Sarah Jacobsen

Ms. King P.4

English 10H
18 October 2015
Macbeth is to Blame for His Own Downfall
Blood will have blood. (III.iv.151) This quote, said by Macbeth, is an extremely
accurate description of Macbeths corruption and destruction in the play. Throughout the play,
Macbeth progresses from an honorable man and warrior into a selfish, greedy, over-ambitious
king. He doesnt realize how far hes gone until its too late and his ambition leads him to his
destruction. The person most culpable for Macbeths downfall is Macbeth because he willingly
murdered Banquo and Macduffs family, all of his plans fell through, and he eventually became
bloodthirsty and greedy for more power.
Macbeth is the most culpable for his own death because he chose by his own free will
and with no persuasion to murder Banquo and Macduffs family. Macbeths hidden intent to kill
Banquo is made clear when he states, Fleance, his son, that keeps him company, whose absence
is no less material to me than his fathers, must embrace the fate of that dark hour. (III.i.154157) This leads the reader into the now dark and murderous mind of Macbeth. Macbeth decided
he wanted to kill Banquo on his own. Unlike the murder of Duncan, there was no one trying to
convince Macbeth to murder Banquo. Macbeth also doesnt hesitate to kill Macduffs family,
which is shown when he states: The castle of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to
th edge of th sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.

(IV.i.171-174) After hearing from the witches that Macduff was a possible threat, Macbeth
immediately decided to kill Macduffs family and didnt consider any other options. Macbeths
automatic first thought was murder. He didnt even second-guess his first instinct to see if that
was really the best solution. Lastly, when Macbeth agrees to kill King Duncan, he cant stop
thinking about the murder and what is going to happen. Eventually, he thinks about it so much
that he starts hallucinating and he says, Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle
toward my hand? (II.i.44-45) Macbeth obsessed over this murder so much that he imagined a
dagger leading him toward his victim. Macbeth accepted the dagger and allowed it to lead him to
Duncan. He knowingly allowed the murder of Duncan to happen. In fact, he wanted to clutch
the dagger. Macbeth is the individual most culpable for his own downfall because he purposely,
knowingly killed Banquo and Macduffs relatives without any persuasion, and allowed himself
to be convinced to kill Duncan by Lady Macbeth.
Next, Macbeth is to blame for his downfall because all of his plans eventually fell
through, leading to his destruction. First, Macbeth murdering Duncan fell through. He got away
with it, but it was the start of all his guilt and the following murders, plus Macbeths loss of
sleep: Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more. (II.ii.56-57) Macbeth felt so
guilty about murdering Duncan that he couldnt sleep. He was continually anxious from the time
of Duncans murder until the time of Macbeths death. The plan Macbeth created (with the help
of Lady Macbeth) to murder Duncan ultimately fell through and led to Macbeths destruction.
Macbeth acted guilty and suspicious after the murder, leading others, such as Banquo, to suspect
him for the murder. Additionally, the murder of Banquo led to Macbeths downfall. At the feast,
when Macbeth sees Banquos ghost, he says, Thou canst not say that I did it. Never shake thy
gory locks at me. (III.iv.61-62) In this moment, Macbeth is speaking to Banquos ghost. It

shows how crazy and guilty murdering Banquo made Macbeth. The only way Macbeth wouldve
hallucinated Banquos ghost is if he was thinking of the murder constantly. The guilt it gave to
Macbeth caused him to hallucinate and led even further to his downfall. Another failed plan
Macbeth made was the murder of Macduffs family. This caused Macduff to seek revenge on
Macbeth, shown when Macduff says, within my swords length set him. If he scape, heaven
forgive him too. (IV.iii.274-275) Macduff was so mad at Macbeth for killing his family that he
wanted to get revenge and kill Macbeth. Macbeth didnt even try to hide that he had killed
Macduffs family, which was a bad move on his part. This made it so that everyone in Scotland
knew he was a corrupt murderer, so no one wanted to support Macbeth as a king. To conclude,
one of the main reasons Macbeth led himself to his downfall was that he poorly planned all of his
murders, which made each plan fall through and slowly but surely led to Macbeths destruction.