Macbeth Final Essay

        Macbeth by William Shakespeare explains that, though owning up to mistakes may end up in punishment, continuing to try and cover up those mistakes can prove to make the outcome much worse in the end. Because the main character chose to lie even more to cover up his tracks, he built up a giant pile of dangers and even caused innocent people to die. By wanting to be king, he eliminated all road blocks that he thought would hinder his journey, killing the king himself and his people with a broken state of mind. As he had gotten stronger willed, he killed just as ruthlessly, not caring about his own wife, who had actually killed herself, and any of his people on the way. His mindset was set askew and eventually that led to his demise and beheading.

        Macbeth chose to give in to the three witches' prophecy and to his wife's order to kill the king, causing him to go into a state of panic and fright for what would come of the future. 

I'll go no more: / I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.

(Act II; Scene ii; Lines 49-51)

He was so stricken with grief after killing the king that he didn't even want to think about it, forcing himself to try and forget although that was impossible. Macbeth was scared and this was obvious, though his wife tried to man him up in the worst way possible. Because he had given in to his desire to become the king, he had done a bad deed, and from there was forced to continue living with that regret. 

To be thus is nothing; / But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature / Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, / He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour

(Act III; Scene i; Lines 49-53) 

His fear had embedded itself so deep into Macbeth's mind that he was starting to become paranoid. He thought that Banquo would figure out it was him and he'd get caught. All of these worries and doubts about the people that surrounded him had stressed out Macbeth, further driving him to the brink of breaking down. 

        Bitterness lingered in Macbeth's mind about Banquo and how he'd known about the three witches' prophecy, causing him to want to just get rid of Banquo like how he had gotten rid of the king; by killing him. 

So is he mine; and in such bloody distance, / That every minute of his being thrusts
Against my near'st of life: and though I could / With barefaced power sweep him from my sight
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, / For certain friends that are both his and mine,
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall

(Act III; Scene i; Lines 116-123

Macbeth had hired murderers to kill Banquo so that he would not get him in trouble, even telling the murderers to kill his son as well so that the boy would not become king and that Macbeth would be even more likely to stay as king himself. Since Macbeth was already having mental issues with himself and whether or not he'd be caught, he eventually ended up going crazy and seeing things that weren't real, like ghosts and spirits of the dead and such. 

Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo! / how say you?
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. / If charnel-houses and our graves must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments / Shall be the maws of kites.

(Act III; Scene iv; Lines 69-72)

Because Macbeth had gone out of his way to kill yet another person, his mind was beginning to take a toll from the amount of stress being placed on him. He began to see the ghost of Banquo, though the man was dead at the hands of the men that he hired. Macbeth was slipping down into a dark path of destruction, and because he wasn't able to accept the fact that he was killing people, he plunged further down into his own grave. 

        The pain of living with that fact turned Macbeth into a whole new person, and he wasn't able to return to his old self, changing into a cold and heartless murderer till death did him part from the world. 

She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word.

(Act V; Scene v; Lines 17-18) 

Macbeth, whom relied on his wife so much and even kept the secret of killing Banquo from although they were partners in this crime, disregarded her death as it was time for him to go into battle. His own wife, whom he'd pledged his love for and who also saved his butt on more than one occasion when he was starting to go crazy, was dead and he didn't care. 

He's worth no more / They say he parted well, and paid his score:
And so, God be with him! Here comes newer comfort. 

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head

(Act V; Scene viii; Lines 50-53)

Here lies Macbeth, with his head on a stick, or rather a pole. He was now dead and Macduff had been the one to do it, stripping him of his title as king and ending the story without the three witches' prophecy coming true. Macbeth had died due to his unstable mind and the fact that he had trusted withes as his muse in order to become king. 

        Now, with his dismembered body and broken reign over his people, Macbeth was dead. The events that lead up to this was due to his lack of acknowledgement of his wrongdoings and therefore, was the cause of his downfall. He chose to kill the king, his guards, frame innocent people for his deeds and even going cold to the people he should have kept close to him, like his wife and subjects. By choosing to lie to his people and kill of others that he thought would get in his way to be king, he paid the ultimate price of death. No longer would he sit atop the throne because he had given in to greed and tried covering up for it, mistakes getting worse and worse until everyone knew how sloppy he was getting.