Reasons Of Macbeth's Downfall

The play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare depicts the starting and end of a tyrant who loses his strength of will. It can be stated nevertheless that the fault is not Macbeth’s alone as the witches and Lady Macbeth had been partly accountable for Macbeth’s downfall. This can be shown by means of a selection of tactics such as symbolism, metaphors and the use of dialogue. The moment Lady Macbeth receives the letter from her husband, she begins plotting the death of the current king, Duncan. This then leads to Lady Macbeth provoking Macbeth to gain the energy, influence and status of king and queen. Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth is too soft, which can be noticed by the use of the metaphor, “too full of the milk of human kindness” (Act I, scene VII).

This metaphor refers to the milk a child drinks when it is young and innocent hence Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth’s innocence to that of a child. Because of his softness, she finds that she has to provoke him into agreeing on the murder of Duncan through manipulation. She does this by cajoling, by scorning him and by seeking down upon his manhood. Even so, in a way, this is not that difficult a job given that Macbeth himself wants the position of king deep down inside. His ambition can be observed in the use of the aside when Duncan names Malcolm Prince of Cumberland. This shows his determination and the audience can see that Lady Macbeth has somewhat underestimated her husband.

Despite the truth that Lady Macbeth plays a component in Macbeth’s downfall, the witches are also an crucial aspect. It can be mentioned that with out the witches the play might not continue or even be produced. The witches are seen at the extremely starting of the play and it is them who start the play’s momentum. Without them placing the idea across to Macbeth it is most achievable that Macbeth could have remained loyal to Duncan. Just before the witches approached Macbeth, he had always been Duncan’s trusty subject and Macbeth had admired him. “his fantastic office…” showed that he may possibly have continued being the brave soldier in battle that he was initial depicted to be. At the same time, the witches had possibly triggered the havoc which started when Macbeth murdered Duncan up until Macbeth’s downfall. The witches possibly wanted to see regardless of whether Macbeth would heed their prophecy of him getting Thane of Cawdor and then king or see regardless of whether he would just let it come. From here, the contrast amongst Macbeth’s nature and Banquo’s is astounding, the audience can see that Banquo would rather let it come as opposed to murdering anyone to get the prophecy to come accurate. Macbeth, on the other hand is diverse. At the very starting when the witches initial mention the prophecy the audience can see that he desires to know a lot more as he goes following them but doesn’t totally think it to be correct. He doubts the witches but when Ross arrives and tells him that he is now the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth starts to steadily think the witches far more and more.

This is when Macbeth falls as he puts in as well significantly believed of what the witches are telling him. The witches themselves seem to symbolize evil, yet they are not portrayed as the villains. This is because in the play, they, along with Macbeth’s ambition and at the starting of the play, Lady Macbeth’s ambition and determination, drive the play. When the witches had been 1st observed by Macbeth he claims “what foul creatures…such that rags look like hair…” (Act I, Scene III) the audience is right away provided an image of unkempt, old hags who have nothing at all greater to do. They symbolize fate and prophecies but are not shown in a very good light. When Macbeth visits them in their cave, the audience is shown their full extent of ‘witchcraft’ as the image of cauldrons, burnings and hallucinations are portrayed. In a sense, the cave itself seems to show the loneliness and emptiness of the witches. After he visits the cave, he is shown several issues, namely that Macduff is a threat and that once Birnam Wood moves, Macbeth is doomed. From right here, it can be seen that he is falling, falling and will not cease as every thing has been set in motion.

Therefore we can see that the witches and Lady Macbeth have been important aspects and accountable for the downfall of Macbeth. However, it can not be mentioned that they alone were accountable for his downfall as Macbeth’s personal ambition and actions led to his tragic fall. The use of imagery, symbolism and dialogue (asides) helped the audience to recognize that absolutely nothing can be pinpointed to a single individual. That, when someone is at fault, there might be a lot of other forces behind it. Such was like that in Macbeth, exactly where numerous men and women influenced him the witches, his own wife, that the audience can see why he did what he did.