The Truly Tragic Shakespeare's Macbeth

Macbeth: Truly Tragic

Macbeth is the epitome of what the literary world regards as a "tragic hero". His admirable qualities are supplanted with greed and hate when three witches dupe him. The three witches enter with the first scene from William Shakespeare's, Macbeth, a tragic tale of one man's quest for power that leads to his ultimate defeat. The story revolves around our tragic hero, Macbeth, and how an admirable and noble man, so established in society, can fall so greatly. Throughout the play, he is driven by an obsession to become King of Scotland, and in the process commits acts of betrayal and treachery to achieve this goal. However, Macbeth is not the only character involved in this sordid affair. His wife, the manipulative Lady Macbeth, three prophetic witches and members of the Scottish aristocracy all play pivotal roles in the drama. Lady Macbeth, the great woman of influence behind the Macbeth, plots, schemes and propels her husband into a nightmare of falsehood and guilt. The witches, or weird sisters, (Shouldn’t “weird sisters” be in quotes and cited?) embody the supernatural element of this tragedy. With their imperfect predictions and calculated duplicity, they created chaos in Macbeth's mind as they toy with his sense of security. (Be careful of matching tenses. “Created” is past tense and “toy” is present.) The Scottish aristocracy comprises of King Duncan, the two princes - Malcolm and Donalbain, and various other thanes and nobles, including Macbeth's friend Banquo. They all serve as barriers for Macbeth and, regardless of friend or foe, he chooses to either fall down or overcome these hurdles. However, one hurdle that proves too great is his nemesis: Macduff. After Macbeth's false sense of security is shattered, a mighty swipe of Macduff's sword releases Macbeth from a tangled web of desire, design and deceit. (What is your thesis? That Macbeth is the epitome of a tragic hero? Make sure you stick to your topic and don’t get sidetracked.)

Macbeth has, as his wife says, the milk of human kindness, the kind of affection that many people have for others when self-interest is not rampant. He has a high regard for Duncan and Banquo, defaming the latter only once (III.i.74 ff.). He differs from Duncan in that the King's charity is of a quality that works to transform human society into a family and that makes the spirit of Duncan persist through the play after his death.