Who Is Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

The desire for power has the ability to impair the decisions of a typically secure individual and crumble the lives of people around him/her. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's hunger for power leads her to convince her husband to kill innocent people. This drive overall stems from her strong inner ambition. Each one of her character traits directly affect the choices that she makes, and those choices are sometimes harmful. Lady Macbeth's strong ambition, persuasiveness, and extreme guilt are responsible for her downfall.

From the beginning of the novel, Lady Macbeth's strongest character trait has been her ambition. Once she hears of Macbeth's prophecy to become king, her mind immediately turns to murder: “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor,

At first, Macbeth is reluctant to murdering his friend. Lady Macbeth responds to this by questioning Macbeth’s bravery and masculinity: “Art thou afeard / To be in the same in thine own act and valor / As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life / And live a coward in thine own esteem / Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ” / Like the poor cat i' the' adage?” (1.7.42-46). Lady Macbeth is calling Macbeth a coward, and comparing him to a poor cat in an old story. This is one of her techniques of manipulation; insults. Macbeth is then provoked by these words, and feels the need to go through with the murder. Lady Macbeth also threatens Macbeth in this scene, “And wakes it now, to look so green and pale / At what it did so freely? From this time / Such I account thy love”(1.7.37-39). Here, she tells Macbeth that think of their love as something that it not real because it is built off fear. This is her other technique of persuasion; threats. She threatens Macbeth to not value their love anymore because of how much of a coward he is, and how he does not stick with his feelings. The moment Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan, is the start of their downfall. However, Lady Macbeth's ambitious and manipulative character takes a complete turn once Duncan is dead, and the guilt settles

This is shown in the sleepwalking scene, “Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. / Look not so pale.—I tell you yet again, / Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on's grave” (5.1.43-45). Lady Macbeth is restless over fear, guilt and paranoia. This causes her to sleepwalk at night while speaking of her worries. In this scene, Lady Macbeth reassures herself that no matter how guilty she feels, Banquo will not come back, and that she should just look normal and go to bed. This shows regret in Lady Macbeth. If she had not been so desperate for the throne, to the point where she helped kill innocent people, she would not have to feel this extreme guilt. So much guilt, that she chose to kill