Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How does ambition and evil cause Macbeth downfall
Macbeth and external influences
How macbeth changes
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: How does ambition and evil cause Macbeth downfall
In the story "Macbeth" by Shakespeare, Macbeth is a character that would overlook his actions consequences as long as he ended up with more power. Macbeth greatest flaws are his desire for power and overconfidence, that also drove to his death. As the story progressed Macbeth loses his humanity and is overpowered by his greatest desire. Macbeth family Is also affected by this flaw.
We see this, especially in films and literature. This weakness can either be physical or mental, and it eventually brings the character to his/her down flaw. This character may even be the protagonist. In the case of Macbeth, Macbeth's fatal flaw is his ambition. But a fatal flaw can be anything, arrogance, greed, temper, or even something as simply innocent as curiosity.
Readers of Macbeth can look at him from different perspectives; a troubled man who fell to the dark side, or an arrogant, power hungry man who got what he deserved at the end. Macbeth by William Shakespeare tells the story about a man who was so desperate for power that he was willing to do anything to keep it. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is considered a war hero and along with his then friend, Banquo, is called upon by three witches who tell him he will be the next king. His wife, Lady Macbeth, is a power hungry figure who convinces him to kill King Duncan, to fulfill his prophecies.
Obsession to stand politically dominant is Macbeth’s primary flaw. Macbeth’s progressive deterioration begins after his encounter with the witches, who declare Macbeth’s prophecies. The last prophecy contributes the most to his downfall; Macbeth shall be King of Scotland. Macbeth’s intention to be the king contradict his honourability to Duncan. The obsessive trait Macbeth develops worsens through the play, prior to Duncan’s visit to Inverness, Macbeth advances with his prophecy.
“God is lining things up for you. He always has been and always will” (brainyquote) Ambition and failure don’t seem connected for failure is perceived as bad and ambition is a way to getting somewhere good. Failure and ambition creates a bad mix of thought and causes internal flaws. These people took their ambitions and went to the extremes to get their, but failing than succeeding. Lady Macbeth, Kiah and Empress Elisabeth of Austria were seen as crazy for the decisions they made, which were their own internal flaws.
Shakespeare highlights Macbeth’s key flaw, which is conspicuous throughout the chosen scene where he is doubtful and hesitant with the news of himself becoming King, although he knows it is wrong, Macbeth believes he could be a great leader and therefore gives into his flaw of ambition. He is dominated by the influence of the witches where they utilize repetition, “All hail, Macbeth!”, this shows his firm stance shaken by the words of the witches as he is easily influenced thus continues to listen and possibly taken action by the words of the witches. Another flaw of Macbeth is himself doubting the way he thinks. After discovering the prophecy from the witches he believes his future of becoming the king is true while he talks to himself. Macbeth
Therefore, Macbeth is not a tragic character because he is a patchwork of indecent qualities and flaws. Throughout the play, Macbeth does not rely on one sole flaw to destroy his well being, his idiotic ways allow him
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
Throughout literature, we see human characteristics in our characters. Characteristics such as punishment, downfall, middling character, free choice, and nobility. In this play called Macbeth we see all these characteristics fall into place throughout the good and bad choices acted on by our main character Macbeth. The play demonstrates how power will make or break character and lead to his/her own destruction by possessing a few of these characteristics. Macbeth demonstrates both literal and figurative nobility as the plot beings to grow throughout the play.
Why does Macbeth fail? Well to start off failure is everywhere in life which is no exception to Macbeth but with Macbeth there’s a problem for some reason Macbeth can’t accept the fact he fails. Macbeth is constantly failing to achieve what he hopes to accomplish, due to the fact that he was trying to fight something that he cannot stop. Macbeth's failure to accept his fate rather than fight it is the reason Macbeth's down fall. When Macbeth received his fate from the witches and apparitions he was happy so he let come not doing anything to stop it.
In the play Macbeth there are numerous occasions where a tragedy occurs, the most common one seen in this play is the tragic flaw. The tragic flaw is a literary device that can be defined as a trait in a character leading to their collapse (Literary Devices Editors). A tragic flaw in a heroic character gives us a tragic hero, which makes a character more relatable, and creates an entertaining play for the audience as seen in Macbeth (Meirow, Eden). Throughout the play the heroic characters Banquo, Macduff and Macbeth all have tragic flaws, which leads them to their downfall. All three of these characters are greatly influenced by many other factors for their downfall, however they are ultimately responsible for their own downfall created by
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.
Literal nobility is shown at the beginning of the play when the audience is shown macbeth is a general, and a good one at that. This is demonstrated in (I.II.2) “For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel, which smok’d with bloody excecution, like valor’s minion carv’d out his passage, till he face’d the slave”. This shows that as a noble general, Macbeth deserves more. However, his nobility falls short in act 2 scene 7 after he kills King Duncan to take the throne. Which brings us to Macbeth 's downfall and figurative nobility.
Villain, a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. Just like the definition of villain states, they show traits just like macbeth. In Shakespeare 's “ The Tragedy of Macbeth”, the character Macbeth is displayed as the villain throughout the play. Macbeth shows the readers that his amiton gets in the way and makes him do things that are considered “evil” until the end of the play. Macbeth is thinking to himself that it is not fair that Duncan 's kids will become king so he kills Duncan and has his sons flee.
That tragic flaw is his ambition to be king. He wants to be king so badly that he will murder if that is what it takes. Macbeth allows Lady Macbeth to manipulate him into killing Duncan and his desires are so strong that he acts on them. He gets extremely guilty and starts to hallucinate voices, people and objects. “I 'll go no more.