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William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Decent Essays

1. Macbeth, the tragic hero in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, suffers from the fatal flaws of insecurity and indecision, allowing him to easily be manipulated, which causes the audience to feel sympathetic toward him. After Macbeth has heard the prophecy from the three witches and he has been named thane of Cawdor, he is led to a strong internal conflict: “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair… / Shakes so my single state of man that function / is smother’d in surmise” (I.iii.144-151). Macbeth’s questioning of his goodness shows his insecurity, and because he questions it, he over thinks it, causing him to make critical errors. These choices arouse the audience’s pity and terror because pity is felt for the position he was seemingly forced into and terror is endured for the actions Macbeth might take. After many events have occurred, Macbeth returns to the witches to find out more about the prophecy, because he is insecure in his position: “Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? / But yet I’ll make assurance double sure. / And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live” (IV.i.88-90). Once again, Macbeth’s insecurity leads him to asking questions he shouldn’t be asking, questioning his choices, and depending on the witches, allowing them to easily manipulate him. Catharsis is evoked in the audience because they think about their personal lives and if anything in manipulating them, which connects them to the plot and causes an

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