Macbeth's Tragic Flaw

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Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, and tells the story of a Scottish general named Macbeth, who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. So Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. Then the guilt consumes him and he is forced to kill more and more people to protect himself from getting caught. The bloodbath and consequent civil war took Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and finally death. This leads people to believe that Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his Ambition. His tragic flaw could be ambition, but Macbeth’s fear is his biggest tragic flaw.
Macbeth’s first indication of Macbeth being fearful is while he starts to hallucinate about a dagger leading him into the room. Macbeth says “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” (Act2, Scene1, line32-33)This shows that he is thinking twice about killing King Duncan because he is afraid of being caught. In the instant it even shows that he fears not pleasing his wife’s requests. His wife ordered him to go and f...

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