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 …show more content…
Although he is ambitious, Lady Macbeth’s evil influence is the reason he commits a regicide. The passage states, “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent.” Macbeth says he lacks the motivation to kill Duncan, but he still plans to do so out of ambition. In Act ll, Scene l, Lady Macbeth attacks Macbeth’s masculinity and persuades him to kill Duncan. She does this because she knows that belittling Macbeth will drive him insane and motivate him to commit regicide.) Lady Macbeth had a huge part in Macbeth committing regicide, despite him already being ambitious. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s ambition to remain king sees him commit more and more heinous crimes, which lead to his death. In the passage it says, “His kindness – and sympathy for Duncan evaporates.” Macbeth is no longer sad that he killed Duncan because he believes that he did it for the right reason. The passage also says, “Assassinations of Banquo, Macduff’s family, lack of remorse, wilful trusting of the witches” Macbeth didn’t have any remorse for the people he had killed because he believed he was fulfilling the prophecies given to him by the