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The Deterioration of Macbeth


            Macbeth is a dynamic character that changes throughout the play written by Shakespeare. In the beginning he is loyal and trustworthy to many people including King Duncan. That changes at the beginning of the play when he runs into witches that prophesize that he will be King. He has many tragic flaws that help throw him towards the inevitable. Each step that he takes, each murder that he commits to be King, and stay King, makes him more and more mad due to the fact that nothing is stopping him and so he believes he is invulnerable and untouchable. By the end of the play, Macbeth is so mad in his power that he puts too much faith into the apparition warnings. He takes them as they are, and does not read into them. Macbeth deteriorates throughout the play with power going to his head and ends in his own death.
             One of Macbeth's many tragic flaws is over confidence. This is what leads to his lack of judgment, trusting the witches and their prophecies. Macbeth was not the least bit hesitant or unsure of what the witches had told him. Macbeth is also overly ambitious, and this ambition and pursuit of his to fulfill all the prophecies, leads to his death.
             All these tragic flaws of Macbeth's really begin to show after that one prophecy that he will be King. Duncan becomes a guest in Macbeth's home, which gives him a perfect opportunity to murder the King. Before killing him however, Macbeth's soliloquy reveals confusion and in the end he resolves not to kill King Duncan and his only reason to kill was going back to his ambition, "I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself/And falls on th"other," (1, vii, 25-28) All seems good, until Lady Macbeth returns, then she convinces him with her strength that the murder must go through. Lady Macbeth even pushes her husband further, almost forcing him to kill Duncan (when he doesn't want to), and in doing so, she allows his ambition and confidence to grow even more until Macbeth believes he is invincible.


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