The Tragedy Of Macbeth By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is an intense tragedy about a man named Macbeth whose hunger for power not only makes him commit murder, but also pushes him over the brink of insanity. In Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth begins with the line, “Is this a dagger I see before me, The handle toward my hand” (2.1: 33-34). He is referring to his hallucination of a dagger floating in front of him. This happens after he agrees to go through with the deed, or the “terrible feat”, of killing King Duncan to secure his foretold fate of being King himself. During this soliloquy, readers get their first glimpse of Macbeth’s powerful imagination. Macbeth is redefining violence by making fantasy just as real as reality.

The play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, presents many societal issues, such as the influence of superstition and the supernatural, as well as the continuous desire of the human race for progress and ambitious fulfilment. What a person chooses to do in order to fulfil those desires depends on the individuals themselves, and in the case of Macbeth, he turns to murder in order to advance his social and political standing. The audience’s perception of Macbeth changes throughout the play, beginning with feelings of admiration and approval of his deeds and character, and ending, with the play and as well as his life, as feelings of contempt and disgust at his treachery. This is achieved mainly through the progression of Macbeth’s character development, as well as through the dialogue of himself and other characters.

Hamartia: The flaw of the tragic character that causes the tragic character’s downfall or reversal of fortune.

Macbeth is a tragedy written in the 17th century that shows what the desire for power can do to a man. Macbeth is expressed as being the villain. But, Macbeth is in fact a tragic hero, doomed by fate from the beginning into the madness he put himself in. If it not been for meeting the witches and persuasion of his wife, the play would have had a very different ending.

As the play goes, Macbeth shows a character of free will. Although his destiny was pre-determined for him by the witches, he took action to believe and to make sure that his prophecies will come true. Macbeth is a strong character with many deep desires that include gaining power, and so throughout the play with the many crimes he had committed, there was no turning back for him. In all, his decisions help shape the future ahead of him.

In this play in order to be a tragic hero you need to have flaws that caused your downfall and it is called Hamartia. Shakespeare writes,”that is a step on which i must

Macbeth is a play based on King James I, it was written by William Shakespeare, however this play isn’t a king and queen fairy tale, but it’s a play about greed and guilt, chaos and murder and three evil witches who use prophecies to influence Macbeth to do bad things, using flattery would instigate his inner ambition to become king, which in the end doesn’t lead to a very happy ending.

Throughout the “Tragedy of Macbeth”, Shakespeare proves what darkness can do to people. The darkness in the “Tragedy of Macbeth is an essential factor in why the play is successful. In a dark gloomy thunderstorm 3 witches appear setting darkness upon Macbeth. Adding to the darkness and led on by the witches we see the killing of King Duncan. Only because he is in a dark state and wanting to stay there does Macbeth order the Killing of Banquo.

Hubris is a Greek word that means overwhelming pride, as stated by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Thus, a person that is hubristic is one that is arrogant and has lot of pride and self-confidence. Holy teachings from the Christian church condemn hubris and emphasize that hubristic behaviors lead to eminent and disastrous downfalls. Various examples of teachings of anti-hubristic behavior can be found on the bible such as “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34) and “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). Consequently, Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Macbeth are two stories that clearly depict the hubristic behavior that is condemned by the Christian church since both focus on human pride and thirst for power. Macbeth portrays more hubristic behavior than Doctor Faustus, although Doctor Faustus initially seems to be more hubristic than Macbeth.

Macbeth, his journey begins as a noble soldier. Whose sole purpose is to protect king and country. However we will see him go from this noble hero to a very power crazed, prideful murder.

In most Shakespearian tragedies, the hero possesses a character trait which under normal circumstances would be a virtue, but which under the special circumstances of the play proves to be a fatal flaw. Macbeth consists of several situations where the hero portrays many such qualities that drive him to commit wrong actions. Macbeth’s desires convinced him to ignore the impact of his actions. In addition, his doubtfulness controlled his consciousness and finally his blindness affected his aptitude to seek reality. An analysis of Macbeth’s actions and behaviour reveals that Macbeth should be justified as a tragic hero validating the belief that he possesses several fatal flaws which eventually resulted in his downfall.

Macbeth’s tragic flaw is a dual nature that is bad on both sides. He is overly ambitious and competitive to be king, but at the same time he is weak and easily manipulated. Macbeth cannot live up to his excessive ambition, which he was manipulated into, because he is weak. Macbeth’s weak mind and lack of self-control cause him to go on an unnecessary killing rampage. “Better be with the dead, whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy.”

One characteristic of a tragic hero is possessing a tragic flaw which eventually leads to self destruction and the downfall of the tragic hero. Macbeth’s flaw is his weakness to be persuaded by others “Macbeth, advised by witches that he is to be a king, is persuaded by his will to kill his sovereign (King Duncan) and seize the crown” (Bradley 46). Lady Macbeth provides Macbeth with a plot to murder King Duncan but when he begins to second guess himself about following through with the plan she persuades him by telling him he isn’t a man unless he goes through with the murder. This shows the reader that Macbeth is a good person and he has a hard time making the decision to actually murder King Duncan. Even though Macbeth regrets his decision to murder King Duncan, “To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself” (Shakespeare 35), he decides that killing Duncan is the only solution to his rise in

In William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth, written in 1606, the nominal character Macbeth lets prophecies and ambition cloud his judgment, leading to the mass murder of many innocent people. Early on in the play, Macbeth is greeted by three witch sisters who prophecize that he will become Thane of Cawdor and, eventually, king of Scotland. Macbeth, with the aid of his wife Lady Macbeth, take matters into their own hands in order to ensure that the witches prophecies come true. Out of all of the female characters Shakespeare has created, Lady Macbeth stands out from all the rest with her ambition, will power, and malice. In order to level with, and really understand Lady Macbeth, one must observe as her character develops from the scheming and strong woman she is at the beginning of the play, to the weak and vulnerable woman she transforms into as the play progresses.

Likewise, tragic heroes demonstrate the element of hamartia which is a moral mistake or ignorant error contributing to their reversal of circumstances. When Othello trusts Iago’s judgement on his wife’s suspected affair instead of asking Desdemona for her side of the story he is unknowingly acting out his ignorant error. Macbeth on the other hand commits a murder in order to take over the position that was “fated” to him causing his moral mistake due to his ambition to achieve power.The awareness of Macbeth's mistake strengthens him as a tragic hero because the characteristic transition was intentional and done with though contrary to Othello’s accidental mistake. The downfall of tragic heroes is the peripeteia, the reversal of circumstances. Macbeth was crowned king and as he gained more power over the people he uses his power negatively and the people develop a resistance in order to overthrow his power. However, Othello does not experience the same loss in rankas Macbeth and until his death he is considered the general and has the devotion of his followers.