Good yet evil, loyal yet treacherous, strong yet vulnerable. These opposites show the change in the main character `Macbeth' in William Shakespeare's famous tragedy of the same name. When this play was written, evil and supernatural powers were given great credence especially by King James I. Shakespeare wrote the play with a lot of reference to the supernatural to impress the king.

In the beginning, Macbeth is successful general and Thane of Glamis, described as noble and valiant, but his ambition, the promoting of supernatural powers and the influence of his wife, Lady Macbeth, bring him to murder to become king, to protect his throne. Eventually this leads to his downfall. In this essay I will show to what extent I believe Macbeth is responsible for his own downfall.

The play opens with the meeting of the three witches. We discover that they plan to meet Macbeth `once...