Lee Miyauchi P.2 T.9 Asher

The tragedy of “Macbeth," by William Shakespeare, follows the fall of Macbeth from an exalted thane with power and respect, to a man with little more than few riches and a tainted heart. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is but of the bravest on the battlefield; winning honor to the crown as the Thane of Glamis. Little did he know, everything he did for the crown was for his own future reward.

Macbeth’s rank and nobility are of great value as were all the positions in the feudal caste system. He could hope for nothing more for he has riches, a castle, land and soldiers. It was all the trickery of witches that beseeches the inner beast of Macbeth to reveal itself. As the encounter of the witches end, Macbeth’s deep ambition is awoken as it searches for the crown. Of course, Macbeth is not filled with simple aspiration for the crown, he is also driven with love as seen in his letter to Lady Macbeth. The love is presented in his letter as he calls her his “dearest partner of greatness.” With this influences and drives for power, Macbeth is propelled towards the crown.

On the other hand, Macbeth does care about morality but his ways clearly violate all that he believed and followed. He had allowed the evil within everyone consume him. As Macbeth transcended from Thane to king, he descended from glorious hero to cold blooded murderer. With this power he slowly felt insecure about his position as he remembered the witch’s prophecy that Banquo’s lineage would take the crown from him. With paranoia crept into this mindset, he launches an attack at the family. Before what had been a coax from Lady Macbeth to kill had turned into an impulsive action to protect his position. This dissension into madness is what pushes Macbeth to commit further crimes and plunges his sanity into the void.

The Catch-22 Macbeth faced was that if he did not kill a person, then that person may come back and take his life or throne away from him. If he did kill a person however, he would have to continue to kill otherwise another person would oppose his throne. This madness breaks Macbeth down along with his wife. His wife could not handle this and in the story, she commits suicide to escape the havoc. At the siege of Macbeth’s castle, the only fight he has left in him is from the hope that he cannot be defeated by any “man of woman born.” At the emergence of truth from Macduff that he was “ripped from the womb”, Macbeth instantly loses the last shred of sanity he has. The belief that he was invincible led to his demise.

The character of Macbeth is of noble cause but at the urging of other people, he is seen as very impressionable. From the moment the witches foretell his prophecy to the attack on his manhood by his wife, he is manipulated to kill for power. Of course with no other influences, Macbeth is led on a killing rampage that inadvertently leads to his doom. Ironically the aura of paranoia that Macbeth had created had inadvertently ended his life.