Macbeth's Downfall

In the twisted play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the tragic hero Macbeth endures a visit from three witches. The witches tell Macbeth a prophecy that he will become Thane of Cawdor and one day the king. Macbeth takes his fate into his own hands and makes the prophecy happen by any means. This causes an unfortunate turn of events for Macbeth. Over the course of the play, Macbeth evolves from a passive, honorable, and innocent man, to a hated, ambitious, and cruel murderer. Macbeth's ambition makes him a tragic hero and leads to his downfall. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth stays true to his morals, but he changes so he can achieve his goals due to his ambitions. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth host King Duncan to dinner at their
King Duncan is a guest in their house, so Macbeth doesn’t want to kill him. This is unlike Macbeth’s actions to come. Towards the end of the play, Macbeth is speaking to Lady Macbeth again at a dinner party, but this time he’s already murdered both Duncan and Banquo. Macbeth says, “I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er:” (3.4.168-172). Macbeth explains how it is possible to try to become an innocent man again, but it’s too boring and time-consuming, so he should just continue in his murderous ways. His ambitions to become king overpower his values of being a pure
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is pressured into killing Duncan because of Lady Macbeth. She says, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And, to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man.” (1.7.56-58). Lady Macbeth doesn’t think of Macbeth as a man. She uses the fact that murder would make him a real man, to try to convince him to kill King Duncan. This ends up working because Macbeth’s ambition consumes his mind, and he kills King Duncan. Later in the play, Macbeth is doing exactly what Lady Macbeth did to him; he’s telling murder’s they aren’t real men because they haven’t murdered. Macbeth is trying to persuade them to kill Banquo because Macbeth is suspicious that Banquo knows that he killed King Duncan. The murders say, “We are men, my liege.” (3.1.102) and Macbeth replies, “Ay, in the catalogue you go for men,” (3.1.103). The murders tell Macbeth they are men. Macbeth argues that they are men because of their gender, but they aren’t real men because they haven’t murdered anyone. However, when Macbeth murdered King Duncan he couldn’t even go back into the room to frame the guards. He felt so guilty, regretful, and not like a true man. He lies to the murders, pressuring them to do his dirty work. Macbeth puts his fears on others to get his way, so he doesn’t have to feel the guilt