Essay On Macbeth As A Tragic Hero

Unfortunately, it corrupts if it is not restrained. In Macbeth, Shakespeare effectively uses the characters of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to underscore their struggles for power. Their hunger for power is the determining factor for their destructions. Lady Macbeth longs for power, and hopes to get it by manipulating her husband to kill his own cousin. While Macbeth kills Duncan and becomes king, she fails to realize her husband’s obsession with power exceeds her.

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, written in the 1600’s is a perfect example of Shakespeare’s ability to manipulate his audience through creating a tragic hero. A tragic hero who, because of a flaw, tumbles from a well-respected hero to a cowardless murderer. It is through Shakespeare’s manipulation of figurative language, dramatic conventions and social expectations of the seventeenth century, do the audience witness the demise of this mixed up man. Macbeth’s persona of the tragic hero is enhanced even more when the characters around him influence his decisions, creating mayhem inside his mind and disorder throughout Scotland. Shakespeare positions his audience to respond to the central theme: the struggle between good and evil, by illustrating to the audience his weaknesses, which through the guidance of the supernatural, leads to murder and mayhem and eventually madness.

This all revolves around the idea of the unnatural influencing Macbeth and causes much of the tragedy within the play to occur. Lady Macbeth wishes to throw out her morality for the sake of gaining a title. With the help of invisible sprits, she wants to make herself able to commit a terrible act of murder to make her dreams of the royal life come true, without having reservations or remorse. She approaches Macbeth with her intent to kill King Duncan. Macbeth, although wanting th... ... middle of paper ... ...s insanity and madness which he has brought upon himself from the witches prophecy, his ambition was so overpowering that it took control of his mind and focused only on success and power which eventually led him to insanity.

Even though the Witches play a major part in causing Macbeth to kill and cause tragedy and start the wheels in motion, Lady macbeth and his own ambitions are the real culprits of corrupting Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth's wife and is shown to be able to manipulate Macbeth. She manipulates him by confusing him and toying with his ma... ... middle of paper ... ...tragic downfall. Because of the crown, he inherits bad traits like being immoral and ruthless that corrupts him and leads to his downfall. This causes him to plan to kill Macduff and his family, and in return they raise an army and slaughter Macbeths army.

We see it greatly in the eyes of Lady Macbeth, because her ambitions for her husband to kill the King for the throne were a doomed fate that was inevitable. We feel sympathy for King Duncan for his undeserved death, and this leads on to the downfall of a great person. As the King could do nothing, this play can tell us that evil fate is indestructible. Lady Macbeth is the sinful icon that crystallises her character development, which improves the Macbeth story to keep us focused. Her association with witchcraft had made her more powerful and energetic for her intentions.

These concepts aid Macbeth to transform into the “dead butcher” Malcolm describes him as. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is described as being heroic and noble since he proudly fought for his country in the war. However, he is soon described as a “tyrant” and as “wicked” after learning of the witches’ prophecy and pursuing their misleading vision. The witches and Lady Macbeth push Macbeth in order to cross the line between good and evil: the witches implant the idea of murdering King Duncan and usurping his throne, while Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill the King. Although Lady Macbeth and the witches push Macbeth to commit these acts of murder in exchange for power, Macbeth possesses evil, an ambitious desire to carry out these atrocities.

The Downfall of Macbeth Comprehending the revelations of the witches, Macbeth not only experiences a vexing psychological torment within his conscience but also transforms into an ambitiously driven man seeking the crown. As the rising action progresses through the ambiguous qualities of Macbeth, noble and ignoble, his tragic flaw, or reckless ambition, both induces frequent moral debates and clarifies his insufficiency to consciously pass judgment. After Macbeth convinces himself to repel the proposed regicide and overthrow the internal antagonist of the conflict, his negligent ambition, Lady Macbeth restores his ambition and seduces Macbeth, compelling him to climactically murder Duncan at her command. This murder not only represents Macbeth's final stronghold of control in the situation but also dooms the future of Macbeth due to the tragic events that will spur from his tragic flaw, his ambition, only now it is fueled by his insecurity as king. Employing his own free will and impelled by his ambition, Macbeth murders Duncan and his fatal lapse of judgment occurs which precedes the inevitable death due to his tragic flaw.

Here's another / More potent than the first." The vaulting ambitions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lead to the death of King Duncan. For the sake of Macbeth's ambition, he is willing to murder his cousin, Duncan. Macbeth realizes that murdering his king is perfidious and blasphemous because every king is set on throne by God; he is driven by his undying aspiration to steal the throne and be king: "I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on th' other." Lady Macbeth is also moved by her avarice to be alongside her husband on the throne.

This, as with many things in the play, see-saws back and forth: his fair winnings and heightened position turn foul again by the end of the play. Possibly the most notable switch occurs between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth learns of the witches' prophecy, she is absolute in her decision to kill the King. Macbeth, while he clearly likes the idea, and even shares her desire, falters on holding his promise to her until she threatens his manhood directly. After he kills the King and Banquo (separately) he is distraught with shame and guilt, while Lady Macbeth holds herself together and covers for his strange behavior.

William Shakespeare's Macbeth In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, there is no doubt that the “dead butcher and his fiend like queen” (V, 9, 36) are both villainous; however they are villainous to varying degrees. We are first exposed to both of their villainy when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hear of the witch’s predictions, and their reaction is to murder Duncan. Even though Macbeth is initially portrayed as being courageous and honorable, he eventually becomes more villainous than Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth appears very villainous to begin with, because she encourages and provokes her husband to murder King Duncan. However she has nothing to do with the murders that Macbeth commits later on in the play: Macduff’s family, Banquo, and young Seaward.