The Real Cause of Macbeth's Downfall
By: Nick Bagheri
As Macbeth’s wife, she plays a major role in his rise and fall from power over Scotland. She could be considered Macbeth's other half because of how much she has an influence on him she uses her tactical position to gain wealth and power while taking very little risk. She takes action whenever she gets an opportunity and does it in a sneaky way through manipulating Macbeth. Macbeth is only partially responsible for his own downfall and that his wife should take the majority of the blame. When Macbeth tells her about the witch’s promises, Lady Macbeth gets attached to these ideas. (When news came in that the king will be having dinner at their home she realizes that it is a perfect opportunity to kill the king
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(1.5.65). She says this to him to support her husband by using her strengths to make up for his weakness. Although Macbeth committed the murder it is actually his wife who the one is making the decisions. She tells him “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures. She steps in to finish what needs to be done where Macbeth shows weakness as it is clear Macbeth needs support since he is hesitant in all of this. Lady Macbeth’s main role in all of this was too make up for her husband’s short comings. Macbeth’s guilt impairs his judgment about reality and at the banquet and he seems very sure he sees the ghost of his former companion. Macbeth’s mental state is withering and Lady Macbeth steps in to make up for her husband’s weakness. She tells her guests “my lord is often thus/ And hath been from his youth/ pray you, keep seat/ The fit is momentary (3.4.52-54). If Macbeth kept rambling he could have exposed their deed but Lady Macbeth calms the situation down and tries suppressing
Macbeth is no longer an honest, innocent husband, as he was in the beginning. Macbeth has completed his transition from an honest and caring leader, into a cold, heartless individual, which is shown when he voices: “She should have died hereafter / There would have been a time for such a word.” (V.v.17-18) Macbeth is informed about his wife’s suicide, and shows absolutely no remorse, which shows how heartless he has become.
Come to my woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers, Wherever in your sightless substances You wait on nature's mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry "Hold, hold!", this quote tell us about how lady Macbeth want to be the man that her husband can’t be, this reflects how every now
Macbeth come across the three witches, there they state, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor” (Act 1, Scene 3). In reply to the three witches, Macbeth demanded “stay you imperfect speakers! Tell me more”. With just these few statements announced, Macbeth’s thirst for power and glory arises and is clearly seen.
So although Macbeth was killed by rebels, Lady Macbeth has ultimate responsibility for his death. Lady Macbeth is responsible for killing her husband because she pressured him into the killing of others, which ended up getting him killed. As soon as Lady Macbeth found out she was becoming wife to the Thane of Cawdor, all she wanted was more power. Lady Macbeth applied pressure on Macbeth In Act 1 Scene 7 Lines 38-41 by saying, “. .
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.
There are many reasons a once great man may fall. Hubris leads Macbeth into taking far too courageous actions, his lack of questioning makes him blind, and his own actions lay the blame of the Murder solely on his shoulders. While most can agree Lady Macbeth had her part in persuading him, one cannot blame her for the act simply because she wanted it to happen. Macbeth is the murderer, his wife didn't make one.
Her ambition is not only for herself but also for Macbeth. Nevertheless, with all her fervor, she wants him to be as strong as her. “Make thick my blood./Stop up the access and passage to remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature/ Shake my fell purpose/Come to my woman’s breasts,/And take my milk for gall” (1.5.44-49). Lady Macbeth never wavers in her goal.
“I laid the daggers ready; he could not miss em. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.” (II, ii, 11-13) Lady Macbeth is only strong enough to
Her speech that she would "announce to the king that I would participate in his pleasure" demonstrates this. This reveals that she must ask a servant whether she is permitted to see her husband, demonstrating that the ironic gap between them is caused by their own dishonest ambition. This wedge had a huge influence on Lady Macbeth since she relied on her husband and used him as a conduit throughout their activities. Now she questions him, "Why do you keep alone?" She adds that she only had Macbeth to support them since she could not have children.
Macbeth started off as a valiant and courageous soldier, who would do anything for the king. By the end of the play, Macbeth was a tyrant and a horrible leader who killed those who trusted him to maintain the throne. It takes many factors to take a strong man and transform him into an evil monster. Macbeth’s downfall was caused by the deception and temptation of the witches and their prophecies, Lady Macbeth’s greed and aspirations for her husband to be king, and Macbeth’s own greed, jealousy and ambition.
‘Macbeth’s ambition is his only weakness’. Do you agree? Macbeth’s greatest weakness is his ambition, but it is also his greatest strength. Despite his ambition being one of his major weaknesses, it is not his sole weakness he exhibits that contributes to his inevitable death.
Macbeth is responsible for his destruction because in life we make our own decisions however he was heavily influenced by the three witches and Lady Macbeth. The witches foretell Macbeth becoming king and Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill the king, which backfires on her. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can be compared to Ahab and Jezebel in the Bible in that they both got selfish and went after things that would catch up with them and cost them their lives. Macbeth is ultimately responsible for the decisions he made but he was first influenced by the three witches visiting him telling him he would be king.
“Looks like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”(Shakespeare 1.7) this truly defines Lady Macbeth and describes her being someone that acts one way in certain situations and then in a contrary manner in others and also shows her manipulative personality and exploits her victims. Lady Macbeth is sharp at convincing and uses people for her need which she does throughout the play. In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is ultimately responsible for Macbeth’s undoing because her ambition supported his greed and provoked his downfall. Lady Macbeth with her demanding and forceful comments triggered Macbeth 's weakness which leads Macbeth to agree on the murder.
Shake fell my purpose” (1.5.52-53). In her efforts to become a cold-blooded murderer and kill the king she should be devoted to, Lady Macbeth shows her characteristics and morals. Not only is she willing to kill, but she is willing to kill her king, all for
This quotation shows the relationship Lady Macbeth holds with power as she is encouraging herself to kill the