Macbeth deliberately continues his actions knowing he can no longer turn back. This ambition, as with Satan, leads to his downfall when Malcolm points out that "Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell" (4.3.22). The once great flower slowly starts to wither as the ambitions of Macbeth drive him mad for power.The shadow of Satan being representative of Macbeth is best illustrated by the critic A.C. Bradley who implies that "...no amount of calamity which merely befell a man, descending from the clouds like lighting, or stealing from the darkness like pestilence" (Bradley 3154). Bradley infers that, like Satan who fell from his power, Macbeth has also lost his golden years and pure soul to his ambitions and must now endure his punishments for his sins in both the present and afterlife. Macbeth also knows that his actions have condemned him to eternal damnation as it did with Satan. Macbeth realizes his deeds and admits his defeat in reality and knows he has: "Lived long enough. My way of life Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf, And that which should accompany old age, As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have" (5.4.22-26).This final realization of consequence and defeat is connected to the idea presented by Pack that "The most important analogy between Satan and Macbeth is that they are both fully aware they are opposing an ultimately indestructible moral order, so that they enter into crime aware of the inevitability of their punishment" (Pack 276). Both Macbeth and Satan share the same fate of damnation for their ambitions and both have only themselves to blame. Like a withering flower which becomes old, dead, and useless, Macbeth also becomes old in body, dead in soul, and useless in life.The characters Macbeth and Satan both share the same ambitions and the same downfalls. Each character knows that the greatest evil one can embellish is knowing that something is wrong yet still co...
