The tragedy of “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare, follows the fall of Macbeth from a man in a position of power with a contented life, to a man with nothing at all but “mouth honour” and a corrupted soul. In this essay, I want to show to what extent Macbeth’s tragedy was his personal fault.
The downfall of Macbeth starts early on in the play when he and Banquo (a fellow Scottish noble) meet the witches. The witches waylay Macbeth and Banquo whilst they have been on their way to meet Duncan, King of Scotland. They determine to listen to the witches, out of sheer curiosity. The three witches greet Macbeth as “Thane of Glamis”, the title he currently holds, and start to tell the two nobles of factors to come, and prophesyse that Macbeth will turn out to be Thane of Cawdor, and the King of Scotland. Macbeth asks how they know of his current title, and laughs at the following two prophesies. The witches ignore his inquiries, and tell Banquo of how he will not be king, but his sons will be kings. Alternatively of just ignoring the witches, the statement of his existing title intrigues Macbeth and he follows the witches to try and get them to inform him a lot more. “Stay you imperfect speakers, inform me more” says Macbeth, displaying that he is certainly interested in what the witches have to say. The witches disappear, and Macbeth dismisses them, and he and Banquo ride off. The witches look, and Macbeth becoming intrigued could quantity to his downfall, but I think that they were merely the ‘helping hand’ for Macbeth who’s personal weak will and other events exactly where the catalyst for his eventual death.
At this point, Macbeth is nonetheless a highly respected man, and is about to get much more respect from Duncan, for defending Scotland from the invading forces of Norway. The messengers who tell Duncan of Macbeth’s deeds portray him as a man of great courage, who showed no worry in the battles. Duncan sends a messenger to tell Macbeth of his reward for his great deeds. Two messengers to greet Macbeth with the news of Duncan’s reward: he is to be created Thane of Cawdor. “Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” asks the startled Macbeth, as the messengers begin to clarify how the final Thane of Cawdor was assisting the Norwegians invade. Aside, he says, “Two truths are told, as content…