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Who Is Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

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In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there are many factors that play into the fall of the lead character, Macbeth. The story illustrates that there is not just one sole person or quality that plays into his fall but numerous ones. Some may argue that Macbeth’s fall was forced by other factors then Macbeth himself and some may argue that Macbeth was the only one who was in control of his downfall and could have avoided his destruction. Macbeth’s ambition for power, his conscience, and the witches prophecies are just a few of the reasons for his fall. In Macbeth, ambition is presented as a dangerous quality to posses. Ambition has the ability to positively drive a character however for Macbeth it becomes a fatal flaw. Ambition is one of the leading …show more content…

In the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as a loyal soldier, he was the epitome of loyalty compared to all the other soldiers who fought under the king. Loyalty was all Macbeth could really offer to the King, he states that everything else is just used for labour if it is not for King Duncan. That was Macbeth’s strongest conviction, until his encounter with the witches. The three witches tell Macbeth that he will be king which entices his strive for power. His mind started to change once he heard of his possibility to become king.When Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy from the witches delivered to Macbeth, she almost made it her mission to help Macbeth and herself get the throne. Lady Macbeth mentions to him that he is “too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”, meaning that Macbeth is too good to do anything bad to anyone. When trying to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells he would be so much more of a man if he went on with the murder. Distraught at the testing of his manliness, this fuels his ambition and he then goes on to kill

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