Guilt is constantly seen throughout the play Macbeth driving the characters to question their morals. To the responder it appears that Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind the initial killing of King Duncan influencing her husband Macbeth to commit the evil deeds by threatening him with his man hood by saying “when you do it, then you are a man”. Her tone portrays her dominant nature and her hunger for authority and demonstrates to the responder her strength as a character. However her over confident traits and clear and concise thinking is diminished once the guilt of the crime poisons her conscience. This is demonstrated by her imagining her hands stained by blood and her constantly trying to clean the “damned spot” away and rid her sole of the guilt.
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores the destruction of innocence demonstrated by a man’s need of power. Throughout the play, the need and want of supremacy takes over his characters and guides them towards their own obliteration of innocence. In order to get what he wants, the main character in Macbeth does whatever possible to achieve it. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both strive for power, so when Macbeth is foretold that he will be king, Lady Macbeth sways him into killing King Duncan so that he, the honorable Macbeth, would become king while she would become queen. As the play goes on, Macbeth slowly looses his morality as he strives for more control whilst Lady Macbeth steps into a frantic stage of guilt.
It seems that most people believe that Macbeth is the real villain of the play, after firstly killing the King but then Banquo and Macduff’s family but through Macbeth’s own ambition and desire for power, Lady Macbeth was able to manipulate and evoke weaknesses in Macbeth’s character to cause his respectable needs as a loyal solider, to turn into evil motivations. In the course of the play Macbeth’s mind changes from thinking logically to thinking unreasonably and acting impulsively on every thought that comes to his mind. The ideas that Lady Macbeth had and the prophesies from the witches came together to lead Macbeth into the conflicted character he become, going from a loyal, respected soldier into a tragic flawed hero. Before Macbeth’s character shifted into villainy he was a loyal and respected thane. His desire for power grew throughout the play and begins when he first encoumis, then they hail him the thane of Cawdor, which he didn’t yet know of, to him soon would be his next, second title.
As the play continues, with the foreseeing witches and the deceptive lady Macbeth, he quickly turns from a courageous strong hearted man, to a tyrant king who is willing to commit the unthinkable to withhold his royal status. In Macbeth, the prophecies foretold by the three witches about future events enflame our protagonist, driving him to make treacherous decisions that impact severely on his downfall. He is immediately taken in as the witches reveal the royal titles. Eager to unlock the secrets of these prophecies, Macbeth questions the witches, demanding them to speak. "And often to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths."
This is displayed when Macbeth is lured by the witches as they prophesize he will be the King. He demonstrates it once again when entice by his wife as she persuades him to kill King Duncan. Macbeth knows that even listening to these ideas are dangerous so threatening he compares it to eating from "the insane root, that takes reason prisoner" (I.iii.84-84.) This show that when Macbeth thinks logically he understands the repercussions of his actions. He is only unmindful of his actions when the posability of increasing power is involved.
The witches were the driving force of Macbeth’s guilty ambition and were the prophecies that would play on his mind continually. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter,” (Act One, Scene 3, Line 53). Following this, readers are introduced to Lady Macbeth, another character that encounters an ambitious discourse. The audience witnesses Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambitious discourse being ruined when they conclude that the only way to be on the throne is to commit the murder of the loyal King Duncan. The murderous actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lead to their guilty ambition influencing each other to commit deeds that would not only ruin their clean conscience, but also their cultural assumptions.
William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, is not in fact a play of fate, but a tragedy that happens because of all the uncontrollable greed and need for power by the main character, Macbeth, and his wife. Throughout the play, the audience witnesses the changes in Macbeth’s character. His uncontrollable need for power causes him to make sinister decisions that lead him into madness and misery. His greed for power constructs a maze to his own deathbed. After many twists and turns, it becomes a challenge for him to be tolerated by others; he turns his friends and subjects away from him and enters a dark world ruled by greed.
Ambition is a common downfall for those who seek power. In literature, authors use characters to demonstrate the harmful effects of ambition. Shakespeare, in his play Macbeth, develops the character of Macbeth, who changes from a good-hearted person to evil because of his corrupting power and unchecked ambition. In Act I, Macbeth debates with himself on whether or not to kill Duncan. He considers that, even if Duncan’s murder could be completed without any negative consequences, like getting caught, he still would have to live with guilt.
Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, it tells the story of noble, honorable, and ambitious man named Macbeth, who when giving power, lives out this quote. Through the greatness and power promised in the predictions of three witches, the destiny of the ambitious Macbeth turned into a nightmare. The result of the ambition leads to the deepest corruption. The expanding lust for power and the increased influence of others is all a result of ambition that leads to more corruption, as well as the guilt from the events taken place to fulfill this ambition caused him to loose his sanity, leading to greater corruption. When put into a position of such power and leadership, lust can easily consume even the wisest of men.
No one to blame but Macbeth Decisions can be impacted by a number of factors; but in the end we have to be the ones to take responsibility for our actions. This is demonstrated when we see Macbeth transform from a brave soldier to a power-hungry murderer, feared by all his subjects. Macbeth is the one to blame for his own descent into cruelty and murder because he let his ambition, arrogance and greed take over his mind. While some may claim that Macbeth is to blame for his actions, others argue that it is the force of the supernatural that leads to his demise. Early on the witches reveal prophecies to Macbeth suggesting his rise to power.