Clothing and Accessories in Macbeth Of the many plays that William Shakespeare wrote, critics and theatre fanatics alike consider The Tragedy of Macbeth to be his most dark and brooding work. Taking place in eleventh century Scotland, the tragedy follows the main character, Macbeth, and all the unfortunate events that unfold around him. However, despite being the title character, Macbeth and his tragic flaws are what lead to the demise of many other characters in the story. A Scottish nobleman and general at the beginning of the play, he quickly manages to rise to power as the King of Scotland after hesitantly resorting to performing immoral acts, such as killing Duncan, the country’s previous king, to fulfill his ambitions. Ironically, this trait of his is exactly what leads to his death by the end of the play. Macbeth’s false ambitions that arose out of the desire to fulfill the evil witches’ prophecies end up pushing him to commit one murder, which quickly escalates into the slaughter of many residents in Scotland, solely for the sake of securing his rule and power. As one of Shakespeare’s most symbolic and psychological works, there are many motifs that foreshadow and lead to Macbeth’s downfall, such as the type of clothing and accessories that each character adorns. Throughout the play, many characters metaphorically refer to the different titles of Scottish nobility as various apparel. For example, when Macbeth asks Ross, “The Thane of Cawdor lives; why do you dress me / In borrow’d robes?” (1.3.108-109) he is questioning why he has been given this new title of Thane of Cawdor since he believes the person who adorns that title is still alive. Because of this, he refers to the title as being borrowed, since he is convinced that it is not rightfully his. This concept of Macbeth earning something that does not truly belong to him is further pushed when