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Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

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In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth represents a tragic hero through his inability to be selfless. By definition, a tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his own destruction. Macbeth creates an unavoidable downfall for himself through his crave for success and his willingness to do what is needed to obtain success. Many contributive factors are responsible for Macbeth’s inevitable downfall. His downfall occurs as a result of the witches’ prophecies, Lady Macbeth’s manipulation, and finally Macbeth’s addictive desire to be king. Although Macbeth starts of the play as an honorable man, he digresses to become driven by selfish desires and violence. The prophecies told by the witches contribute to the beginning of Macbeth’s degeneration of character. Macbeth’s desire for higher status begins when the witches tell him he will be the Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of …show more content…

Lady Macbeth does creates a scheme to assassinate King Duncan. Lady Macbeth states, “unsex me here / . . . / . . . Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take my milk for gall” (I: iv, 39-46). Lady Macbeth associates her womanhood with being unable to commit the murder. When Lady Macbeth cannot murder Duncan himself, she manipulates Macbeth to fulfill her scheme by comparing violence to masculinity. Upon killing King Duncan, Macbeth feels regret. Macbeth reveals a change in character. Macbeth’s first experience with taking a man’s life is trying. After his first murder, however, he views killing as a solution to ensure he maintains his reign over Scotland. Lady Macbeth introduces murder to Macbeth and her influence pushes him to intensify his crave for power. Without Lady Macbeth’s manipulation, Macbeth could never motivate himself to kill. Macbeth’s character changes after his first murder and he welcomes violence, greed, and hunger for

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