Essay on A Tragedy Downfall of a King

A Tragedy Downfall of a King

When someone is eager to have something they want, they find a way to have it. But at the end, there’ s always a tragedy that brings the person down. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, his well-known play portrays a tragedy downfall for a king through his influences. The central character, Macbeth, a good archetype of greed and ambition, however, he has many forces which are supernatural influences, the witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth himself. These are the influences, the witch’s prophecies, Lady Macbeth for demanding him and advising him what to do and Macbeth’s ambition.
The witches play an enormous part in Macbeth’s downfall, they are the first characters who dominate Macbeth as they meet him, this elucidates the witches are determined from the start to influence Macbeth’s way in life; they intend to meet with him from the beginning to start the destruction of Macbeth. The witches’ put in Macebth’s head, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis…Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor...Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.iii.49-51). Although what the prophecies said about Macbeth being king turns out to be accurate, however Macbeth mentions “murder”, whereas the witches said nothing about murdering anyone. Even though Macbeth thinks the idea of murder sounds “fantastical”, meaning that it only exists in his imagination, it’s him who links the ideas of kingship and murder. Later in the story Macbeth returns to meet with the witches. One of the witches say, “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes,” and the witch talks about Macbeth coming and now his character changed to an evil person. It’s true that Macbeth turned into a wicked person, however Lady Macbeth changes him by murdering King Duncan and threatening him by calling him a “coward” and “When you durst do it, then you are a man.”(1.vii.49), meaning once he kills Duncan he’s a man. With Macbeth’s personality changed, he demands the witches to tell him more about his future, “I will be satisfied. Deny me this, and an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know” (4.i.104-105). In spite of Macbeth having too much power he believes he deserves everything, however at the end he’s still not happy of what he has. The witches never had most of the power to affect the future of the play.
When people have a dilemma they naturally turn towards people they love and are close to. Lady Macbeth is greatly responsible for the killing and misleading her husband towards catastrophe. Lady Macbeth wants to motivate Macbeth into killing King Duncan and by Lady Macbeth doing that she states, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from crown to the toe top-full, of direst cruelty.” (1.v.41-44), meaning she wants to dominate Macbeth and tell him what to do, however Macbeth ends up to be the dominate one and deciding what to do. Before Macbeth kills King Duncan, he wants to back out because he feels ashamed of what’s about to happen to Duncan. Lady Macbeth remarks to him, “And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more than a man,”(1.vii.50) telling him that once Macbeth kills Duncan he will be a man and the man she really does love. In spite of Lady Macbeth remarking to Macbeth to be a man, Macbeth senses guilt for the reason of that he’s the kinsman, Macbeth is the host, and Duncan has been a humble leader to him. Although Macbeth does not want to murder King Duncan, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are both greedy to seize power and for Macbeth to gain power he has to continue killing people to keep power to himself, which leads to Macbeth’s ambition.
The main force that’s predominately responsible for the downfall of Macbeth was his single flaw, his own ambition. Macbeth’s ambition got into him that he was not able to control his actions. Macbeth

Show More

Examples Of Ordinary Flaws In Macbeth

Star Crossed Lovers Essay

Oedipus Tragic Hero

Essay on Hamlet vs. Oedipus

Macbeth Tragic Hero

Role Of Insanity In Macbeth

Who Was The Most Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

Greed In Macbeth

Hubris In Oedipus The King

Tragedy In King Oedipus And The Help By Sophocles And Stockett