Culture is a Power Tool Used in Literature

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

Culture is the consummation of both positive and negative aspects of societies. The author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, uses this novel as a way to look inside the Igbo culture. Cultures are the entirety of the individuals who are born into the culture and represent the culture itself. They are the indication of their faith, beliefs, and perspective of their culture. Things Fall Apart is an example of how culture can be affected by the negative and positive influences put forth by those who represent the Igbo culture. Culture can be the reason for the downfall of a culture. Achebe keeps the country and its anonymity safe, but it is known that this took place somewhere in Nigeria. Throughout the novel, Achebe constantly states the message that men must change with time, but if they do not act with thought, but instead acts like a stubborn man, they are planning their own downfall.

Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his ambition and it consequentially leads to his downfall and ultimate demise. Macbeth is a tragic hero who is introduced in the the play as being well-liked and respected by the general and the people. He brings his death upon himself from this tragic flaw. His strengths turn into his weaknesses and his ambition drives him to the edge and sets himself up for his tragic death.

     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.

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.

The tragedy of Macbeth could simply be the tale of a hero who is destroyed by a certain weakness of character, by ambition

     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 character’s tragic downfall is often influenced by other characters, but this is not the case in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Macbeth conforms to the conditions of a tragic hero because in the beginning of the play, Macbeth is an honourable and trustworthy nobleman to King Duncan and all of Scotland. However, throughout the play, Macbeth commits evil deeds such betrayal, treason, and murder solely because of his ambitions to remain in power. Macbeth murders others upon hearing the witches’ prophecies and even proceeds to return to them to remain in power. Macbeth is influenced and manipulated by his wife Lady Macbeth and The Witches, but he is ultimately responsible for his own tragic downfall. Macbeth’s tragic downfall is caused by his ‘vaulting ambition’ to become king. Thus, Macbeth has no one but his ruthless, cruel, and greedy self to blame for his own tragic downfall.

A tragic hero is someone whos fatal flaw, combined with other external factors, bring about ones demise, which is demonstrated by Macbeth in Shakespeares play Macbeth. Macbeth is portrayed as a courageous, brave and noble man who was haunted by superstition and an overpowering ambition. Factors that contributed to the degeneration of Macbeth include the prophecies told to him by the witches, the influence and manipulation of his wife, Lady Macbeth, and finally, Macbeths deep driven intent to become king. Although seen as a daring and valiant hero at the beginning of the play, Macbeths evil desires and long time ambition causes his downfall. Even though Macbeth seems like a malevolent and murderous tyrant towards the end of the play, he

The tragic flaw of all tragic heroes. For Macbeth and several other characters in the play, it was ambition. When the witches first predict that Macbeth will be the king of Scotland, he states that, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, / Shakes so my single state of man” (1.3.152-53). The witches never mention murder, but the prophecies bring out Macbeth’s vaulting ambition that will be his downfall. However, while Macbeth is the prime example, he is not the only instance of this flaw. Lady Macbeth also suffers from her ambition. When Macbeth first writes to Lady Macbeth to tell her about the witches prophecy she begins to scheme. She believes Macbeth is too kind to act in the way necessary to become king, but she isn’t letting that stop her. She tells Macbeth, “Look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under ‘t” (1.6.76-78). However, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth suffer from this attribute. After Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth laments, “Naught’s had, all’s spent, / Where our desire is got without content” (3.2.6-7). While Macbeth tries to fix his unhappiness with more murder, Lady Macbeth succumbs to her guilt. In Macbeth’s final speech after learning of his wife’s suicide, he claims that life is “a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing” (5.5.29-31). However, if Macbeth truly believes that life is meaningless, then what was the point of his guilt? What was the point his his wife’s death? That all his ambition was useless is what cements Macbeth’s belief in the futility of

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

William Shakespeare is famous for the tragic plays that he wrote throughout his lifetime. Students study some of his best known tragic works like Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and King Lear. These tragic plays revolve around a character whose life is influential and heroic, known as the tragic hero. The tragic hero is always a noble member of a royal family, who possesses a tragic flaw which leads to his untimely death and the death of other characters around him, both innocent and guilty. Often times, the tragic hero is a character whose flaw is exaggerated, for as a man of great heroism, his vices must be equally great. Throughout the play, readers sympathize with the character recognizing their own weakness as the character himself realizes his flaw and tries to right all of the wrong that has been done. This is true

Every tragic hero has a tragic flaw.  Macbeth's tragic flaw is his ambition.  There is no other reason for the evil he does besides his "vaulting ambition, which o'er leaps itself" (1.7.27).  Macbeth has such a strong desire to be king; he would kill his friends and loved ones to succeed in his task.  Macbeth would not have been inclined to take action in murdering without the help of the witches and Lady Macbeth.  These women push Macbeth to the idea of becoming king, but because of his tragic flaw, ambition, Macbeth proceeds with the plan on his own, which leads to corruption.  Hamlet's tragic flaw is his indecisiveness.  He promises his father he will "sweep to [his] revenge" (1.5.31) "with wings as swift/ as meditation," (1.5.30) but does not kill Claudius till the end of the play.  This lack of action shows he is incapable of acting on his word even though his father was the one who was murdered.  Hamlet consistently makes excuses to avoid dealing with his promise.  Even when he had the chance to kill Claudius while he was praying, his indecision kept him from doing so.  Also, Hamlet avoided revenge by not trusting the ghost and scheduling the play.  Macbeth's and Hamlet's tragic flaws led them to their utter destruction.

Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).

The ideology of culture encompasses a broad range of elements. As culture may be defined as a religious concept, it also includes each individual’s personal values. In the book, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, he depicts each individual’s cultural identity by showing their actions and beliefs. As an individual, many mindsets change throughout their lifetime, thus affecting that person’s cultural identity. Achebe shows the effect that occurs when Western influence comes upon the Ibo native homeland and how the upcoming of the Western culture had destroyed a few fragments of the Ibo culture. Chinua Achebe shows how one character in particular, Nwoye, succumbs to the influence of the Western culture.