do it in order to fulfill the prophecy and desire. Lady Macbeth puts aside her reasoning and lets her temptation run her actions. Ambition is what drives the both of them to commit such atrocities. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth wanted to be powerful so bad that they were willing to compromise their morals in order to be successful.

However it was the witches’ prophecies that fuelled Macbeth’s ambition and led him to kill Duncan not because they were evil. Shakespeare allows us to witness the corruption of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth through a range of linguistic and dramatic devices. Nearer the end of the play Macbeth demonstrates that he has no conscience however lady

They mock him, taunting him about how far he has fallen. He responds in anger, wanting to hear more prophecies. He obviously feels more entitled now, and his ambition has thoroughly succeeded in corrupting him to the point of no return. He is now king; his friend (though, in his eyes as of late, his enemy,) Banquo, is dead and out of the way; and he is on a mission to kill any others who stand in his way and jeopardize his crown. The witches inform him that none of women born will kill him, but Macbeth still insists that he will kill not only Macduff, but his entire family and staff, just to be on the safe side of things.

Women are manipulative to men, women try to get what they want, They are evil. In act one scene 7, macbeth is told to kill duncan by lady macbeth but macbeth says he will not and cannot do it. Lady macbeth calls macbeth a “ coward ”, and also says “ I dare do all that to become a man.” lady macbeth seemed to love her husband at the beginning of the story, but then she started to change. Lady macbeth is materialistic, she wants to be queen and have power over everyone and in her eyes if she's queen and macbeth is king she can do whatever because she can manipulate macbeth like she has done when he killed duncan. She feels like if she rules her husband she has control over everything.

He visits them once more and demands that they predict his future, and the Weird Sisters prophesize: “laugh to scorn the power of a man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (IV.i.79-81), to which he responds with, “I’ll make assurance double sure and take a bond of fate” (IV.i.83-84). Macbeth keeps the prophecy in mind which gives him no reason to fear, yet takes fate into his own hands by planning to kill Macduff. Shakespeare is showing the readers how Macbeth’s violence has developed; he used to have a guilty conscious over thinking such violent things, yet now, he can effortlessly state that he is going to kill another person. Readers can clearly see that

Who is the True Villain in Macbeth Historian Lord Acton once cautioned, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the three witches use their supernatural powers to lead Macbeth astray from his destiny, which ultimately leads to many murders and the corruption of Scotland. The witches are clearly the true villains, for they caused the downfall of Macbeth by telling him his future. Macbeth was manipulated into the killings and the people who manipulated him are the witches.

From a happy marriage to the Macbeths' no longer having love in their relationship and only having fear, guilt and hunger for power. Through it all would you consider Lady Macbeth’s suicide was a cowardly case? MacBeth did not care about who he had to kill in order to be high and powerful. You can see his obsession to become the king and have that title, just by hearing the witches prophecy.”All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is portrayed as emotionally unstable. Macbeth presents himself as weak and guilt ridden. Macbeth exclaims, “I’ll go no more./ I am afraid to think what I have done;/ Look on ’t again /I dare not.” (2.2.52-55). Macbeth shows that he is remorseful and cannot handle the truth in regards to his actions. Lady Macbeth, however, is initially unfazed by the idea of murder and retains this mindset immediately after Duncan is murdered.