Macbeth’s unbridled ambition leads to his downfall as he sinks further and further into murder and death. If he had not been so ambitious, he would have avoided this tragedy. However, it is also the ambition of Lady Macbeth who so cunningly convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan that leads to his downfall. Finally, the elements of the supernatural in Shakespeare’s play also impact on Macbeth. Even if we do not believe in witches as people did during Shakespeare’s time, we can see that Macbeth believed the witches’ prophecies and therefore these supernatural beings and their omens also lead to Macbeth’s downfall. Macbeth is primarily undone by his "over-vaulting ambition." He is lead to commit grievous crimes to serve his attempt to become king. We can see how ambition transforms him when he states’ I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other." He knows that his ambition is wrong and this physically manifests itself in the hallucination of a dagger that he sees before himself before killing Duncan. He exclaims, "Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?" Clearly, any reading of Shakespeare’s play will recognize the impact of Macbeth’s ambitious nature.
However, the ambition of Macbeth is just as important, if not more important that Macbeth’s own ambition. Lady Macbeth threatens Macbeth, "When you durst do it, then you were a man." Lady Macbeth also states what she would do if you was in his position, using disgusting imagery to demonstrate her commitment saying, I "pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums/ And dash'd the brains out." Macbeth is even helped in the murder of Duncan by Lady Macbeth who orchestrates the entire murder. Therefore, any consideration of Macbeth’s downfall must consider Lady Macbeth’s impact on Macbeth. People were very superstitious during Shakespeare’s time, and believed in witches and pro...