Lady Macbeth And Lady Macbeth As An Aristotelic Tragedy

Macie Moody

A tragedy is a play dealing with tragic events that have an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character, also known as a tragic hero. In an Aristotelian tragedy, the downfall of the main character, in this case Macbeth, is often precipitated by seemingly fortunate events. In Macbeth’s case, he became king after the supernatural forces foretold of a prophecy that Macbeth would first become thane, then eventually king after the late king Duncan. Lady Macbeth, a stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious woman than her husband, exerted a lot of verbal and womanly manipulative power over her husband in the beginning of this play. Macbeth generally followed her lead. Lady Macbeth always questions the

That specific downfall is driven by the relationship of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth throughout the whole play. Macbeth becomes paranoid as can be seen when he says, “Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly.” (3.2.20-22) Generally speaking, changes have already started happening to their passionate relationship going from inseparable to distant. We can always see the transition and we predict this relationship will go south and not end well. Almost always, you will not be able to get away with murder. Because of the murders of people he once trusted, this drives Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to craziness, as we begin to realize very quickly throughout the play. This eventually causes the tragic downfall of the Macbeths’ when “The Queen, my lord, is dead.” (5.5.19) announcement pushes this downfall even closer. This shows that the collapse is finally coming faster and faster after the Macbeths’ have finally gotten what they wanted, power. When Lady Macbeth dies, the downfall finally comes quickly. In reality, we know this is ending soon, especially after the Macbeths’ have gotten what they’ve wished for. After the switch in personalities, consistent murders, and brains crazed, we have the right to think of the downfall as being a break from all of this violent