Who is responsible for the downfall of Macbeth?

Question

Is it Lady Macbeth responsible or is it Macbeth himself?

Answer 1

good work o.g. Macbeth is his own downfall and he could not help it. Tragic heroes have a personality trait which becomes their doom because they cannot help themselves rushing to their own destruction. If it weren't for his ambition, he would have said to Lady M, "Are you nuts? Forget it!" and there would have been no tragedy. The witches are symbols of the supernatural cause of his destruction, that there is a pwower greater than us that determines our fate. Same as Hamlet says, "There is a Divinity that shapes our end." Like Greek tragic characters they were doomed by the gods and their "tragic flaws." Read Aristotle's Poetics. (is O J the Macbeth of our time?)

Answer 2

Well, Macbeth did not NEED to listen to Lady Macbeth when she told him to kill King Duncan. And nobody FORCED him to believe the Weird Sisters (they are never identified as witches). But, still, if Lady Macbeth had not told him to kill Duncan and if the Weird Sisters had not tricked him with their prophecies, he would have lived a life of honour and respect. So, basically, it was the fault of the women that Macbeth suffered.

Answer 3

In much the way Oedipus is responsible for his own downfall, so too is Macbeth.

The sin of pride, or hubris, is the reason.

Others hasten the downfall, but Macbeth set himself up.

Pride goeth before the fall (as they say).

Answer 4

Himself.

Answer 5

Neither. It truth, the only one responsible is William Shakespeare.

Answer 6

Both. Lady McB is like the devil on his shoulder saying "do it!" but it also doesn't take too much convincing

Answer 7

quote from the book (as i remember it) his "vaulting ambition"

Answer 8

his own pride