Although humans are influenced by the close people around us, we are ultimately judged by our individual actions. In other words, it was Macbeth’s own actions that are responsible for his downfall. In the short play Macbeth, Shakespeare exemplifies that Macbeth’s mental condition is to blame for his downfall. He delinates his argument through various examples such as his relationships with the three witches, Duncan, and Banquo. By employing different characters to emphasize Macbeth’s mental vulnerability, Shakespeare begins with an interaction of three witches and their prophecies, which begin to stir up the inner thoughts of the noble war hero, Macbeth. Despite his first instinct of finding it blasphemous to become the next king, after the …show more content…
The night that Duncan is killed, a magnificent change in his mentality was evoked, making it easier for him to conduct ill actions. Macbeth grasps the sudden ulterior power to become the king, and his emotions overthrows his conscience. In Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 2, he begins to hallucinate, “is this dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” (14). Despite Duncan not being dead, he gets ahead of himself and begins to panic, elucidating the focal point of the play. Macbeth’s reaction alone depicts the inconsistent fear that Macbeth has inside him; however, due to his crave for power, he strives to pursue his goal in killing Duncan. In contrast, after killing Duncan, Macbeth is filled with guilt and remorse, and soon after he begins to lose his mind. In the second scene, he says, “methought I heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’” (16). This quote illustrates the image of Macbeth losing both his sanity and sleep, as he is now unable to find peace while sleeping. He realizes that it is his own problem because it only addresses himself, which reinforces the theme of Macbeth being the cause of his own downfall. His own mental weakness continues to break him apart, causing him to become
The ferocious Macbeth, kills and brutally murders people that begin to stand in his way of him becoming King of Scotland. The main question that can be taken away from the play is, who is to blame for the downfall of this once mighty and courageous warrior? This question can be debated and discussed for years until the answer might be displayed but, in my opinion, I think that Lady Macbeth is the person to blame for the
Who do you blame for the downfall Macbeth, you could blame one person or three different people. I don’t think that we can just blame one person for all this trouble, I blame three different people. The
Here are the facts: we have my defendant Macbeth who has been charged with the murders of King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s wife and children. There is no denying that these are heinous crimes, but this is not solely Macbeth’s fault. He was indeed duped the three witches he came across. These crimes did not come from Macbeth, but instead the witches. Although they may have not been the ones who physically committed the crimes, they are most definitely to blame.
Macbeth’s conscience tells him again to resist temptation to gain the crown and not kill Duncan because he is a man Macbeth should defend and protect. Even after this nudge towards moral correctness, Macbeth kills Duncan. He begins to feel intense guilt about his decision, and lives in fear of
Who is responsible for Macbeth’s downfall, the witches, or Macbeth? Who is responsible for the scorpions in Macbeth’s mind, the savage killing of several people in cold blood, the conception near the end of the play that Macbeth grasps of nihilism, and Macbeth getting so shielded in the prophecies that he can barely see straight? Is it Macbeth... or the witches? The play by William Shakespeare, Macbeth, has many motifs and famous quotes. However, it raises a lot of questions.
Macbeth’s mental condition begins to dwindle as time goes on, starting with the murder of Duncan. At first, Macbeth is seen as a soldier that everyone aspires to be, strong, brave, and compassionate about his duties to the king. In act one scene two, Captain says, “...For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-...” This shows that he is a likeable person who has only the objective of serving his king. After meeting with the witches and hearing his prophecy, Macbeth starts to think about what it would be like to be king of Scotland.
Sleep is one of the purest forms of altered consciousness however, traumatic experiences can impede one’s unconscious thoughts. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan and the guards, grief stricken and afraid. He tells his wife that sleep itself has been murdered and that nobody is immune his treachery (5.1.44). Macbeth’s crime is intensified by the act of murder being done at night and to sleeping rather than awake guards. The moment of guilt that Macbeth felt for his actions represents the hidden innocence behind the crimes.
Macbeth is enchanted by a hallucination of a dagger that points King Duncan’s room, signalling Macbeth in the direction of the kill. The strange hallucination of the dagger enhances the lunacy of Macbeth’s character by showing the strong control that his unconscious mind has over his good intentions. After killing Duncan, he blames the guards and kills them as well. When the murder of the king is accomplished, the surrounding environment of the castle is changed to a dark and dismal feeling.
Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.
Often times, people go through rises and downfalls in their lives that they themselves are responsible for. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, both main characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, himself, are responsible for the downfall of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed. However, Shakespeare accomplishes in showing that Macbeth is more responsible for his own downfall than Lady Macbeth because he listens to the witches and follows his ambition rather than his conscience. To begin, Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed by insulting him when he changes his mind.
After killing Duncan, Macbeth’s mental state changes completely. The difference between the moment before the murder and the moment after is that Macbeth’s lack of determination. He feels personally responsible for the murder and wishes it never happened. Thus, he is afraid to look at the dead body and face what he has done (2.2.54-56). His regret of the murder shows the transformation of Macbeth’s attitude: he lets his remorse overpower him to the point of madness.
Macbeth’s ambition is one of the most prominent things that drive Macbeth in the play and truly becomes evident when he hears of the Witches prophecies. When the witches stop talking, he demands to know more. “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (I, III, 73-74). This portrays his excessive curiosity on the subject as well as his craving for more desirable prophecies. This ambitious nature and craving for power is also demonstrated only moments after hearing the witches, when he starts formulating a plan to kill Duncan in order to make the third prophecy come true.
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
Macbeth is struggling and entangled with the advantage and disadvantage of killing Duncan. Macbeth appears hallucination under the temptation of power: “Mine eyes are made the fools o’th’ other senses, / Or else worth all the reset I see thee still, / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, / Which was not before. There’s no such thing.
Macbeth 's mind overwhelmed with lament as he conferred the awful demonstration of murdering lord Duncan. Steady dreams of the blade diving Duncan 's chest fills Macbeth