Macbeths Downfall Revison

Salgado 1
Alondra Salgado
Ms. Figueroa
Senior English
20 February 2019
Macbeth Provoked His Own Downfall
Someone can create misfortune for themselves if they are not processing things with
logic. The play Macbeth, written by the famous William Shakespeare during the Renaissance
era, follows a young and charismatic man who had just won the war in and was praised for it by
many. Shortly after that event, he crosses paths with three witches who call themselves the
Weird Sisters, who also claim to have psychic abilities. Their first prophecy to Macbeth is that he
will be given a new title of the Thane of Cawdor by the king. Further into the story, their
prophecies slowly become true, one by one. After listening to what the witches have to say when
he is given his new title, Macbeth decides to work his way towards the throne, and towards his
own downfall. Macbeth sets himself up for failure by being gullible towards others, and for
letting himself be manipulated by Lady Macbeth and illusions.
Macbeth was vastly easy to listen to the bizarre predictions that the three witches were
sharing with him, which can say a lot about how easily he trusts strangers. The witches were
feeding into Macbeth’s secret desires when they told him he would become the king of Scotland.
The witches say: “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!... Thou shalt get kings, though
thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!” (1.3. 70-710.) When the witches share this
prophecy with Macbeth and it comes true, he then plans his next step to take over the throne.
Without second-guessing the outcome, trusting the witches and following through with his plan
that was not very well thought of, which resulted in betrayal. “Infected be the air whereon they
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ride, and damned all those that trust them! I did hear the galloping of horse. Who was ’t came
by?” (4.1 141-146). After learning of the witches’ true intentions, he deeply regretted placing his
trust in them. If he had not paid them any attention from the start, things would not have played
out as tragically as they did.
Macbeth was highly influenced by his surroundings and the people in them, and could
not depend on himself to make logical decisions. Lady Macbeth plays a large role in the way that
Macbeth makes acts and thinks, she even helps him plan Duncan’s death: “But screw your
courage to the stickling place and we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep (Whereto the rather shall
his day’s hard journey soundly invite him), his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so
convince that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a
limbeck only. When in swinish sleep their drenched natures lie as in a death, what cannot you
and I perform upon th’ unguarded Duncan?” (1.7 60-73). Lady Macbeth plants evil and sinister
thoughts of murder into Macbeth’s head, and he is weak enough to follow through with her
plans. Before assassinating Duncan, Macbeth hesitates on whether he should really follow
through with the plan, until he sees the floating dagger. “Is this a dagger which I see before me,
the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art
thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false
creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable as this
which now I draw” (2.1 31-41). A simple hallucination drove Macbeth to make his final decision
to kill Duncan in his sleep without giving it a second thought. It is clear that Macbeth has a weak
mind, and cannot make reasonable decisions without relying on other people’s input.
Macbeth planned his own downfall from the beginning when he bothered to listen to the
Weird Sisters’ prophecy, and when he let himself be driven by a person who belittled him.
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Macbeth was considered a strong individual, but his thoughts were weak, and his actions were
unreasonable. Killing off people who he considered a “threat” like Duncan and Banquo, was
only going to leave him with more weight over his shoulders. He was not considering what he
wanted anymore, but only what Lady Macbeth wanted; he was only pleasing her. A reasonable
person knows right from wrong, Macbeth could have easily ignored what the witches had to say
and go on with his day, no one forced him to end the life of other people. All of the hardships he
faced were avoidable. One can take this tragic story as an example of how not to act under
pressure, and to not let others influence how they should act and think.
Salgado 4
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth (underlined). New York: Washington Press, 1992

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Salgado 1

Macbeth Provoked His Own Downfall

letting himself be manipulated by Lady Macbeth and illusions.

out as tragically as they did.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth (underlined). New York: Washington Press, 1992

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