Macbeth: A Slope into Madness

Macbeth: A Slope into Madness

History has proven that weak character and ill intentions can cause some of the world’s greatest figures to slowly fall into a slippery slope of evil, which finally climaxes with their eventual ruin. Whether the spark that started the fire came from within the leader, or some outside force easing its way into the characters mind through manipulation, the result is never a happy ending. Nothing can be closer to the truth for Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Through Macbeth’s own ambition and lust for power his wife, Lady Macbeth, was able to manipulate and exploit weaknesses in his character to cause his respectable desires to turn into evil motivations. In the course of the play one can easily notice his changes of mind from thinking rationally to thinking illogically and acting on every thought that comes into his mind, which would finally lead to his eternal damnation at the hands of Macduff.

To understand the change in Macbeth you first have to look at his character. At first he was a noble thane to the king Duncan obeyed his every command. It looked as if not a single bad thought crossed his mind about murder. However Macbeth had a weakness in his character in that he was easily manipulated by the ones close to him and eventually by his own ambitions. It was though Macbeth had a child’s mind because whatever he heard, he would nearly take it completely to heart and believe it to be true. This would soon change his nature and cause him to go from a dignified thane of the king, to a ruthless murder who would act upon his minds every thought.

Furthermore to show Macbeth’s change of mental state one must look the people to which he would go for advice and reasoning. Near the start of the play he needed no one except himself and the wise words of another thane. This would soon change when manipulation and his ambitions overtook his normal state of mind, to cause him to start the ceaseless slip towards his fate. One of the leading characters which cause him to change his state of mind was his wife. When she learns of the chance to kill Duncan, resulting in the crowning of Macbeth king of Scotland, she jumps on it. Using her position of influence on Macbeth she was able to talk him in to killing king Duncan. Still, Macbeth was able to think somewhat rationally and that is shown when he speaks about the kings death and wishes he would awaken from his “sleep”. A second force in the play which