What Is The Tragic Flaw In Macbeth

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.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.

William Shakespeare wrote in his play Macbeth, "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.” In many ways throughout this play, Shakespeare was giving the warning of ambition to the audience. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a simple man. Respectful and obedient to his King, Macbeth wanted nothing but to please. When three witches came to him and his good friend, Banquo, and told them their destinies, this began something ghastly. Mysteriously, they informed Macbeth he was to be king. This sparks something in Macbeth that is dangerous and eventually leads to his demise, ambition. Wickedly, Macbeth and his wife plan to murder the king during the night so that Macbeth may be crowned sooner. The driving force of this accord

Macbeth is a tragic hero, in The Tragedy of Macbeth, as many people refer it as, has a main antagonist Macbeth who is by fault of character flawed and is destined to experience death, suffering, and downfall. And during the beginning of the play there was a supernatural force involved in giving Macbeth the temptation. And many can argue that the 3 witches in the beginning of the play made him do it but that’s not necessarily true they never forced his hand in the murder of King Duncan and the numerous murders he had involvement in. He did this on his own due to the lack of his loyalty, sanity, or whatever trait other people wish to give him. Regardless of what trait he lacks the story and Macbeth do follow in the criteria of a tragic hero.

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.

Completely unmindful of the fact that the messengers of his prophecies were literal embodiments of evil, Macbeth had followed blindly, causing him to make a number of bad decisions including murdering countless innocent people without a justified cause. His ambition was one of his most important character traits and one that had first allowed him to rise respectfully to power. However, he failed to listen to his morality and thus, his greatest asset also became the root cause of his complete and utter

He reasons that “[he is] in blood stepped in so far”. He has already killed, and cannot stop, because “should [he] wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III, iv, 120). There seems to be no hint of regret in his tone. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth appears to feel remorse for what she and Macbeth have done. She freely admits that “nought’s had, all’s spent, where [their] desire is got without content” (III, ii, 4-5). As a result of their focus on the prophecies, Macbeth’s mind has been “full of scorpions” (III, ii, 36). Even Macbeth’s appearance reflects his inner self. His wife tells him to “sleek o’er [his] rugged looks” (III, ii, 27). To him, the threat is Banquo and his son Fleance, when ironically, Macbeth is the real threat. In the last scene of Act III, Lennox confirms that “[their] suffering country” is “under a hand accursed”, referring to Macbeth (III, vi, 48-49).

Macbeth’s ambitious ways takes over his whole inner self throughout his time of first wanting to be king. Macbeth was thought to be a great leader and war hero before he was king. Macbeth was hatched an idea by three suspicious witches in whom he had never come in contact with before. They told him that he would one day become King of Scotland. After the witches disappeared, he got to think a lot about what they told him and pondered the words they spoke. Macbeth sends a letter to his wife about his feelings of what he had heard. When Macbeth returned back to his castle his wife wanted to lead him down a dark path and feed his ambition. Macbeth decides he wants to go after the crown after consulting his wife. "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on th'other...." (Act I, scene vii) This shows that Macbeth’s only reason to kill Duncan is for his ambition. Macbeth ends up killing Duncan. The way Macbeth killed Duncan made it a great crime scene. Macbeth still

This angers Macbeth and enables him to follow Lady Macbeth's scheme to kill the King easier. Macbeth's first murder is definitely a trying experience for him. However, as the play progresses, killing seems easy and the only solution to maintain his reign of the people of Scotland. Macbeth becomes increasingly ambitious as the play goes on. The witches prophecies and Lady Macbeth's influence intensifies his ambition and drives Macbeth to obtain and maintain his title of Scotland by whatever means, even murdering his best friend, Banquo. "Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, ...no son of mine succeeding. If't be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan I have murder'd; ...To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! (Act III. sc.I) At this point Macbeth's passion becomes more and more extreme to the point where no one stands in his way. His greed, violence, and hunger for power drastically declines his character. The witches prophecy, Lady Macbeth's influence, and Macbeth's own ambition all contribute greatly to his deterioration of character which results in his downfall, which was death. All the causes link to one another. If it wasn't for Macbeth's strong will and passion, Macbeth would still be his ordinary self. Because of this, Macbeth's curiosity of possibly becoming king was brought out which led to Lady Macbeth's controlling influence. Macbeth's ambition then builds and causes him to commit a

To See the Flaw, or Not to See “The Flaw in the Flaw” by Russ McDonald says that the tragic flaw is an “intellectual bypass”, and ideas are not passed on. McDonald’s argument challenges the idea of the tragic flaw and opens a pathway to advanced interpretation. The tragic flaw does exist, but one does not analyze how the character developed the tragic flaw. In Macbeth, the witches hold power over Macbeth. In Hamlet, King Hamlet’s ghost is able to influence Hamlet.

Shakespeare's Macbeth is a tragedy fueled by betrayal, prophecies, and revenge. I believe that Macbeth is certainly tragic due to his one fatal flaw, or harmatia. Throughout the play, Macbeth seeks advise from corrupted people, like the witches and his wife. Becuase he lacked confidence; he sought advice from those who's ambition were greater than his own. Macbeth a fearless warrior is convinced by the three witches that his fate may change for the better if he would get rid of the King.

“Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions,” states Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Macbeth, the tragic hero and protagonist in William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, was a noble thane of Cawdor. Throughout the play, Macbeth displayed a promise of further greatness because his actions had far-reaching effects. During the battle against Norway, Macbeth was known to be a man who would not betray others. However, Macbeth had a tragic flaw that led him to murdering people who once honored and trusted him.

Macbeth is shown to be unfit to be king by how easily Lady Macbeth manipulates him. This was on the night of Duncan's murder Macbeth had decided not to murder Duncan, this enraged Lady Macbeth to bring her to call him a coward and question his manhood “when you durst do it then you were a man” and that she then question her love for her “from this time such I account thy love” which shows she's willing to toy with their own love for each other to make Macbeth commit regicide for her. Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth feel as if by not committing this crime he is no longer in love with her and this allows her to manipulate him since he wants her to know that he loves her. This shows that Macbeth's morals conflict each other since he told himself that he would not kill Duncan “I am his kinsman and his subject” which shows that his love for lady Macbeth conflicts and how Macbeth must make a sacrifice of her love or Duncan's life. Within our world everyone makes hard decisions for themselves and that we must consider all of our options. Macbeth shows that he was willing to first of all

Many of people have heard the tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The story revolves on a sequence of misfortunate events that take place when Macbeth makes immoral decisions to be king. In the play, Shakespeare shows how power can cause corruption in a human’s brain. Macbeth himself was not a very confident person, though he had a kind soul to begin with, he was easily influenced and gullible. Through the prophecies of the evil beings, an insignificant seed was planted in Macbeth. That spark of wealth and fortune caused the tyrant within him to awake. Which eventually lead to his fatal death. His ambition lead him to murder, go insane and become very superstitious.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the story of an ambitious man whose thirst for power leads to his own demise. Living under the King’s reign gave Macbeth the satisfaction of order in his day to day life. However, the witches prophecy gave him hope of someday becoming King. It was from this point onward that Macbeth was overcome with greed and stopped at nothing to achieve his dream of becoming king. Of course this all came with a price. His over ambitious nature lead to the deterioration of his health and in addition, guilt ridden Macbeth slowly started to lose grip of his reality. What could have guided him to ultimate success and victory became his worst nightmare. Guild ridden over his actions, he loses his sanity and paved his way to his own death.