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What Was Macbeth's Downfall

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Macbeth Downfall In the first act of Macbeth, we find out that Macbeth is a well-respected soldier who works for King Duncan. As the novel progresses, Macbeth turns into a dark, sinister figure who commits several murders, either himself or through other people. To be fair to Macbeth, there is more to the story than just him murdering people. The first murder he commits is of his beloved king Duncan in cold blood. He does this because the witches gave Macbeth a prophecy that he would be king. To do this, he must kill the current king, Duncan. He originally didn’t want to do it, but Lady Macbeth convinced him and made fun of his masculinity, resulting in Macbeth committing the murder. With all this being said, Macbeth is ultimately still responsible. …show more content…

He caves to this, and because of his insecurity, he listens to what she says. One example of this is when he gets convinced by Lady Macbeth to commit the first murder. After Lady Macbeth insults Macbeth’s masculinity, he says, “I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares [do] more is none”(Shakespeare 1.7.50-51). This shows Macbeth’s insecurity about his masculinity. He immediately gets defensive and tries to prove his masculinity. Another example of his insecurity is the banquet scene. Lady Macbeth insults his masculinity again, and he says, “Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that which might appall the devil.” (Shakespeare 3.4.70-72). This shows him again trying to defend his masculinity. He ends up frightening everyone at the banquet and creates suspicion towards himself. Macbeth’s masculinity is a recurring motif in the play, which is one of Macbeth’s biggest insecurities. His insecurities result in him caving to things he doesn’t want to do. The second reason is Macbeth’s arrogance. Throughout the play, Macbeth is arrogant about many things. This arrogance is one of the main reasons people get so suspicious of him, such as Macduff and

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