Macbeth was a true tragic hero. He had many noble qualities as well as several tragic flaws. He was a courageous, brave and good nobleman who was haunted by superstition, moral cowardice and an overwhelming ambition.(Boyce) Macbeth’s ambition to be king starts off as just a desire and progressively as the play goes on it becomes his tragic flaws. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder king Duncan by putting his manhood and courage at stake. Macbeth is represented as a tolerably good man up to the time when evil opportunity and a bad wife conspired to transform him into a villain. (Clayden) Since Macbeth was known as a genuinely good man, this desire he had to become king led him to take these huge risks in ruining his reputation. …show more content…
People became very suspicious of Macbeth and how he became king. Macbeth literally started to become insane because of the guilt from murdering Duncan. He was living in a constant fear that someone would find out that he murdered Duncan, and that Banquo’s sons or Macduff would take the throne. Now an insane killer, Macbeth had few attributes left, and those left are anything but favorable. (Bloom) Although Macbeth had very strong desires in becoming king, he didn’t get to this point all on his own. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder Duncan by putting his manhood and courage at stake. While Macbeth knew that he was going to have to commit this crime in order to become king it was against everything he stood for. But his tragic flaw of his obsession to become king took over and he dismissed what was right. Lady Macbeth was had an extremely dominating personality, which is significant in influencing Macbeth. Lady Macbeth not only really wanted Macbeth to be king for himself, but she also wanted it for herself too so she could be the wife of the King. As said by Crowther in Act 1 Scene 7, “Will you take the crown you want so badly, or will you live as a coward, always saying “I can’t” after you say “I want to”? You’re like the poor cat in the old story.” Lady Macbeth first influences Macbeth to kill King Duncan by attacking his manhood by
People always ask, “What is a tragic hero?” The question that should be asked is, “Who is more of a tragic hero, Macbeth or Hamlet?” Macbeth is the more tragic hero when compared to Hamlet because Hamlet had nothing to lose the whole time. The three things that make Macbeth a more a lamentable legend than Hamlet is his appalling blemish of being presumptuous, being vanquished toward the end and decapitated by Macduff and losing the greater part of his Fortune, and ultimately his acknowledgment of his results of his executing Macduff's family toward the end of the play. These are the reasons that will be used to make evident why Macbeth is more of a tragic hero than Hamlet.
First, the downfall of Macbeth can be blamed on the three witches. In the beginning of act one of Macbeth, the witches are all having a meeting together. Macbeth and Banquo come by and the witches tell each of them what is in store for them in the future. In particular, the final witch says, “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (act 1:1 line 50). This statement influences Macbeth to strive to be king, no matter what he has to do. Even if it involves killing King Duncan, Macbeth will do it. In the next act, Macbeth does just that and kills King Duncan. He does this because he was influenced by the witches and wanted to fulfill his prophecy that he would be king.
Early in the play, Macbeth and his wife toss around the idea of killing Duncan in order to become the king of Scotland. Lady Macbeth is able to manipulate Macbeth into doing so, Macbeth begins to seem shaken and flustered because of the deed he has done to his cousin. Macbeth then becomes king as told in his prophecy by the three witches, and does what he can in his power to keep that title and begins to lose his path due to ill/rattled thoughts and actions that happen beginning with Duncan’s murder.
The Macbeth character in Macbeth by William Shakespeare can be played many ways. Macbeth 's relationship with other characters in the play and Aristotle 's theory of a tragedy are ways in which Macbeth is shown as a tragic hero I am going to explain to you how Macbeth is a true tragic hero.
In this essay I will be discussing how Macbeth portrays as a truly hero thought out the story. One good example is because he died as a true hero and not a crow he kept his promise and didn't coward out. But another time he can a tragic hero because he is a man of noble birth who falls from a position of honor and respect due to a flaw in his character.
William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is the perfect example of the downfall of a great hero. In order to have such a fatal deposition, a character must be a tremendous warrior. In other words, the character Macbeth had many admiral traits. In addition, Aristotle’s characteristics of a tragic hero apply perfectly to Macbeth. The character Macbeth is the full embodiment of a Shakespearean tragic hero.
Otherwise, the reader will feel that his downfalls are unjust (Markham, “What's It All About, Shakespeare”). While I read Macbeth, I felt sympathy for Macbeth and felt bad for his situation. Obviously, some people will think that he is overly ambitious and that they will only see what he has commited. In truth, Macbeth was not really that virtuous of a person. First and foremost, he killed King Duncan. Although I thought he was just being controlled by the witches and was a victim to divine powers which caused him to be promoted to Thane of Cawdor at exactly the rigth time and also to his ambitious wife, I realized that Macbeth was unable to make good decisions because he succumbed to the pressure from the witches and his wife. A weak Macbeth gives in to his wife's demanding, manipulation and reluctantly agrees to participate in the murder. In Act 1 , he is a weak, cowardly man which evokes my pity for him. He was easily influenced and his greed is manipulated by his wife. He doesn’t have the will or strength to stand up for himself from his initial beliefs. The witches played on his insatiable greed and his desire of power. They tricked him into believing that he was infallible. As a result of their slippery ways, Macbeth lost his dignity, and his fame. Witches are usually depicted as evil, and it seems sad that such a excellent warrior was manipulated by their words. Granted, Macbeth was not the smartest man in
“They have tied me to a stake.I cannot fly. But, bear-like, I must fight the course. What is he, that was not born of women? Such a one, am I to fear, or none.” In the story, the Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth the noble character itself would be considered a tragic hero. He gets karma in many ways and the situation that happens, he must handle. He ends up broken and alone that is expected with whereabouts of everything.
Macbeth will begin to show his two other flaws of being ambitious and of being a
A tragic hero to what extent is macbeth a tragic hero. Well a tragic hero is a character that has a flaw. This flaw sets off a series of events that lead to the tragic hero's downfall or utter ruin. In this play it shows the difference between a hero and a tragic hero. A hero does great deeds and/or has great powers. A 'tragic hero' has the same greatness, but there's an unhappy outcome in store. 'Tragic' refers to that unfortunate, unhappy consequence that tends to be loss of one's own life or of whomever or whatever gives meaning to that life.
The 17th century play, ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare, was written during a time when James the first became the first king of both Scotland and England. The characters in the play are also based upon his descendants. The play itself focuses on the character of Macbeth who is manipulated into committing regicide by 3 witches. As the play progresses, both him and his wife begin to lose all sense of morality, resulting with both of their deaths in the end. Macbeth is portrayed as a tragic hero, but it is debatable as to whether he is constructed by Shakespeare to follow a classical or renaissance model.
Macbeth's ambition also influenced his downfall. However, Macbeth's ambition had not been strong enough to carry the motive to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth's influence also comes into play because if not for Lady Macbeth, his ambition would not have been strong enough to drive him to obtain and maintain his title of King of Scotland no matter what it took, even if it meant murder. Macbeth's ambition blinded him of the moral thing to do and his conscience no longer had any say in what Macbeth did to maintain his thrown. These events taking place in his life caused us to see a new side of Macbeth. This new side of Macbeth contained greed, violence, and power hunger. Macbeth illustrates this side until the last act when he says, “that keep the word of promise to our ear, and
In order for a character to be a Tragic Hero, he has to have four major components occur throughout the story. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth goes through all four of these parts which allows readers to define Macbeth as a Tragic Hero. These four elements include the following: high status, tragic flaw, downfall, face it with courage. These four pieces are portrayed throughout the play which grants readers the ability to classify Macbeth as a Tragic Hero.
In the beginning of the play both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are good people who were honorable to their country, Scotland. Macbeth was a true warrior that fought for King Duncan. Lady Macbeth was a lovable innocent woman that supported her husband. After Macbeth hears the prophecies from the witches he becomes curious about being King of Scotland. It is his wife, Lady Macbeth who sparks the idea of killing King Duncan. Lady Macbeth planned on killing King Duncan herself in his sleep, but could not: “...I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss ‘em. Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done ‘t…” (Act 2 Scene 2). If King Duncan did not look similar to Lady Macbeth’s father she would have killed him herself. Lady Macbeth manages to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan to get to his way to becoming king. She starts to intimate Macbeth by calling him a coward since he starts to have second thoughts about the plan. Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth weakness and how to use it against. She
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (published 1623), a masterpiece, because of the number of issues it deals with in society both in Shakespeare’s time and modern society. He is regarded as the greatest English playwright of all time and has written many magnificent plays over the course of his lifetime. Shakespeare’s plays are still significant today as they cover many issues that we continue to face, such as racism (Shylock in Merchant of Venice), love (Romeo and Juliet), and the mysterious supernatural (The witches in Macbeth). His plays will continue to remain timeless, as these issues will continue to exist in society as long as it exists.