Macbeth's Undoing Essay

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Marilyn R Sanchez

7/6/23

Mrs. Tanner

Sophomore English

Macbeth’s Undoing

“All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.” (I.iii.50). Macbeth is the Thane of

Glamis in Scotland; he had been prophesized to be king by three witches. Throughout the story,

Macbeth’s actions create a tense atmosphere, for instance, he starts hallucinating from guilt, his thoughts all lead to violence, then he kills Duncan, the king. Macbeth has also killed his best friend Banquo and continues to kill those who he thinks could get in his way. There is no other person to blame for Macbeth’s downfall, other than Macbeth himself, his overwhelming amount of greed, his immense amount of ambition, and his own insecurities are the reason for his own

toppling.

When Macbeth was told that Malcolm was next on the throne for king, he immediately thought of getting rid of him, “... That is a step on which I must fall down, or else overlap,” (I. IV. 49-50). There was no line that he wouldn’t cross in order to get to his goal of becoming king. Keeping this in mind, he did go through with his plans on killing Duncan for the throne. Macbeth even went as far as to kill his best friend Banquo in fear that Banquo would put risk to his position as king.

Granted, the three witches had given him the vague prophecy, but they didn’t tell

Macbeth that he had to kill people in order to reach his goal. Hecate, the source of the three witches’ power, scolds the three witches for telling Macbeth riddles and dealing with him without her permission, “How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth in riddles and affairs of death, and I, the mistress of your charms,” ( III. V. 3-6). Even more, Hecate says that

Macbeth only cares for himself and his ambition, and she reprimands the witches for giving him of all people a future telling. Hecate herself has said that Macbeth is just filled with rage

Lady Macbeth is not to blame either. Though she was pushing continuously, Macbeth could’ve ignored her, but it seemed that he was only convinced because of his insecurity, and he wanted to become powerful.

In essence, Macbeth, due to his greed, insecurities, and aspiration, was the reason for his undoing in the play. His avarice for power had led him to do unthinkable acts and made him arrogant. Macbeth’s meekness allowed him to be disparaged by Lady Macbeth into giving in and killing the king for the throne. The amount of ambition Macbeth had was unrestrained and instead of doing it for the people he was just doing it for himself. The witches were unclear about

Macbeth’s future, yet they never insinuated that he had to kill anybody in order to become king.

Macbeth became Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and later, became king. Macbeth went up in the ranks because of his actions, his words, and his own ambition. Therefore, he was also the reason for his death and there is no one but himself to blame for his actions.

Sources:

 https://myshakespeare.com/macbeth/act-3-scene-5

 https://myshakespeare.com/macbeth/act-1-scene-3

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