Macbeth Responsible for his own Downfall

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow Macbeth. Act V, Scene V, Lines 19-24 In one of his most celebrated plays, 'Macbeth', William Shakespeare illustrates the classical tragic hero pattern: a character regarded with the utmost admiration, demoted to an …

…in the end. Doomed from the start, his monstrous quest for power turned into nothing more than a sad fight for survival. In one of his greatest plays, Shakespeare's use of the tragic hero pattern makes us both despise and pity Macbeth. We hate him when he slaughters and innocent family, and feel sorry for him when he realizes his downfall is of his own making; illustrated in his speech, "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow".