In The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the corrupt nature of humankind creates a basis for Macbeth’s downfall. It shows how his desire to have power and become king ultimately destroys him. The nature of evil in Shakespeare’s play comes from the immoral actions of the witches, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth. This evil starts with only an influence; however, Shakespeare shows that evil truly originates in one’s own heart. There are multiple outside influences that drive Macbeth into insanity, such as the witches. They plant diabolical ideas into Macbeth’s head, and these ideas become reality when Lady Macbeth turns an idea into an action. Evil functions as a linear progression beginning with one action which leads to another, then to another …show more content…
When Banquo says “Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear things that do sound so fair?” (Shakespeare 1.3.152), it shows that Macbeth is fearful about the witches’ words and the future. This is the start of the long road of Macbeth’s self-destruction. The witches churned up Macbeth’s evil subconscious thoughts and turned them into reality. They cause Macbeth to start to question his own judgment and once Macbeth realizes he is in trouble, it’s too late. “When Macbeth argues with himself, it seems fated that he will always lose. His conviction about killing Duncan is sincere and powerful, and yet his reason is consistently thwarted by moments of contradiction that nullify his arguments.” (Clark 39) He comes back to the witches demanding more visions of hope but in return gets nothing. This action, that was once only an idea, becomes much more because of the evil witches …show more content…
Macbeth chose the path of deception, immoral actions, and murder. This ultimately caused personal pain and guilt of which overtook his personal being and caused his own death. Lady Macbeth is the most corrupt of all characters in Shakespeare’s tragedy.
She has the largest influence on Macbeth and causes him to act on his lingering thoughts about murder. She overtakes Macbeth’s thoughts completely, focusing all of her time and energy on the murder of the king. Lady Macbeth sides with evil forces and says, “Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! (Shakespeare 1.5.440) The path she goes down is one that neither her nor her husband could survive. Macbeth is driven to insanity early on in the play, and the blame for his insanity is Lady Macbeth. In the play, his insanity becomes a problem when they invite guests over for dinner. Lady Macbeth hides his ridiculous behavior by saying, “Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought He will again be well: if much you note him, You shall offend him and extend his passion: Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?” (Shakespeare 3.4.1339-1344) She pushes her husband to commit a crime that she wanted more than Macbeth. In the end, she causes her own self-destruction and murder,
Here, Macbeth realizes that if something is not done to Banquo, his sons will become Kings. Macbeth can not have this. He had already worried that his soul will go to hell for what he had done. His fear become evident in this scene also, "But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo Stick deep;" [Act III, S I, L 53-54] Macbeth has Banquo murdered,
Throughout the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth continuously makes bad choices and the consequences of these decisions catch up to Macbeth and result in his mental deterioration, however with Macbeth’s almost infant feel for ambition this makes him susceptible to manipulation, which then grows into an insatiable appetite for power. The acts of this, with the manipulation from outsiders, causes his blind ambition, his false sense of security and then finally his guilt, which all contribute to his derangement. Some will argue that all the choices made by Macbeth were continuously his own, that he had these opportunities as a man to put his foot down and say no, and be able to draw the line where things should come to an end, the fault of a mental deterioration was not there, that from the beginning Macbeth was an evil man who had a twisted way of achieving things. Macbeth’s ambition is to remain king for as long as possible, and he will kill anybody who stops this from happening. Macbeth feels as if he was given a childless rule, and that his legacy will not continue on in fear his rule will be taken away by someone outside his family.
Banquo was a threat to him because he was witness when the witches told them the prophecy. Macbeth said, “He's also clever enough to act when the time’s right. He’s the only one I’m afraid of ”(p.51). In the beginning he was hesitant and didn’t want to kill, but now it seemed natural to him. Overtime, Macbeth’s personality slowly changed and is willing to dispose those who pose a threat to him. Macbeth said to his wife, “My dear wife, My mind’s full of scorpions! You know that Banquo and his son Fleance are alive.” Macbeth destroyed himself by his wicked and selfish ambitions. He let his greed lead him to
Lady Macbeth has a greater control on Macbeth’s actions than any other character in Macbeth apart from the Weïrd Sisters. She is well known for her persuading speeches to her husband, convincing him to fulfill the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth’s manly qualities, and informs him that only when he follows through with the murder that
From the beginning of the play, Macbeth undergoes a complete change in character--from a virtuous nobleman into a monster. He has a tragic weakness--ambition--which, when released, draws him into a web of evil and corruption that finally leaves him with none of the noble human qualities he possessed at the beginning of the play.
Later in the play Banquo starts to have a bad feeling about Macbeth. "Thou hast it now: King, Cowdor, Glamis, all,/ as the weird women promised, and I fear/ thou play'dst most foully for `t." III i 1-3, this is a quote from Banquo explaining how he feels about Macbeth's predictions coming true. Macbeth realizes this about Banquo and he starts to have feelings about killing Banquo. This isn't the only reason he feels this way, the witches had also made predictions for Banquo. "Thou shall get kings, though thou be none." I iii 67, Macbeth doesn't want any of Banquo's family to rule Scotland; he wants his own family to continue to rule. Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his on Fleance. The murderers end up killing Banquo, but Fleance gets away.
After murdering Duncan, Macbeth feels that he needs to kill Banquo. He is afraid that Banquo is going to be a problem for him. He is suspicious that Banquo believes Macbeth had something to do with Duncan's murder, "Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be feared" (3.1.47-49). He plans to kill him, though Banquo has made no direct threat against Macbeth. He speaks of feeling inferior to Banquo, even though he is king. "There is none but he/ Whose being I do fear; and under him/ My genius is rebuked" (3.1.53-55). Banquo is Macbeth's closest friend, he is starting to lose trust in everyone around him.
Lady Macbeth becomes victim of her own greedy ambitions, which leads her to commit suicide. Lady Macbeth realizes that only she is responsible for the evil doing of Macbeth. Macbeth would never have done any of those horrible things if it were not for the murder of King Duncan, which was forced by Lady Macbeth. These thoughts were killing Lady Macbeth inside her heart. In Act 5, scene 1, the discussion between doctor and gentlewoman shows Lady Macbeth is suffering from the mental illness due to her guilt. She comes in and starts to rub her hands, in a washing motion and says, '' out damned spot! Out I say ... yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?'' (5.1.30-35) ,in this quote the word blood emphasizes her guilt and she is trying to get rid of that guilt by ''rubbing'' hands. Lady Macbeth could not handle the burden of guilt and commits suicide. In Act 1 Lady Macbeth is willing to do anything, even wants to lose her feminine qualities, to acquire power and now in act 5 her sleep walking, mental illness and suicide attempt represents that greed has controlled over her rationality. In addition, when Macbeth's servant gives him news that Lady Macbeth is dead, he replies, ''she should have died hereafter'' (5.5.17). It shows that greed has made Macbeth so irrational and senseless that he is unable to react on his wife's death, which he used to
Good vs. Evil in Macbeth The good characters in Macbeth are less interesting than the evil ones. Everybody has an evil seed planted in them. Only the really evil person acts on them and commits something morally wrong. Like a Macbeth. When Macbeth first received the prophecies, he actually considered them.
We start to see Lady Macbeth’s actions have a huge impact on Macbeth’s character as he transforms from a decent being to an overly bitter creature. The cause of his alteration is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is constantly excreting heartless information into his mind. "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?" (I;vii;39-41) "And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I;vii;50-51) Lady Macbeth uses these quotes to push her husband beyond limits and is therefore responsible for his dramatic change in attitude. She is constantly feeding his thoughts with negative comments and later on Macbeth realizes that he has another side to him. As he moves along to discover the concealed side of him, Macbeth falls in love with himself and begins to be drawn towards his evil desires. Because Lady Macbeth was the main cause of his new hidden discovery, she is fully responsible for opening up the door and letting the darkness in. This results in Macbeth committing both murders.
Lastly, Lady Macbeth is a huge factor in Macbeth?s evil acts. For instance, she is the one who really starts him off to kill. Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth for her satisfaction of being queen .In addition to this, she constantly questions his manliness making him feel like a sissy/wimp if he doesn?t commit this act.
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth’s loyalty towards the king has been overthrown by the prophecies. Macbeth has replaced loyalty with greed for power and betrayal. In doing so, murderous deeds have been put into action. Lady Macbeth and the witches fill Macbeth with such ambition, which lead to the death of him. The impact of Macbeth’s ambition reflect death and guilt upon himself and others. Regarding Macbeth’s loss of loyalty, he fools many around him, being devious and cunning. Being against divine right, Macbeth commits a dreadful sin that throws Scotland in an unnatural state. Easily persuaded, Macbeth’s ambition was the success and fall of him.
Macbeth’s life is a tragic story about how he was deceived and molded into an evil man. His evil, sparked by lady Macbeth, began with the murder of king Duncan. Macbeth’s heart couldn’t handle the sin but Lady Macbeth forced him to change his mind. Macbeth’s evil was a result of his overconfidence, guilty conscience, and his human nature, all of which are traits that could be seen in any person in search of power.
Evil is a destructive force; it causes harm to those who embrace it and their victims. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fall into the hands of evil. Evil is what drives people to commit unnatural actions of destruction. Macbeth succumbs to evil through his fatal flaw, greed, and it causes him to disrupt the chain of being. When Macbeth willingly murders, massacres, lies and deceives, he loses his heath and sanity. Evil corrupts everything it touches, and Macbeth decides to be evil's servant. But, when Macbeth embraces evil, it corrupts him, and it ultimately destroys him as well. Lady Macbeth is a victim of Macbeth's fatal flaw, since she is drawn in, and becomes greedy for power herself. She pushes Macbeth into destruction when she adds the small touch that plunges Macbeth into a chain of murder, destruction, and lying followed by the loss of their sanity and health. After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are well into the depths of corruption and greed, it is clearly seen that their guilt will haunt them for the rest of their lives. The harm they have caused others will be returned to them as revenge and they have lost their sanity in order to gain power. The fate of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth clearly illustrates that to embrace evil is to negate our own need for order and well being.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, first published in 1606, is an endearing tale outlining the dangers of unchecked ambition and moral betrayal. In the subsequent centuries after first being performed, Macbeth's critics have been divided upon whether Macbeth himself was irrevocably evil, or if he was guided by the manipulation and actions of the women in the play to his ultimate demise. Although Lady Macbeth and the witches were influential with their provocations in the opening acts, it is ultimately Macbeth’s inherent immorality and his vaulting ambition, that resulted in the tragic downfall. It was Macbeth’s desire for power that abolished his loyalty and trustworthiness and led him down a path of murder. It is evident through his actions and words throughout the play as to how he led himself through a path of betrayal leading to his inescapable demise.