The Downfall of Macbeth's Character in William Shakespeare's Play

He let superstition, greed and evil take over his mind, which resulted in many deaths. He turned from being... ... middle of paper ... ...nd the role it has in the play. One can only wonder if Macbeth ever even had a chance of doing what was right, after he heard the witches' prophecies. In conclusion, I believe the witches' supernatural prophecies, Lady Macbeth's strict pressure and Macbeth's own greedy ambition and betrayal add to the tragic events that take place in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. 'Brave Macbeth' at the start of the play succumbs to pressure, expectations and greed to become 'Devilish Macbeth' at the closing lines to the play.

As the play proceeds, Macbeth becomes more reliant on the witches prophecy to drive him to become king.They are obviously deceiving and are only saying these things for their own self benefit. Macbeth causes himself to become more depressed because he is guilty of killing King Duncan. This influences him to become ignorant to his actions of killing, this makes him kill more people for his self benefit. He would never have wanted to kill King Duncan or even become king in the first place if the witches had not influenced him by telling him this prophecy. Even though the Witches play a major part in causing Macbeth to kill and cause tragedy and start the wheels in motion, Lady macbeth and his own ambitions are the real culprits of corrupting Macbeth.

Thus, he is very disturbed and unsettled if he should continue with the murder. In conclusion, Macbeth possesses a lot of evil traits and he is one of the most unique entities in the play. He is very ambitious, but, on the other hand, he is even willing to commit a crime such as murdering his King and cousin, so he can obtain the crown. Since the witches’ prophecies, all the darkness has gathered in his head. Thus, all of these songs are devoted to Macbeth because it represents one specific part of Macbeth’s life.

This all revolves around the idea of the unnatural influencing Macbeth and causes much of the tragedy within the play to occur. Lady Macbeth wishes to throw out her morality for the sake of gaining a title. With the help of invisible sprits, she wants to make herself able to commit a terrible act of murder to make her dreams of the royal life come true, without having reservations or remorse. She approaches Macbeth with her intent to kill King Duncan. Macbeth, although wanting th... ... middle of paper ... ...s insanity and madness which he has brought upon himself from the witches prophecy, his ambition was so overpowering that it took control of his mind and focused only on success and power which eventually led him to insanity.

Macbeth’s ambition is clearly demonstrated when he says, I am his kinsman and his loyal subject… Then I am his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bare the knife myself… I have no... ... middle of paper ... ...end just to obtain his position as king. He would abuse his powers by killing people and not worrying about his duties as a king. Macbeth struggles in obtaining in sleep because he was unable to think straight. This sleep was partially one of the reasons for his death. Macduff’s ambition was to kill Macbeth, for his family and Scotland, so he is not like Macbeth who wants to kill everyone just for the throne.

They are clearly evil and deceiving and they slowly lead to the corruption of his character. Macbeth creates his own misery when he is driven by this own sense of guilt. This causes him to become insecure as to the reasons for his actions, which cause him to commit more murders. He would never have thought seriously about killing King Duncan without the witches influence. However it's more realistic to believe that Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's ambitions, and his own responsibilities lead to his downfall, not just the witches.

The contrast between Macbeth's ambition and his passivity-caused by reluctance to do evil-is depicted clearly by his actions and thoughts that occur before he murders Duncan. Macbeth focuses on "the deterrent, not the incentives"; he is plagued by the "spectral bloody dagger" rather than the though... ... middle of paper ... ...o Macbeth, they point to the unfolding of his evil. He was ambitious enough to want to be king but not shrewd enough to have thought through the eventual consequences of his conniving. Although there were many contributing factors to Macbeth's downfall, the primary cause was his own character flaw. His internal contradiction between ambition and passivity allowed him to become susceptible to the witches' prophecies and Lady Macbeth's wickedness and eventually led to his downfall and death.

Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is morally wrong as demonstrated in (I, vii, 31-32) where he states, “…we will proceed no further in this business: he hath honour’d me of late”. Yet it is his vaulting ambition that gets the better of him as he shows signs of wanting to kill Duncan. Macbeth says, “The Prince of Cumberland! – That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap…Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires …” (I, v, 49 – 52).

Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play. Macbeth’s rise to the throne was brought about by the same external forces that ensure his downfall.

When Macbeth the main character is introduced he is said to be “brave” and a “noble” solider, however by the end of the play he is greedy bloodthirsty who betrayed his king. I believe that the murder was brought about by ambition because it is lady Macbeths and Macbeths ambitions that go so far that they kill Duncan, Macbeth seeks power, whereas Banquo who was with Macbeth when they meet the witches, doesn’t think about what the have said. Lady Macbeth wants to become Queen. The other factors could be the witches, Fate Macbeth, L. Macbeth and Duncan. The witches appear at the start of the play, this would have been dramatically very effective because in this period most people were scared of witches and believed what they said.