Preview

Macbeths Downfall

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
498 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Macbeths Downfall
Macbeth
In the play Macbeth, The character of Macbeth is introduced as a brave, loyal man. As the play progresses, Macbeth starts to degenerate into a murderous tyrant. The factor that led to his degeneration of character was his ability to be easily influenced by others. This intensified his drive and ambition to become King of Scotland. This flaw led to his downfall and later, death.
At the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as a loyal, brave and loving man. Macbeth's loyalty and bravery is shown when one of the Scottish nobles, Angus, is sent from Duncan to pronounce him Thane of Cawdor. "And for an earnest of a greater honor,/ He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor,/ In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,/ For it is thine"(1.3.105-108). This quote shows that Macbeth was recognized for his loyalty to his country, and in return the King named him Thane of Cawdor. In his letter to Lady Macbeth he says, "This have I thought good to deliver/ thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou/ might'st not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant/ of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell" (1.5.10-14). This quote shows Macbeths loving nature because he refers to his wife as his ‘dearest partner of greatness'. Macbeth's flaw that led to his downfall was his ability to be influenced and manipulated by others. When talking to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill Duncan. Macbeth gives in to her plans and says, "I am settled and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat./Away, and mock the time with fairest show./ False face must hide what the false heart doth/ know"(1.7.92-96). This shows how Macbeth was introduced, by Lady Macbeth, to the concept of murdering to become King. Macbeth's decisions were also influenced by the witches and their prophecies. If the witches never told Macbeth that he was to become Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of Scotland, he would not have had the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    While Macbeth’s “vaulting ambition” plays the most vital role in the quick end to his newfound empire in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, exterior forces including Lady Macbeth and the persuasive acts performed by the witches both contribute to the eventual beheading of one of Scotland’s greatest warriors, Macbeth himself. Macbeth loses part of himself the moment he takes the life of a friend, uncle, and respected King, Duncan.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shakespeare’s masterpiece of a play, ‘Macbeth’, carefully depicts that Macbeth’s character was not ruined by fate but rather by damaging errors in his personality. Macbeth’s dangerous quality of ambition brings about his downfall as well as his treachery against his king, his tyranny and also his imaginativeness that eventually lures him into the murder. Although Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth’s decisions were greatly influenced by other characters in his text, it was Macbeth that ultimately decided to listen to these influences due to the many faults in his character.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ambition In The Great Gatsby

    • 3297 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The witches tell Macbeth that he would soon be rewarded with the title Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and the future king of Scotland. Macbeth. Although he questions the validity of the prophecies, Macbeth is curious to know more. Before he was able to question the witches any further they had vanished into thin air, to which restless Macbeth exaggerated out loud, “Stay you imperfect speakers. Tell me more. /By Finel’s death, I know I am Thane of Glamis, /But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor live /A prosperous gentleman, and to be king / Stands not within my belief, / No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence /You owe me this strange intelligence” (Shakespeare, 1.3.68-74). Macbeth’s curiosity feeds his desire to attain more knowledge about the prophecies and the use of irony aids in displaying his eagerness to know more about his future. Macbeth does not understand how he can be named Thane of Cawdor while the current Thane still lives. This is ironic because little does he know that the Thane had been removed of his title under the charge of treason and that Macbeth had been appointed the new Thane. The…

    • 3297 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth S Passions

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages

    points which contribute greatly to Macbeth's degeneration are the prophecy which was told to him by the witches, how Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth's judgment, and finally Macbeth's long time ambition which drove his desire to be king. Macbeth's growing character degenerates from a noble man to violent individual.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth shows his love for Lady Macbeth when he addresses his wife as “my dearest love.” Lady Macbeth shows her love for Macbeth by helping him achieve his goals. She persuades her husband into going after the crown even though he is pulling him back from doing so. Lady Macbeth believes in Macbeth and will do anything to help him achieve his destiny. When Macbeth’s guilty conscious began to come out Lady Macbeth made sure to comfort him after he had killed Duncan. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both make sure to show their love and support for each other throughout the…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth's Downfall

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages

    If one has the firmness of killing another, will that person collapse to the forces of guilt and turn themselves in, or will that person suffer the effects of guilt and try to live through their troubles? Guilt can cause many people to turn themselves in or can make people succumb into a deep hole. In the play "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare reveals that the effects of guilt can cause the downfall of one's status and more importantly, their inner being.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    To begin with, Macbeth is greatly influenced by Lady Macbeth. She “is depicted by Shakespeare as an equal of Macbeth in the realm of ambition and ruthlessness; without her, in fact, Macbeth's courage may never have reached the ‘sticking-place’” (Moss & Wilson 7). She convinces him to commit the murder of King Duncan, as well as convinces him that murder is the only way to achieve their ambition. Rather than listening to his own conscience, which tells him to “...proceed no further in this business” (Shakespeare I.VII.34), Macbeth allows his wife to manipulate and convince him by accusing him of not being a man and expresses that she would “...dashed the brains out...”…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Blind Ambition

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the tragic play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth begins as an honorable man and heroic soldier who proves his value to king Duncan. However, a witches prophecy that Macbeth will become king plants a seed in his mind that begins to control his thinking and actions. Macbeth's ambition to be king blinds him from his morals, leading to tragedy for all.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth was a noble man before he met the three witches and let his ambition take over. After hearing his predictions from the witches, Macbeth is named Thane of Cawdor, and this makes him become too ambitious. At first Macbeth was focused on becoming the king, but his ambition was not enough to make him to want to murder Duncan. When Duncan says that Malcolm will be the next king Macbeth became very upset. He says to himself, “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o’erleap, for in my way it lies, Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is down, to see”(Ⅰ.ⅳ.48-53). After learning that Malcolm would be king Macbeth’s ambition went into overdrive. This was the beginning of Macbeth’s tragic…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth's Power

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout reading the play, Macbeth changes a lot from being a man of loyalty and honesty, to a man of whom is power hungry and greedy. This shows how the more power you receive the more power you want; which in many cases, such as this one leads to destruction. Many of the choices that Macbeth made were influenced by the power that he had, and this power began to take over him. This then lead to greed and destruction of not only others, but himself as well.…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth’s real tragedy is his marriage lies with the fault of his wife Lady Macbeth (Thompson 1). “Macbeth's violent behavior is correctly understood as, and deemed to be, bravery because it is in service of his friends and "cousins." His loyalty is what is being lauded. But, mangled by the blood-spotted hands of his wife, he becomes a traitor to his "brother band" and to himself. Her monomaniacal ambition changes him into a monster.” She is literally "awakened" by her blind and vaulting ambition to realize she did not want the kind of man she thought she wanted (Scheil 2). “She is desperate to fit in with her husband's warrior society, and fails to do so.”…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth was a noble and loyal man, who would never harm his King. If it wasn't for the influences of the witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an honorable title in itself. The downfall of Macbeth was ignited by the actions by those around him, mainly, and eventually, his ambitions took over. Macbeth never had the intention of killing his king, but was ultimately persuaded that it was the correct thing to do. With his wife’s cajoling, and the three witches’ foretelling of his future Macbeth, will stop at nothing to gain position as King of Scotland.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 1250 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Macbeth is a very kind, noble man and is very polite to everyone especially to the king. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth undergoes a transformation which brings him the crown, for a short period of time, which leads to his death. There are three factors which led him to this tragedy. Firstly, the most minor situation are the three witches. Secondly, Macbeth's ambition is a big factor which led to Macbeths downfall. There are a lot of things like soliloquies, characterization, language features and so on that will lead reveal Macbeth as a visible villain. Lastly, Lady Macbeth played a very big role which led to Macbeths downfall and how he became an evil man.…

    • 1250 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Shakespeare's famous play Macbeth is one of his bloodiest and most ambition driven plays. In Macbeth there are several important characters beginning with three mischievous witches who continuous cause trouble for the main character, Macbeth. The witches play an important role in the play as they predict Macbeth’s fate through prophecies and apparitions. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth encounters the witches and they tell him what they see is awaiting him in the future. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! / thane of Cawdor! / that shalt be king hereafter (1:3:49-51)!” Here they are telling Macbeth who is already thane of Glamis, that his fate is to become the thane of Cawdor. After becoming thane of Cawdor, he shall become the King.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Subsequently the great battle between the rebels and Macbeth, the witches materialized and begin to tell Macbeth’s prophecy. The witches commence to chant of how the great Macbeth would become Thane of Glamis, Cawdor, and then King of Scotland. After seconds the witches vanished leaving Macbeth speechless since he becomes Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth clearly states “ I am thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings” (I.iii.137-142). The idea of how Macbeth is amazed he is Thane of Cawdor and more importantly he begins to have thoughts of killing King Duncan. Macbeth is clearly known as a hero because he serves his country and fights in many battles righteously. Macbeth’s honor and loyalty also contributes him becoming Thane of Cawdor. Even Though Macbeth was loyal and deserves the rightful place of being the King’s right hand, but Macbeth was exposed to his prophecy by the witches…

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics