Essay/Term paper: The downfall of macbeth

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Shakespeare

Macbeth's love for Lady

Macbeth, in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth,

caused Macbeth to feel the need to prove his manhood,

which eventually lead to his downfall. Macbeth was not

secure in his manhood, so he felt the need to prove himself

to Lady Macbeth. After he proved he was a man by killing

Duncan, and he felt he had a lot of power to do whatever he

wanted. Macbeth became desensitized between all the killing

and the hype of being the King. In the beginning of the play

Macbeth showed his love for Lady Macbeth in many

different ways. He told her his feelings toward her "My

dearest love" (act I, scene v, l 58). Macbeth listens to what

Lady Macbeth has to say, and takes her advice into

consideration every time he makes a decision. He also has

great love for her and tries his best to make her happy no

matter what it takes. Then Lady Macbeth convinced

Macbeth that he wasn't a man unless he went through with

the murder of Duncan. She threatens his manhood by saying

"When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be

more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the

man" (act I, scene vii, l 49-51). This made Macbeth begin to

think, and slowly but surely Lady Macbeth had manipulated

his mind to think the right thing to do was kill Duncan.

Macbeth had decided in order to prove his manhood he

must go through with this horrible act. Barta 2 After

Macbeth had committed the crime he felt that his soul could

never be cleansed no matter what he did. He said "They

pluck out mine own eyes!/Will all great Neptune's ocean

wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will

rather/The Multitudinous seas incarnadine, /Making the

green one red" (act II, scene iii, l 58-62). This shows that he

really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to

prove himself to Lady Macbeth, and to become the king. By

the end he had no fear, and had killed not only Duncan but

also many other people. He now had different views from

which he had in the beginning of the play. Macbeth realizes

that he is no longer afraid "no, nor more fearful. (Act V,

scene vii, l 9). He is now considered a man, but he doesn't

like the fact that he has killed all these people. He is sort of

scared of himself and cannot realize what a horrible monster

he has become. Macbeth proved his that he could be a man

by killing, but in the end he couldn't believe that he went

through with all that. All that he had done eventually lead to

the death of his love, Lady Macbeth, which was the original

reason he felt the need to prove himself. Love is a strange

thing and people will do some crazy things when they are

truly in love. All this inevitably led to the downfall of

Macbeth.