Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Keen Kaur
Figueroa
Senior English P3
8 March 2019
Macbeth’s Downfall
One’s goodness and innocence can be tainted by evil and negative energy. Macbeth has
great potential as an individual, and his inner desire to become king proves this. The genuineness
and kindness of Macbeth makes it impossible for him to commit murders out of his own will. It
is with Lady Macbeth’s wicked persuasion that he propels into his own downfall. With her
influence, Macbeth is driven to take inconceivable actions that are against his human nature.
Lady Macbeth exerts control over Macbeth in order to overpower him and exploit him in
order to serve her agenda. She plans to feed him whatever it takes so his actions ultimately work
in her favor. “Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor
of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 12-15). After
reading the letter, she wants Macbeth to hurry home so she can convince and talk him out of
whatever is stopping him from obtaining the precious crown she desperately wants for him. She
will go to great lengths to get what she desires, even if that means harming her own Husband’s
wellbeing and breaking him down. She goes as far as making Macbeth feel like a coward for his
emotions. “Why worthy thane, you do unbend your noble strength, to think so brainsickly
things” Act 2, Scene 2, Line 44-46). After he commits the murder, he feels guilty for his actions.
Lady Macbeth tells him not to think in such a cowardly way because he will let himself become
weak. She wants him to disregard his emotions in order to carry out future, evil crimes. She uses
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manipulative tactics to control Macbeth and make him vulnerable to her control, which is a
Another destructive tool Lady Macbeth utilizes is verbal abuse in order to gain control
over her husband. She slanders him by saying that he is not manly and tells him what it is that
will make him a man. “When you durst do it, then you were a man and to be more than what you
were, you would be so much more than a man” (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 56-57). She is attacking his
manhood by saying that he was only a man when he dared to do what she wants, and that he will
be even more of a man if he carries through with the plan. She does not let him have a decision
of his own, because it would not work in her favor. Again, she attacks Macbeth by slandering
him and essentially tells him that if he does not continue forward with the original plan, he will
remain nothing but a coward. “Wouldst thou have that which esteem’st the ornament of life, and
live coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’ like the poor cat I’ th’
adage?” (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 41-45). She is taunting him by asking him if he will take the
crown he longs so badly, or if he will live as a coward that continues to claim they cannot, even
though they want to. Lady Macbeth taunts Macbeth which breaks him down into her control,
which is her goal. Her own, evil motives lead to Macbeth’s ruination.
Lady Macbeth’s personal agenda to acquire the royal crown manifests through her evil
actions against her own husband, Macbeth. She uses psychological methods to influence
Macbeth and his decisions which results in his havoc. Lady Macbeth is more ruthless, ambitious,
and stronger than him. She weakens him by attacking his courage, calling him a coward and less
of a man. She constantly overrides all the objections that Macbeth has and continuously
questions his manhood. This is what drives Macbeth to the point that he feels like he needs to
prove himself to her. He does this through committing unforgivable acts of evil that he does not
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feel content doing, but Lady Macbeth even goes as far as telling him what he is doing is nothing
to feel bad about. One can disguise themselves as a lover or friend but have ulterior motives such
as Lady Macbeth.
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Works Cited