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Who Was Responsible For Macbeth's Downfall

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Audiences have been questioning and discussing who was truly responsible for Macbeth’s downfall ever since playwright William Shakespeare wrote another one of his renowned plays, ‘Macbeth’. The audience follows as Macbeth spirals away from his original self, a loyal and courageous soldier and turns into a reckless murdering king. The events that play out between these two different aspects of Macbeth is what has audiences conflicting as it has been argued that the witch’s prophecies, Lady Macbeth’s persuasion and Macbeth’s own ambition all play a significant role in his downfall.
Macbeth’s vanity and inability to think around what was given him, led him to make bad decisions which overall partially contribute to his downfall. During Macbeth’s …show more content…

At the beginning of the play, the witches talk to animal spirits and talk about what they have been doing. One says that she was killing swine. Another says that she will punish a sailor, and the third witch says that she will help her to do it,“Her husband’s to Aleppo gone… I’ll give the wind.” All the witches were taking cruel actions, which conveys the idea of them planning the same for Macbeth, to cause his downfall. The three Witches meet once again, this time with Hecate. Hecate is angry with the three Witches because of their "trade and traffic with Macbeth, In riddles and affairs of death.” They should have let her take the lead, because without her, they are nothing. She is "mistress of your charms, The close contriver of all harms.” Shakespeare uses rhymes to tell the reader that that Hecate is a witch through her monologue. Hecate scolding the witches for toying with Macbeth’s fate shows that his downfall was something that Hecate was planning on happening, and Macbeth’s downfall played out because of her power, control and influence over the prophecies given to Macbeth. Therefore the witches and Hecate can be held responsible for the downfall of Macbeth as

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