Monday, October 3, 2011

Macbeth's fallibility leads to the terrible crimes he commits?

Concerning Shakespeare's Macbeth, I'm
not sure what you're after in your question. 


Macbeth is
certainly fallible, but that can be said of any character in serious imaginative
literature, with the exception of myth or fantasy, maybe.  He is fallible--he makes all
kinds of mistakes.  He is not a god so, of course, he is
fallible.


His ambition, gullibility, and lack of
intelligence (in some respects) directly lead to the crimes he commits and the downfall
that follows them.  Any of those words are more relevant to a discussion of Macbeth than
his fallibility. 


But, yes, he is fallible, and desperately
wants the thrown, is easily manipulated by the witches and his wife, and makes extremely
poor strategic decisions:  he kills the grooms, orders the killings of Banquo and
Fleance, and the slaughter of Macduff's family.  These all cast suspicion on him and
lead to his downfall.  Had he stuck to his wife's plan, and left her in charge of
strategic planning, he might have gotten away with the assassination of Duncan.  In this
sense, his fallibility leads to his crimes and downfall. 

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