The Downfall of Macbeth

Corey E. Lerman May 31, 2002

English 11 Online

The Downfall of Macbeth

The tragic downfall of MacBeth cannot be blamed on one person, or event, or on one single cause. His downward spiral from celebrated hero to murderer was caused by a combination of three forces: the supernatural powers of the withes, external forces, such as Lady MacBeth, and finally internal forces, which contributes to MacBeth’s own ambitions and desire to reach power.

The Three Witch Sister’s predictions into MacBeth’s future play a very vital role in leading MacBeth to commit the various evil deeds throughout the play. They do this by tricking MacBeth into thinking that he is fated to be crowned as King. The Witches also promise him the Thane of Cawdor. Of course MacBeth, does not believe this prediction. Yet, it does come true, and so MacBeth decides he should be King as well. His greed for power and the throne start to take over his better judgement. This new sense of hunger for power, not only starts to make MacBeth think of murdering the current king, King Duncan, but also killing Banquo and his sons, since it was also one of the Witches predictions that Banquo would father many kings. The Witches’ give MacBeth the confidence and reason to murder innocent people, one after the other. After killing these people MacBeth would not be able to retain any lost virtues and morals he lost. There would be no hope for him.

After the Witches set MacBeth on a path of destruction, it will be his wife, Lady MacBeth that pushes him over the edge; she is the one who pushes him to actually commit the murder against Duncan. It would seem throughout the story that Lady MacBeth never really wants anything for herself, as she never mentions about her own desire to become queen. Lady MacBeth is apparently happy with her husband becoming king and having all the glory. She manipulates MacBeth into killing Duncan, by saying that if he really loved her, he would kill Duncan. Lady MacBeth uses ...

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The Three Witches and Lady MacBeth definitely play a major role in the downfall of MacBeth, but at the heart of this downfall, the one who is to blame is MacBeth himself. MacBeth was not a weak child, he was a strong willed warrior; even though it seems throughout the play that he never makes his own decisions, this is untrue. True, the Witches started MacBeth on this killing spree, and his wife pushed him to commit the act, but it was himself, MacBeth that decided to murder these innocent people. It was not the Witches, or Lady MacBeth who advised, or even suggested him to kill Banquo and his son, and MacDuff’s family. He decided these brutal actions, with no supernatural or external forces at work.

In conclusion, it is true that Lady MacBeth and the Witches played a vital role in MacBeth’s downfall, yet they were not solely responsible. Of the three forces, the internal drive for power is what led to MacBeth’s downfall. It was MacBeth’s decision to commit these crimes, and it was also MacBeth who chose to continue to follow this path of blood and destruction. Yes, without the Witches and Lady MacBeth, MacBeth would of not turned to the dark side of humanity, but it was the combination of all three forces, which turned out fatal, for both MacBeth’s victims and MacBeth himself.