Examples Of Who Is To Blame For Macbeth's Downfall

Who is to Blame for Macbeth’s Downfall?

Macbeth is a Shakespearean play written during the Elizabethan Era, it is set roughly four hundred years before it was written. Macbeth demonstrates what can happen when one does not follow their conscience. The main character, Macbeth, starts as a very strong character that is very admired. He wins the battle for his country when it seemed that they lost. He is honored greatly after the battle by King Duncan, it felt like Macbeth would be forever loyal to his King then. Like every man, he has ambitions, desires, his conscience goes against his desires, but eventually fails to stop it. It all started when the three witches told him about their prophecies. Since then Macbeth has had a war going inside
of him, part of him, the evil part, wanted to kill Duncan and become King, the other part told him not to become evil, and serve loyally to the King. There were three aspects involved in Macbeth's ill fated future, the three witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth himself. Personally, I believe Macbeth is the main cause for his downfall. The three witches were what sparked everything.
Macbeth and Banquo met them on their travels. Thane of Glamis is satisfied with his position, until the three witches tell him, "hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor, thou shalt be King hereafter." (I, iii.). When they reach their destination, King Duncan actually gave Macbeth the position of Thane of Cawdor, and start contemplating of how the rest of the prophecy will come true. In Polanski and Kirosawa's versions of Macbeth in the films, Banquo and Macbeth actually laughed at the prophecy, emphasizing on how they thought it was silly. I do not believe that the witches are the reason for what happened to Macbeth; they had a prophecy and simply told it to him. Some say that the three witches were the reason for the start of everything, and there was no true prophecy, but a counter-argument would be that they knew Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor. Later on, Macbeth tells his wife what had happened by writing her letter. Macbeth learns that the only way he can become King is to kill Duncan, and get rid of the heir, and also prevent Banquo’s son from gaining access to the throne. Lady Macbeth begins to consider what "impedes thee from the golden round" (I, v). She desperately wants her Macbeth to be King and she calls upon the "aids of sprits"(I, v) to help her in getting Macbeth to kill Duncan. There is a huge juxtaposition between Macbeth's reaction and Lady Macbeth's reaction. She seems more bloodthirsty and is very keen for
Macbeth to fulfill the prophecy. Lady Macbeth is not a very unique character in the play. She is almost like any other woman out there. Nevertheless, she was not the reason for Macbeth's murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth did encourage him, she gave him extra motivation, but without her, Macbeth would've done it anyway, maybe a little bit later on. Today, several adults and parents are blaming video games for their children's violent behavior, which is similar to this case. It is not the external forces around someone that makes him do something, it all comes from that person alone. Lady Macbeth is the video games that supposedly affect the children, but actually has an extremely small effect. But that doesn't mean Lady Macbeth had no role, she had a big role. She came up with the plan, and was the master of all the scheming, she told Macbeth to "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it." (I, v). Macbeth also shows signs of insanity, for example like when the dagger appeared in mid-air, from his imagination "is this a dagger which I see before me, let me clutch thee." (II, i). Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth the "deed is done." (II, ii). Macbeth is not only struggling for mortality, but also his sanity could be a big reason for the downward spiral of Macbeth. Macbeth is a unique character.
He , like a lot of people, has a war going inside him, his desires against his conscience. Macbeth first seemed that he would never betray his King. He was the chief motive for his downfall. As mentioned before, his starts becoming insane, hallucinating, seeing the people he had killed, for example, Banquo "-The table's full. -Here is a place reserved, sir. -Where? -Here my good lord. What is't that moves your highness? -Which of you have done this? -What, my good lord? -Thou canst not say I did it: never shake thy glory locks at me"(iii,iv), Macbeth saw Banquo's ghost, hallucinating, the lords of Scotland start saying that their King is not well. Macbeth's conscience is telling him that King Duncan is his King, and that he should be loyal to him no matter-what. His desires, on the other hand, are urging him to kill Duncan and take the throne. This inner struggle does happen often even today, and the stronger side wins. The reason for Macbeth's downfall is obviously shared between all three aspects. It is like a tree, the witches pushed Macbeth from on top of the tree, there were branches to hold him up, his conscience, but gravity, which are his desires and his wife, were too strong, and he eventually did the deed. "I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the
other."(i,vii). My opinion is that all three aspects had a role in Macbeth's downfall, some more than the other; the witches gave Macbeth the starting spark, then his wife gave him encouragement and a plan, but in the end, it was he who did it, it was he who did it because of himself. There would be numerous advocates on any side, each believing their own opinions on which side was responsible, but I believe that external forces matter far less than inner forces, which are in this case Macbeth's desires.