Aristotelian Tragedy Macbeth Essays

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth portrays a person whose pride eventually takes them down. His pride is encouraged by his success in battle and by three witches who try to manipulate Macbeth by prophesizing that he will soon be king. Macbeth becomes so power-hungry as a result of the witches prophecy that he kills the current king Duncan for the throne, and kills his close friend Banquo and the family of Macduff in order to keep the throne after he becomes paranoid that he will be killed for his mistakes. Macbeth encompasses the elements of a Greek tragedy: hamartia, a fatal flaw, anagnorisis, a critical discovery made by the character, and catharsis, the realization and acceptance of the character’s fate. These elements are present throughout the play and bring to light the fact that an excessive amount of pride can lead to a person’s downfall.

Although William Shakespeare created the play, Macbeth, to be a tragedy, the tragic hero can hardly be considered to be one. For the entirety of one of Shakespeare’s most magnificent works, Macbeth is controlled and manipulated into committing atrocious acts that the witches and his wife desire. He is powerless to their tricks and through their sorcery/cunning words and his own morals (or lack thereof) “sustain[s] the central paradox–the heroic murderer” (Cusick). Despite the fact that he laments the loss of his king, Duncan, he still continues down his path of evil that only has one ending: his death. Although Macbeth gains a few insights on his inner self, his lack of ability to resist manipulation, willingness to kill, combined with his

According to Macbeth’s words, his dependency on the Witches’ prophecies replaces his honourable self with a tough and arrogant Macbeth. Therefore, his cockiness and bold self will lead to his demise. Furthermore, another instance of disappointment paradox in the play is during the murder of Duncan. This results in the assurance of good reward, which then plays in the role during the battle with what seems like positive assurance of victory. Only then it’s too late that he realizes that he is being led to his fate saying during his final moment, “I’ll not fight thee” (5.7 51) to Macduff. In addition, a very prominent quality of a Shakespearean Tragedy, including Macbeth, is the loss and destruction of lives, especially death to the protagonist. For example, in the end of the play, the audience learns that many characters have died (e.g. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth), however it was evidential through the use of dramatic devices. For instance, according to 1.1, the Second Witch foreshadows the events and the outcomes of the battle between Macbeth and Macduff saying, “When the hurlyburly’s done, / When the battle’s lost and won.” (3-4). Death is an important way to express tragedy because it is the

In tragedies, characters often serve to act as instruments of the suffering of others. This is particularly true in the play Macbeth, in which the main character’s actions lead to the subsequent distress and woe of other characters. In the play, the main character, Macbeth, directly contributes to the anguish of other characters, succumbing to his own bloodthirstiness as he ruthlessly removes threats to his desired power. Macbeth brings great suffering upon others, and the subsequent violence and carnage adds to the distress and tragedy of the play as a whole; the tragic vision of the play is consequently exemplified.

     The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Macbeth’s achieves his long time desire to be king, but his tragic flaw brings him to ruin. His character changes drastically during the play. At

     A Shakespearean tragic hero starts out as a noble person; a great exceptional being who stands out. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw of an exaggerated trait that leads to their downfall and eventually to death. William Shakespeare often made his main characters tragic heroes in his plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the role of the tragic hero is given to the main character: Macbeth. This is because he starts off as a loyal and well liked man in the beginning, but has a tragic flaw of ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall.

Amongst all of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is the most inconsistent and fragmented. Like the mental state of the protagonist, the tragic structure of the play is in disarray from the very onset. According to Aristotle, all tragedies must follow a certain set of characteristics, and the most important of these is the presence of a tragic hero. This tragic hero must possess a tragic flaw, or hamartia, which is a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour from the hero. He must also draw sympathy of his plight from the audience. Macbeth, although the protagonist, is not a tragic hero because he does not possess this hamartia. This significant absence of a flaw leads to his actions being without

Aristotle’s criteria for a tragedy involves three main subjects: values, characters, and a conclusion; William Shakespeare’s Macbeth incorporates these critical topics. The values are supernatural powers, which determine what is right and what is wrong. The character in a tragedy must be noble by birth and by action. In the conclusion, the character must understand why he or she fell, accept the punishment, and order must be restored. By including these, Macbeth fits Aristotle’s criteria for a tragedy.

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character of Macbeth is discovered to be a classic example of a tragic hero. Macbeth is a very ambitious and courageous person who lets three main things turn him into a violent individual. Two of the points, which most greatly contribute to Macbeth’s fall, are the prophecy, which were told to him by the witches, and how Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth's judgment. These two factors along with his tremendous ambition to be king is what caused him to fall from a noble man who was loyal to his king to a violent man who would kill his king to become king!

According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does Macbeth do this?

It takes both the audience’s pity and fear to make a tragic and heroic character become a tragic hero. Macbeth earns both. The audience can fear Macbeth because they know that he is capable of murder. He lacks the ability to stand up to Lady Macbeth when he knows something is not morally right and that is frightening, but even after all the pain and suffering of other characters the audience

Aristotle discusses the distinction between great Aristotelian tragedies and inferior works by informing his audience that every great Aristotelian tragedy includes the effectual and successful use of peripeteia and anagnorisis to create a greater cathartic effect, which Aristotle outlines in Poetics. Aristotle believes that these two concepts are essentials in highly-respected works of tragedy because they contribute to the plot and increase the cathartic effect that is created throughout the tragedy. Aristotle believed that the concepts of peripeteia and anagnorisis help Shakespeare appeal to the reader’s sense of pathos and inspire the audience to feel pity and fear for Shakespeare’s character, Macbeth, in Macbeth. Now, regarded as a great

Macbeth’s major flaws are his ambition and impressionability. Due to their flaws, a Tragic Hero’s actions are often atrocious and cause them to battle with their conscience after their desires have been accomplished. These battles with their conscience evoke empathy from the audience. A Shakespearean Tragic Hero will always lose their life in the end of the play as a result of re-establishment of what is good in the play. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title

An Aristotelian tragedy includes many different characteristics. It is a cause-and-effect chain and it contains the elements of catharsis, which is pity and fear, and hamartia, which is the tragic flaw embedded in the main characters. The famous play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is about two lovers of two different families who hate each other and the misdemeanors they have to surpass. Many debate on whether it is an Aristotelian tragedy or simply tragic. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet should be regarded as an Aristotelian tragedy because catharsis is exhibited in the play, Juliet’s blindness of love is shown, and Romeo’s impetuousness is the tragic flaw that leads to his demise.

In William shakespeare’s Macbeth,Macbeth is a classic example of a tragic hero in shakesperean work.Macbeth display the major characteristics of a tragic hero throughout the play until his tragic end.The play potrays Macbeth as a lost cause by showing how he fell from being a honest and just man who fought for whats right, to a cruel,superstitious,ambicious dictator.In william shakespreares Macbeth,Macbeth is a tragic hero because he compromises his honor and negates his moral values in order to obtain power which results with lots of tragic events such as character deaths leading to his tragic end.