Macbeths Ruin

Macbeth’s Ruin
Macbeth is a tragic play about a noble warrior who lets his ambition ultimately control his life. Macbeth’s ambition for personal gain causes him to lose sight of reality.   This is evidenced by the fact that, Macbeth begins to only accept ideas that will benefit himself on the way to the throne. Near the end he ultimately becomes self-centered and loses all feelings towards others as a need for power and fulfillment.   Thus, Macbeth’s tragic flaw, ambition, causes his downfall into despair and madness.

Macbeth’s ambition causes his reality to seemingly be twisted. In the beginning, when the witches present the three prophesies to Macbeth, they do it in a way that he would misinterpret them. Although this was done intentionally as the witches wanted to create evil, if Macbeth’s ambition was kept under control, he might possibly have been able to properly interpret the message. The first apparition was an armed head telling him to beware of Macduff. Even though Macbeth took this as a warning, it was really Macbeth whose head had been severed by Macduff.   The second apparition that came to Macbeth was a bloody child that claimed; “none born of a woman shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.79-80). This made Macbeth feel invincible in that nobody could possibly harm him. Unfortunately for Macbeth, Macduff “was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped” (3.8.16-17) meaning he was born from a c-section. Macbeth was ignorant and did not consider this an appropriate option as in the end, Macduff kills Macbeth. The third apparition was a child crowned with a tree: “Macbeth shall never be vanquished until Great Birnam wood to Dunsaine hill shall come against him (4.1.92-92). Macbeth believed it was impossible for the forest growth to reach his home during his lifetime. Unfortunately, Malcolm’s infantry arrived at Macbeth’s home with branches to make it appear as if in fact the forest had encroached upon the castle.   Macbeth’s inability to distinguish reality from fantasy...