Essay/Term paper: Characteristics and proof of macbeth

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Macbeth

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." Sometimes tomorrow never comes
and as for Macbeth, tomorrow meant another day of inner torment and guilt. This
victorious Thane literally got the better of himself as soon as he started to believe
in the witches. After the prophesies, Macbeth"s popularity seems to take a turn for
the worst as well as his mental state. Even though the witches did tempt him with
the idea of becoming king, and Lady Macbeth helped him with his natural
hesitation of committing murder, Macbeth chose the crown over is honor.
Moreover, I believe that Macbeth caused his own downfall. There were people
like the witches and his wife who influenced him, but it was his choice to choose
over salvation of the next world and material gain of this one. Ambition is always
good...to an extent. An overambitious person, Macbeth is too intrigued by the
witches" prediction that he ignores all of the years of loyalty and ethics to his king
for his own selfishness. And in the end, apparently, Macbeth"s ambition is
stronger than his conscience.
In addition, Macbeth"s ambition caused him to do desperate things.
Desperation. in my opinion, dug Macbeth"s own grave. When the subject of
Macduff arrives, I don"t think that he would have been so bitter towards Macbeth
if he hadn"t killed his wife and children. Killing Macduff"s family gains nothing
for Macbeth and tries to get at Macduff indirectly. This act of desperation and
spitefulness gives a good reason to now fear Macduff.
Also, as Macbeth took the throne, he really didn"t trust anyone except his wife,
Lady Macbeth. Paranoid, due to King Duncan"s murder, Macbeth let"s his
delusional state of mind get to him. Therefore, from his original guilt of murder
causes Macbeth to become paranoid and kill some more. Killing Macduff"s family
was definitely an act of desperation. He also plants spies showing again how
paranoid and desperate he was seeing his enemies, real or imagined, everywhere.
Lastly, I thought that Macbeth showed some very important traits that we
should all learn from. We should learn that it is good to be ambitious but being
overambitiousness could cause us to do desperate things. And while doing those
desperate things, we could possibly become paranoid and then do some more
desperate things. {When I say "we", I mean the people of the world.} This is a
fatal circle that I believe that Macbeth got spun into by the witches and partly by
Lady Macbeth. It was his choice to follow through. No one put a, in this case,
sword to his head.


Rickford Foo