Macbeth Tragic Flaw Essay

To begin, the witches are the catalyst to Macbeth’s crimes because the convince him that he will become king. Macbeth first meets the witches while returning from a gruesome battle and it is safe to say that they greet him with some audacious titles. They initially greet him as the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor, but it is their final greeting which has the greatest effect on Macbeth. The witches hail Macbeth as someone “that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53). This ignites a fire inside Macbeth, who is an immensely ambitious person. He begins to fantasize about the luxurious life he would have if he were the king of Scotland and he suddenly has the temptation to kill King Duncan. Although the witches’ prediction is favourable, Macbeth has no reason to believe them, at least until one of their other predictions turns out to be true. This

Every human being has a weakness and that weakness is pride. ‘Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted (Matthew 23:12, The Bible)’. Pride is a natural flaw that most people do not realize. Some can control it, while others let their pride blind them from logic and truth. Naturally, Macbeth has this attribute and he demonstrates it throughout the play. Shakespeare purposely introduces Macbeth as a proud character. The witches’ prophecies give him his confidence. And as his confidence grows, so does his pride until it eventually consumes his power-crazed mind.

The story revolving around Macbeth eventually leads to him controlling his country of Scotland. With this being true, it is apparent that he is inadequately prepared for this responsibility and title of king. The entire period of time Macbeth is in his role as king, he is listening to prophecies made by three witches. “ All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” Witch 1 Act 1 Scene 3. A real

Prior to his hearing of the prophecy of the witches, Macbeth already has the desire to be king in the future. However, Macbeth becomes a victim of fate. The meeting with the witches lights the flicker inside of Macbeth which fuels his deep aspiration. With most of the prophecy coming to reality, Macbeth sees this as a motivation to pursue his ambition of taking the throne for himself. However, Macbeth’s weak-willed nature prevents him from taking the necessary actions. Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth, becomes a major influence on supporting Macbeth’s dark ambitions as she provides him with a strategy about successfully murdering King Duncan. With this newfound perspective ensuing from these external forces, Macbeth begged the stars to “hide [their] fires [and] let not light see [his] black and deep desires” (1.4.57-58) as he still does not approve the way his mind works. Over the course of the play, Macbeth earns the crown for a terrible price as his overpowering passion causes his new persona. During his reign, he recalls the prophecy of the witches which hails Shakespeare’s Banquo, a friend of Macbeth, as a father to a line of kings. Macbeth realizes that “only for them, [his] eternal jewel [was] given to the common enemy of man” (3.1.72-73) and that “upon [his] head [lies] a fruitless crown” (3.1.65) as he does not have sons that will succeed

The character arcs of Shakespeare’s Macbeth were written over four centuries ago, yet its themes and morals presented in the 1600’s still carry weight in the second millennium. To scholars of his work, Shakespeare’s infamous tragedy is considered something of a social commentary upon the political and philosophical practices of the Jacobean period when it was written. One of the many themes addressed in the play is how the combined forces of unchecked power and ambition can lead to an immoral shift in a person’s mentality. Macbeth is the prime example of this theme all throughout the play from the very first mentioning of his character. Although the character of Macbeth is influenced by a variety of differing personalities and entities in the play, he carries the ultimate control over his own behavior and his actions, and as a result Macbeth controls the central conflict of the story. The

The witches gave Macbeth and Banquo a prophecy at the beginning of the novel, saying that Macbeth will one day be king. When King Duncan names his son Malcomb as king, Macbeth then retaliates with the series of murders. But there is another turning point in before the first murder, when Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he is kill Duncan, and she supports him. Later when he starts to rethink his plan, she pushes him to carry on with it, telling him it makes him look weak. “My hands are of your colour; but I shame/

She falls victim to the guilt and insecurity that hovers around the Macbeths after they ascend to the throne. She laments, “’Tis safer to be that which we destroy/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy”(III, ii, ll. 6-7) Lady Macbeth is now doubtful and unsure of her current position. Her change in character causes Macbeth to falter, as he starts to show signs of paranoia and insanity without her former strong support. During Macbeth’s banquet when he invites all the thanes of Scotland, he sees Banquo’s ghost. Frightened, he shouts at it, alarming his guests and raising eyebrows. Lady Macbeth is not at all supportive, telling Macbeth that he has “… displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting,/With most admired disorder”(III, iv, ll. 108-109). Even as Lady Macbeth tries to again cover for her husband, she does not do so well enough. “I pray you, speak not,” she cries, “he grows worse and worse;/Question enrages him. At once, good night:/ Stand not upon the order of your going,/But go at once”(III, iv, ll.116-118). Despite her best efforts, the thanes leave Macbeth’s meeting suspicious of their current King, whose ascension to the throne happens to coincide closely to the deaths of both Duncan and Banquo. With Lady Macbeth’s strong will now overshadowed by her doubt, Macbeth begins to lose support from both his thanes and his subjects, cueing his eventual

The Tragedy of Macbeth, is a story of a man whose ambitions have brought him to commit treason and murder. The three points which contribute greatly to Macbeth’s downfall are the prophecy which was told to him by the witches, Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth’s judgment, and finally Macbeth’s long time ambition which drove his desire to be king. Although he was so far courageous and brave and he is seen as the hero at the beginning of the play, his sky high ambition causes his damnation. And ultimately he becomes a tragic hero. Macbeth is a tragic hero because he exhibits all the characteristics of a tragic hero: a high social rank, a tragic flaw, and a complete ruin/death.

Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” displays man’s ambition for wealth and status. Revolving around the main character, Macbeth, Shakespeare parades him as brave and capable warrior. Because of his excellent attributes, King Duncan him with a high title. Full of pride and glee, Macbeth and his battle, Banquo, by three witches, prophesying their future. The three witches prophecy that Macbeth will eventually become King of Scotland, whereas Banquo's descendants will be Scottish Kings themselves but he will not. Macbeth sent word to his wife, Lady Macbeth, that King Duncan was coming to their house to name him Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth had dwelled on the prophecy of him becoming king and became uncertain how it would happened. After receiving the letter from her husband, she decided that she wanted her husband to be king sooner rather than later.

MacBeth is one of the most renowned plays in history, written by famous playwright William Shakespeare. It is a story of betrayal, tyranny, murder and deadly ambition. These four themes make this tragedy a great resource for studying the darker side of humanity, and why we resort to such measures. While studying the play, I gained many insights into humanity, and will highlight three in-depth.

King, nothing brings in more crowds then a king. After fighting in conflicts for many years, awards and honor were all Macbeth aspired, but after years of the same accolades, something needed to change. Macbeth's reason becomes so hindered that he judges, "These soliciting cannot be evil, cannot be good."Still Macbeth is shown with so much earthy good that he is able to force his imagination and settle not to attack any act that regards felonious actions. His conclusion not to commit murder is not founded upon righteous grounds. As a friend and as a subject, Macbeth has awareness of faithfulness towards the king. The outcome, Macbeth fears, are not wholly internal and spiritual. It is to be uncertain whether Macbeth ever considers the personal effects of his evildoing and the corruption upon the human soul, that he later finds out. Macbeth's main interest is the effects of losing the inconstant goods he already possesses and

On their way home from battle, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches and discover their fates. Macbeth and Banquo become suspicious of the encounter with the witches because their words seem unlikely. Furthermore, one of Duncan’s subjects tells them that Macbeth gains the title as Thane of Cawdor. Since Macbeth already attains the title of Thane of Glamis, he knows that two of the three parts of the witches prophecy becomes reality. After Macbeth learns of his future, he shows his happiness when he says to himself, “Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor; / [t]he greatest is behind” (Mac. 1.3.117-18). Macbeth readily accepts his title and aspires to gain more. However, Macbeth differs from Othello because he attains ambition, and Othello attains trust and jealousy. Macbeth contemplates ways to get the throne, but he never figures out a possible way without the death of the king or his family members; yet, Lady Macbeth convinces him to kill King Duncan in order to receive the throne. Macbeth knows that King Duncan respects him, but Macbeth wants the title as king and commits any crime to get what he wants. Macbeth learns about the witches prophesy, and his ambition drives him “to pursue the felonious course to be king” (Cheung 434). Macbeth desires to kill King Duncan and gain his title. The objectives of Macbeth and Othello differ due to their different flaws and experiences. Moreover, Macbeth realizes that the prophecy the witches give to Banquo stands in his way. As a result, he hires men to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, to prevent his heirs from kingship. Later, at a party he hosts, Macbeth acts calm until the guests ask him to take a seat at the table, but he denies because he claims that Banquo sits at his seat. Macbeth takes large measures to ensure his spot as king; however, his guilt from Banquo’s death makes him hallucinate and tell Banquo’s ghost to “Let the earth hide thee!”

The play Macbeth, composed by William Shakespeare in 1606, can be considered as a tragedy when feelings of sympathy for a character who becomes increasingly ambitious and when a character is affected by another’s increase in ambition is evoked upon the audience. Through the distress that the audience feels for Macbeth as he suffers his downfall from being pressured to give in to his ambition, the sorrow inflicted upon encountering many deaths due to Macbeth’s actions which are “those of a butcher” and the pity felt for Macbeth when the sacrifices he makes to achieve his

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

Macbeth is one of the best known of Shakespeare's plays. It is commonly classed, along with Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear, among Shakespeare's four great tragedies. After reading Macbeth, several significant aspects of the play come to mind: the central characters (Lady Macbeth and her husband) and their development, the treatment of gender issues, the nature and conflict of good and evil, the final triumph of the forces of goodness and life, and the troubling implications of that triumph.