Robert Macbeth Research Paper

William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is a typical Shakespearean tragedy. With Macbeth; the protagonist fitting the label through the characteristics of what makes a tragic hero and narrative pattern, that the play follows, to be categorised as a typical Shakespearean tragedy.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both show signs of what would today be diagnosed as symptoms of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as “long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation”. There are three major symptoms of this disorder: not knowing the difference between reality and fantasy, jumbled conversations, and withdrawal physically and emotionally. The most common and most well known symptom of schizophrenics is when they can’t make out what is real and what isn’t.

The poor lady has not had a restful sleep since Macbeth became king, what is causing her so must distress. She speaks of unnatural deeds which have happened to the kingdom of Scotland. Lady Macbeth will never be able to overcome her tortured mind which will not let her rest. The lady needs to see a doctor but I fear he will not be able to cure her. What does the lady mean by this, “Here’s the smell of blood still." My lady’s strength and dignity are her clothing so why is she having these horrific dreams.

One of the reasons I believe that Macbeth is a tragic hero is because he is of noble stature. This is true because he is a military general and the Thane of Glamis. If you are a military general you are a high rank and usually highly respected and have a large amount of responsibility. He is also a thane, which is someone who owns a large amount of land that is usually granted by the king. Thanes are also usually leaders of clans who are in control over a large amount of people.

As we all know Macbeth has our impression of being a brave hero who's loyal and honorable., but this look on him only gets complicated. Although his sight to becoming king comes with downfalls. From Lady Macbeth's weakness, to killing herself. Going to Macbeth’s murders causing him to see Banquo's ghost, also seeing the “dagger” (Macbeth,2:3).

Reading the story of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth takes control and understands his state of mind. Lady Macbeth could not understand how Macbeth could fail, as he brings the daggers back with him. She had a plan, and prepared for the murder as well as set the daggers by the guards herself. She claimed that she would have killed the king herself, yet Lady Macbeth also states, "Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done 't." Lady Macbeth refuses to commit this murder being that she sees a resemblance between King Duncan and her father, which causes her to not be able to do the killing of Duncan.

Subsequent, people are prisoners of their minds by thinking that they have the power to overwhelm fate, a super natural phenomenon. In the play “Macbeth”, Macbeth is has his mind filled with becoming king of Scotland. He has made plans to increase his chances to become king and to approach his fate instead of fate approaching him. Another scenario of this topic would be when Macbeth arranges to kill Banquo and Fleance to control their fate of becoming in line to be king. For the first example and scenario, when Macbeth hears that the king’s son will become the next king, Macbeth says, “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires: Let not light see my black and deep desires […].” (1.4.50-55).Macbeth is explaining that in order for his fate of king to come true, he must get rid of the people that are in his way.

Ambition is “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work”. William Shakespeare wrote a Tragedy of Macbeth with theme ambition pouring throughout this famous text. In the play, Macbeth is described as a man who has ambitions of becoming king. The driving force in the play is ambition, which is seen as Macbeth’s thirst to kill grows and also in Lady Macbeth actions leading up to her downfall.

In the Shakespearean play Macbeth, there were many instances where Macbeth showed that he was a tragic hero. The meaning of tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. Macbeth had some of the characteristics of a tragic hero, which included having a tragic flaw, realizing that he made an irreversible mistake, falling from great heights or from high esteem, and facing and accepting death with honor. The first quality of being a tragic hero is having a tragic flaw.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines supernatural as being “unable to be explained by science or the laws of nature” (“Supernatural”). The supernatural is prevalent a theme in Macbeth. The title character, Macbeth, experiences several supernatural episodes that he can’t seem to escape or ignore. He is intrigued and afraid all at the same time. Macbeth was set on a path that he couldn’t escape from.

Through love and death, Shakespeare has brought us the most renowned plays of all time. For over 400 years the world has had the opportunity to watch, listen and perform the art known as Shakespeare. With Shakespeare's work on tragedies, comes the play Macbeth. Going from a Thane to the king, then killing the king to become the king, and then being killed himself, Macbeth is one of the top tragedies written. Being overcome with the prophecy of becoming king, Macbeth starts to feel the ambition and greed building up inside him, not only him but also his wife, Lady Macbeth. When she receives the letter about the news her feelings start to get the best of her as well. Many believe that Lady Macbeth is the one to blame for her husband's downfall,

A true villain is someone who is set on hurting others for personal gain. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, the vicious Macbeth and his unpleasant wife are both truly evil, but only one of them is the true villain this tragedy. Even though the devious Lady Macbeth is not completely innocent, she still falls short when it comes to being a truly vicious villain. Macbeth’s transformation from war veteran to mass murderer really proves that Macbeth is the true villain of Shakespeare’s tragic portrayal of real life events.

The dark style of Macbeth is full of imagery created from William Shakespeare’s sinister mind, and artistic tongue. Throughout the story he compares situations and the feelings of both the reader, and the characters in the story to rather horrendous images of the mind. Indeed, Macbeth alludes to blood and sleep throughout the story, and signifies the meaning of each in different ways.

As one reads or even watches Macbeth, one can tell of the drastic change that takes place within Lady Macbeth's personality, that she wants power and wealth and will do anything to get it. In Act I, Scene V, as Lady Macbeth is reading her husbands letter, she focuses on the prospect of Macbeth becoming king and how he might not be fit for it. She proceeds to say, "Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness," in response to having to cut corners to get the king title. In Act I, Scene VII, she's caught up on how the family is going to get away with King Duncan's murder, that she does not see that her husband is having an internal crisis. She finally

William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Macbeth are without a doubt, two of his most famous works of art. Both plays are considered tragedies. Each tells a story of the downfall of the two main characters; Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark battling his internal conflict with avenging his father’s death, and Macbeth, a Scottish general carrying out his desire to possess power. Based off the plot of each play, readers may think that there are no similarities, but there are in fact many between the two.