Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

Since the beginning of time mankind has had an absolute thirst for power, no matter how it is obtained. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis and he is a very hard working warrior. Throughout the play Macbeth is influenced by outside opinions, mostly those of Lady Macbeth, and he commits awful acts. Macbeth murders the current king of Scotland, solely because of his ambition to be king. Later in the play he is responsible for the murder of Banquo, and Macduff’s family. In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare does an adequate job of illustrating just how ambitious Macbeth is. Macbeth’s ambition is not only one of his very strong points, ironically it could also be his weakest. Ultimately, Macbeth’s downfall …show more content…
Macbeth’s ambition in this play is one of the biggest reasons for his eventual downfall. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is a noble Thane of Glamis. He returns from battle with Banquo and comes across three witches that speak of him becoming king. The witches begin to shout, “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I.iii.51). The witches trigger the ambition within Macbeth and he becomes intrigued by their claims of him becoming king. Macbeth sees this as a wonderful opportunity and even states, “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 done, to see.” (I.iv.55-60). Macbeth shows just how evil his ambition can be. In those lines he is insinuating that he must …show more content…
This is most visible after he becomes king because of the tyranny that ensues on his quest to keep the throne. His insecurities branch much farther out than just within himself. It seems that Lady Macbeth is always challenging his manhood, which leads to more insecurities. Lady Macbeth was in his ear the entire time while he was plotting to kill Duncan, and he eventually does it. At one point in the play she says to him, “And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man.” (I.viii.50-51). This questions his manhood and ultimately Macbeth feels as if he has to prove something. Macbeth could have completely ignored the slight at him, but instead he chose to let it affect his decision making. Once Macbeth had become king, it was very apparent that not everyone agreed with the way in which he handled things. To his surprise, Banquo happened to be one of those people. Banquo seemed to be a threat to Macbeth because his family was to be the heirs of the throne of Scotland. Macbeth did not want anyone to take away his throne so therefore he hired murderers to kill Banquo and his son. Macbeth was able to coax the murderers by saying, “Know that it was he, in the times past, which held you/ So under fortune.” (III.i.80). Macbeth was so insecure that he would lose the throne to Banquo that he made up lies just to have him killed. The largest, and eventually most fatal, threat to Macbeth’s

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