Who Was Responsible For Macbeth’s Downfall?
Sam Stewart 12,09,01
Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall?
The tragedy of Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare. Macbeth reflects Shakespeare's idea of a tragic hero. His idea of a tragic hero is a person who has many qualities but for some reason, there is a flaw or fault in their character. Throughout the play there is a great change in Macbeth's character. In the beginning of the play Macbeth is illustrated as an honourable brave man who fights for his king and country.
Sergeant:- "for brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name"
He was well respected by his fellow comrades who he considered to be his loyal friends. These friends who once knew the loyal and honourable Macbeth, tend to have an alternate opinion of him by the end of the play. They become his foes and victims of his greed for power.
Caithness:- "Some say he's mad: others, that lesser hate him, do call it valiant fury,"
By the end of the play he is considered a tyrant, a mad man, a butcher due to the ways and means that he used to gain power, and the use of control he used to sustain his position of authority, as King of Scotland. There were two main influences upon Macbeth, the witches and Lady Macbeth, but the question has to be asked who was responsible for the downfall of Macbeth?
The witches are introduced at the beginning of the play and
we therefore know that they are going to play a big part. The Witches first greet Macbeth and Banquo when returning from a battle with a prophecy
First Witch: "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis."
Second Witch: "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor."
Third Witch: "All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter."
Macbeth is startled when he hears the witches' predictions. He already has the title, The Thane of Glamis, how did they know that? They also hailed him as the Thane of Cawdor and the King! Macbeth does not know that the Thane of Cawdor has been sentenced to death. The Witches have interfered in a mortal's life by meeting him and Banquo and greeting them with prophecies. The witches say that Banquo will not be king but his children will. I think that the witches are playing games with Macbeth for the amusement of themselves. They get "told off" by the head witch Hecat for interfering in mortal's lives.
First Witch: "Why how now Hecat, you look angerly?"
Hecat: "Have I not reason, beldams as you are? Saucy, and overbold, how did you dare to trade, and traffic with Macbeth, In riddles, and affairs of death;"
When Macbeth visits the Witches for a second time, he drinks a potion and has three apparitions. The first one tells him to beware of Macduff, the second tells him that no man born of woman shall hurt him and the third tells him that he will never be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinaine Hill. Macbeth takes these apparitions literally, and it makes him feel invincible. The witches always tell the truth, it is just Macbeth's interpretation of the apparitions, although the witches do encourage him. The witches are a key element in the play, ...
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When Macbeth visits the Witches for a second time, he drinks a potion and has three apparitions. The first one tells him to beware of Macduff, the second tells him that no man born of woman shall hurt him and the third tells him that he will never be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinaine Hill. Macbeth takes these apparitions literally, and it makes him feel invincible. The witches always tell the truth, it is just Macbeth's interpretation of the apparitions, although the witches do encourage him. The witches are a key element in the play, they help to create drama and interest for the audience. People who watched this play in Elizabethan times would have actually believed in supernatural things such as witches. The witches are potrayed as being evil, every time they appear there is thunder and lightening, and they are described as not being distinguishable as to what sex they are. The witches could be blamed for sowing the initial seed of Macbeth's ambition, or do they give him that nudge that was necessary?
The first time that Lady Macbeth appears, she is reading a letter from Macbeth about the witches predictions. When Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are together it is apparent that they are both very much in love with each other. When Lady Macbeth finds out that King Duncan is coming to a feast at their castle overnight it is as though she is immediately planning Duncan's murder.
When Macbeth returns and meets with Lady Macbeth she gives him a respectful, affectionate greeting. Although immediately she starts to plan, she asks him when he is to go and Macbeth says the next day Lady Macbeth replies
Lady Macbeth:- "O never, shall sun that morrow see."
Lady Macbeth says that she could murder Duncan herself if it was not for her being a woman.
Lady Macbeth:- "unsex me here"
Lady Macbeth sees Macbeth as being a caring, kind, honourable husband and she understands him.
Lady Macbeth:- "thy nature, it is too full o' th' milk of humane kindness"
She knows him so well that she knows how to play on him. She questions his manhood, and uses her womanly charms to get him to commit the murder, she manipulates him. Lady Macbeth plans how the murder will take place not Macbeth, although when they commit the murder they are doing it together. I think that Macbeth feels that it is a partnership. After Duncan's murder, Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation, Macbeth is overcome with what he has done. His hands are covered in blood and he is in a state of panic and cannot take the daggers back so she takes control of the situation and takes them back herself. At this point in the play it is as though Lady Macbeth has no conscience, it is as though she is cold. He knows that he has committed a sin, a mortal sin that will condemn his soul. Divine right existed then, which meant that a King or Queen was given that position by God and God alone. After cleaning up the murder, washing hands putting night robes on, there is a knocking at the door which intensifies the tension of the situation. When the murder of Duncan is discovered Macbeth is in control and wants to get rid of any evidence. He kills the guards and says that he did it in a fit of anger and before Macbeth is questioned more thoroughly, Lady Macbeth faints to distract attention away from Macbeth. Macbeth from this point onwards begins to act more independently, he starts to act by himself, for example the murder of Banquo. Macbeth does not consult his wife he just goes ahead and arranges it for himself and disposes of the evidence by killing the murderers. After the murder of Banquo there is a banquet and at this banquet the ghost of Banquo appears. Macbeth goes into a state of panic, he freaks out. Lady Macbeth covers for him, she say's that it is a sort of condition or illness that he has had since he was young.
Lady Macbeth :- "he grows worse and worse"
In other words she manages to suppress his mouth and gets him to not spill the beans on what they have been up to. She manages to get rid of all the guests as quickly as possible. Lady Macbeth uses several persuasive techniques, she seems to be a very persuasive person who knows how to get her own way. From this point onwards not much else is heard about Lady Macbeth. This is also the point that Macbeth has a distinct change in character. Macbeth begins to act a lot more independently and relies more on the witches. He becomes greedy for power and wants power for himself and not for Lady Macbeth. At the beginning of the play Macbeth wrestled with his conscience and Lady Macbeth didn't seem to have a conscience at all. She was quite ambitious and wants power. Towards the end it is Lady Macbeth who cannot cope, with their conscience. It is Lady Macbeth washing her hands continually, she has no blood on her hands, her conscience is playing tricks on her. It gets to the point where Lady Macbeth cannot cope, Macbeth is told of this, and tells the doctor to cure her but he cannot, it is a disease of the mind. Lady Macbeth strains to the breaking point and finds the only way out, suicide. Her influence upon Macbeth wains as the play progresses. The peak of her influence is before the banquet scene when Banquo's ghost appears after that her influence diminishes, Macbeth instead begins to rely more on the Witches predictions. When Lady Macbeth's death is announced to Macbeth he doesn't seem to show that much emotion, although he is under a lot of pressure and I think that underneath he felt a certain amount of sadness, there is a certain air of sadness surrounding her death anyway. Whatever he did I still believe that he loved her.
A lot is heard about Macbeth before he comes onto stage, first from the Sergeant who fought at his side, and then from Ross, who also speaks of Macbeths courage in the battle. I think that this is done to create a mental picture of Macbeth. The mental picture that I got was a noble warrior and a loyal subject to Duncan an I think that this was the picture trying to be created. When Macbeth is greeted by the witches for the first time and their first prediction becomes true, I believe that this symbolises the downfall of Macbeth. Macbeth is an ambitious person and after the first prediction becomes true a conflict within Macbeth is then seen between loyalty, honour and ambition. Duncan's murder is soon planned with his wife, but he doesn't do this without any thought. Macbeth is in two minds as to whether to murder Duncan, he wrestles with his conscience and tries to persuade himself to murder Duncan.
Macbeth:- "If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were well it were done quickly."
Macbeth struggles with his conscience both before and after murdering Duncan. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth has an hallucination he sees a dagger before him, which he compares to his dagger, this is a sign of the amount of pressure and stress that his mind is under, he is in utter turmoil.
Macbeth:- "Is this a dagger I see before me... the bell invites me. Hear it not Duncan."
This is the point that Macbeth goes to murder Duncan.
After Macbeth has done the deed and murdered Duncan he is in a state of shock and does not know what to do with himself but Lady Macbeth sorts him out. After the second visit to the witches, Macbeth acts by ordering the death of Macduff, his wife, his babes, and all the unfortunate souls that trace him in his line. The whole of Macduff's family is brutally killed except for Macduff himself who had gone to England. The scene in England is the major turning point in the play, it is when everything goes wrong for Macbeth. The forces of good unite against Macbeth and evil. An army is raised in England to overthrow Macbeth as King of Scotland, the King of England is shown to be a good king. Scotland is described as being in a predicament,
Macduff:- "O nation miserable, with an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd!"
Ross:- "Alas poor country; almost afraid to know itself. It cannot be call'd mother, but our grave; where nothing, but knows nothing, is once seen to smile..."
One by one each of the witches apparition is fulfilled. A branch is carried by each approaching soldier from Birnam Wood to Dunsinaine Hill, Macduff approaches alongside the army craving for vengeance of his killed family and in the last few moments of Macbeths life, Macduff unleashes the third and final solution to the last apparition.
Macduff:- "Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd."
In other words Macduff was not born naturally, his mother had a caesarean. Macduff challenges Macbeth to yield to him, but Macbeth refuses blatantly.
"Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!"
I believe that Macbeth knew that he had done wrong and I think that he would have wanted to go back and fix things for the better so this things did not happen in this way, but they did and Macbeth was killed.
Macbeth is a tragic hero. All the evidence suggests that at the beginning of the play he knows the difference between right and wrong. During the period that he is assessing whether to kill or not, he is wrestling with his conscience. He knows that murdering a king is a mortal sin and that he will go to hell, but Macbeth was an ambitious person and his ambition superseded his conscience. Lady Macbeth and the witches both influenced Macbeth's change in character. You could say that Lady Macbeth was a manipulative evil woman, but she eventually met her match; her own conscience. The witches were evil there is no doubt about that, they played with Scotland and Macbeth and they could be blamed for sowing the seeds of Macbeth's ambition or for giving that nudge that was necessary. I think that if Macbeth was such a hero of a man, then he could have said no, but he didn't. His downfall, was his fault he could still be alive as the Thane of Cawdor, but he chose to listen to the influences on him, and acted upon them; he could have ignored them.
