Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's timeless classics and most famous tragedies is the story of a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. Macbeth is the tragic hero who is led down an unescapable road of doom by outside forces. In this case there are several influences or forces including his own wife, Lady Macbeth, the three witches, and his conscience, which continually eat at him, portraying illusions and performing mind games which send him to the point of insanity. He had no choice but to follow his wife's wishes, the word of the witches and his curiosity, which in turn play on his guilty conscience. Macbeth is a tragic tale of the corruption and downfall of a leader, whose thirst for greed and power, as well as assistance from outside influences, cause his world to come tumbling down around him.

Macbeth was a man born to leadership. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth had everything he could want. He had a noble and very honourable position, and this was further promoted with the reward of his new rank as the Thane of Cawdor. He also had the recognition from King Duncan as being a brave and heroic soldier, address

After Macbeth's desires to become King had been stirred by the three witches, his wife, Lady Macbeth, contemplates how she is going to convince her husband to commit the act of murdering Duncan. Using her feminine persuasion and the temptations of the rewards of power and wealth, as well as the support from the prophecies, the evil forces take control and send Macbeth into a state of madness confusing his priorities and making his judgement impaired. In order for Macbeth to safeguard his existence as King, he had to kill or destroy any single threats that stood between him and his success as a leader. Initially, his first obstacle was killing Duncan, to acquire the crown, which with the assistance of his faithful wife's premeditation and planning, his dream became a reality, hence fulfilling the second prophecy. But from this moment onwards, Macbeth's sanity begins to disintegrate, and he goes mad, seeing visions of dead people, and objects, and hearing voices, which lead him to insanity. The first vision was of the dagger. "Is this a dagger, which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" (Act II, Scene I, lines 41-42). The second series of murders were to cover up any evidence that linked the atrocities to Macbeth or his wife, and they were committed upon the guards, which shifted the blame onto someone else. And then death also came to Banquo who could prove to be a hindrance in Macbeth's path to the crown, as he was a witness to the three prophecies that the witches enlightened Macbeth of. In this way, Macbeth would have stopped at nothing to get what he wanted, and this was obvious through his actions. Mac

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Approximate Word count = 1094
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)