ipl-logo

Explain The Key Events That Led To The Downfall Of Macbeth

691 Words3 Pages

Macbeth’s Fall According to the author John C. Maxwell, “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” This quote can be related to the choices that Macbeth makes that eventually lead to his tragic downfall. In the tragedy Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare in 1623, the main character is on a journey to his downfall. He starts as a man eager to be the King of Scotland. At the very beginning of the play, three witches are shown in the middle of the dark woods predicting several key events that influence the course of the story. They predict such things as that Macbeth will end up as king and that Banquo’s descendants will inherit the throne. These predictions plant the seed of ambition in Macbeth’s mind. Throughout …show more content…

He arranges the murder of Banquo and wants to eliminate any threat to his position as king, showing him as a tyrant and ruthless. Finally, in Act IV, Macbeth becomes a friend. In this act, Macbeth visits the three witches to seek more predictions. He demands to know more about his future and this shows his obsession with power and that he will do anything to keep the throne. During the third stage of Macbeth’s journey, Act V, Macbeth begins to lose everything he has built upon. Lady Macbeth hallucinates and sleepwalks due to her guilt over committing the murders. She eventually dies, unknowingly to Macbeth at this point. Also, Macbeth knows that a siege is coming, so he waits inside the castle. As armies advance towards him, he still believes in the witches’ prophecies. Malcolm, the son of King Duncan, and Macduff, loyal to King Duncan, move toward the castle disguised as a forest. Macbeth learns of his wife’s death and decides to fight. Macduff kills Macbeth in battle since he was not “born of a woman.” Malcolm takes the throne and all order is restored. Clearly, the choices Macbeth made during his reign as King of Scotland heavily affected the way his reign

Show More
Related
523 Words | 3 Pages

William Shakespeare shows his audience that Macbeth creates his own downfall. Macbeth’s actions and decisions had impacted the lives around him. However, it might not be just one person’s own choice to decide their actions. Nevertheless, Macbeth shoes us how power-hungry and easily manipulated can cause his

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

Greed causes even the best of men to brood immoral intentions. The Tragedy, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, describes the flaws of human nature and the traumatic effects unrestrained ambition may cause. The play commences, featuring Macbeth as an eminent, highly esteemed Thane and loyal warrior to the king; however, after being prophesied by the three witches, a torch of ambition is lit. Furthermore, upon hearing the witches prophecies, his reputation is downgraded as he steps into a realm of evil, and more tragically, finds that he has “in blood stepped in so far that should [he] wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”. After murdering the rightful king of Scotland, Duncan, and therefore subsequently, one murder leads to another; to a point where he cannot return from his life of evil “I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”.

Read More
1026 Words | 5 Pages

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (I.iii.49-51). These three prophecies cause macbeth to become extremely egotistical which is amplified by his ambition. This Grandiose self worth ultimately leads to him murdering duncan and his best friend Banquo. Towards the end of act III, Macbeth’s ego begins to diminish so he returns to the witches once again.

Read More
810 Words | 4 Pages

He hallucinates Banquo in the chair he was going to sit on. Macbeth starts to act crazy and Lady Macbeth tries to tell the other men in the room how he is acting is normal. After the dinner Macbeth hears that Macduff went to England to reunite with Malcolm, Duncan 's son, to try for him to own the throne. Macbeth decides to take action and send some men to murder Macduff 's family. When Macduff comes back he finds out of his family 's death and joins Malcolm and his army to defeat Macbeth.

Read More
402 Words | 2 Pages

However, since Macbeth is king of all the land opposing him would be treason. Yet Malcolm continues with his plan and forms an army that goes to attack Macbeth. Macduff ends up killing Macbeth himself. Moreover, Malcolm takes the throne for himself. Power and authority shifts once again.

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

Tacitus, a Roman senator and historian, once stated “Those in supreme power always hate their next heir”. By stating this, it connects to the play Macbeth because it also demonstrates how People who are in power like Macbeth will hate the heir to the throne because they want to become the king to accomplish their desires for power. At the beginning of the play a wounded captain is telling the king about the wonders of Macbeth on the battlefield, which gains him the lord or thane of cawdor and glamis. Over the course of the play, Macbeth is plagued by his power lust, which changes him from Thane to the king which then leads to his downfall.

Read More
451 Words | 2 Pages

While it could be argued that external factors play a part in the downfall of Macbeth – the witches’ trickery, Lady Macbeth’s manipulation – ultimately, it is Macbeth’s own character flaws, and particularly his ambition, that causes his downfall. Shakespeare could be suggesting that a person’s own characteristics determine their fate, and Macbeth’s death is, therefore, a direct consequence of his own evil actions. Macbeth knows the religious consequences of regicide, but his ambition means he proceeds with the murder anyway. Throughout the passage, Macbeth refers to Heaven and Hell as his semantic fields and describes his decisions about how to fulfill the witches' prophecies with phrases like "damnation" and "angels." Macbeth questions his

Read More
1389 Words | 6 Pages

Macbeth’s guilt over Banquo’s death leads to his seeing ghosts, while Lady Macbeth’s guilt over everything leads to her nightmares and suicide. Justice comes to Macbeth when Macduff duels him, who triumphs and decapitates Macbeth, wrapping up the three themes into a blissful ending where Duncan’s rightful heir, Malcolm, sits on the throne of Scotland as king

Read More
621 Words | 3 Pages

The downfall in the life of Macbeth is all his own fault despite the influence from Lady Macbeth and the three witches. As shown at the start of the play, Macbeth is a courageous warrior who won the battle for Scotland. With the impact of the three witches, Macbeth was fallen into deep, dark thoughts. Macbeth led himself to the downfall of his life. He was the hero, who fought in the war between Scotland and Norwegians and gain victory but eventually turned into a tragic hero.

Read More
953 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
565 Words | 3 Pages

Because of Macbeth’s ambition and lack of moderation, he took matters into his own hands, deciding to kill Duncan in order to become king as the witches prophesied. This is the decision that set off the chain of events, beginning with Duncan’s sons fleeing to England and Malcolm deciding to go to war against Macbeth, avenging his father. The witches would then tell Macbeth that, “no man born of woman can harm him,” thinking that no one would be able to kill him, he goes to battle with Malcolm. Then, when he learns that Macduff was not born of woman, but was born from a c-section, he starts to panic while in battle, and ends up being beheaded by Macduff. Having the battle won by Malcolm and him become king of

Read More
569 Words | 3 Pages

Macduff and Malcolm go to war against Macbeth eager for revenge. Macduff, vengeful for his family’s death cuts off Macbeths head, and Malcom takes his rightful place as king. Macbeth’s Ambition and Greed resulted in his downfall. Constantly wanting more, Macbeth allowed his blind ambition to dictate what actions he took to obtain being king and staying king.

Read More
876 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
359 Words | 2 Pages

Macbeth finds himself conflicted; he is reluctant to kill King Duncan, sovereign of Scotland, but is coerced by Lady Macbeth to commit the heinous act of treason. She disparages his masculinity and dismisses him as a “coward” for not pursuing his vaulting ambition of becoming the king of Scotland. Consequently, Macbeth carries out the crime in a grotesque fashion by stabbing Duncan multiple times. Subsequently, Macbeth is enthroned to be the next King of Scotland. Enthralled by his own impulse of self-preservation, Macbeth continues to utilize his new-found ability to deal with internal and external demands that he is confronted by.

Read More
702 Words | 3 Pages

The Witches play a crucial role in the development of the narrative; their actions contribute greatly to the downwards spiral of Macbeth’s life and sanity, and the murder of King Duncan. Their introduction to the play establishes a supernatural element that is consistent throughout the play, allowing for further exploration of ideas such as the destruction of oneself as a result of being overambitious. Shakespeare creates a stormy, bleak, and ominous atmosphere when the Witches are first introduced, successfully associating them with a negative atmosphere. It is through their prophecies that Macbeth’s lust for the throne is encouraged, consequently leading him to his own demise and destruction of Scotland. The

Read More

More about Explain The Key Events That Led To The Downfall Of Macbeth

Open Document