Tragic Downfall Essays

  • The Tragic Downfall of Shakespeare's Macbeth

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Tragic Downfall of Macbeth Macbeth, at the beginning of the play, seems to be a very loyal and honorable person. However, his character is changed by the influences of several factors. These factors have an influence on Macbeth, but he is responsible for his own destiny. The influences of the witches' prophecies, the influence of Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth's ambitions, are they key factors that lead to his tragic downfall. The witches (or "weird sisters" as they are often called)

  • Dr. Faustus Essay: The Tragic Downfall of Dr. Faustus

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Tragic Downfall of Dr. Faustus Christopher Marlowe's play, its genre an English tragedy of the sixteenth century, presents the tragic conflict of the Faust theme in the tradition of medieval morality plays. The concepts of good and evil in these plays and their psychological implications reflect a historical background in which the church dominates the ethical and moral concepts of their time. Faustus defies society's norms and embraces the devil with courageous desperation, fully aware of

  • Romeo's Tragic Downfall

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the surface, Romeo & Juliet is a simple tragic love story: boy meets girl, they fall in love, time elapses, things go wrong, and an end is met. But if you ask why was the end met, well there's where you get into the details of the story and the individual aspects of the mostly nondescript characters, in particular Romeo himself. Look into his ridiculously romantic lines, and you'll notice either the flaw in his character, the mistake he made, or the way fate plays with its toys. From the text

  • The Tragic Downfall of Lady Macbeth by William Shakespeare

    1216 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Tragic Downfall of Lady Macbeth William Shakespeare’s play entitled Macbeth is a bloody tragedy about ambition, evil, guilt and moral corruption. The story emphasizes a lot on the consequences or aftermath of the bad deeds that Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth do and the growing impact it has on them in turn. Lady Macbeth a woman driven by her assertiveness, boldness, strength and ambition for her husband could not escape the guilt that eventually caught up to her and destroyed her. In

  • macbeth

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    reveal his ambitions. And uses Macbeth’s ambition to create irony, in that his ambition was what brought him to power, yet it also leads him to his tragic downfall. Ambition is what allowed Macbeth to become more powerful, and helps him to overcome obstacles and come closer to his final goals. It is this ambition that is the direct cause of the tragic incident of Duncan’s death. The encounter with the three witches summons Macbeth’s innermost imaginative desires, eventually pointing him in the direction

  • The Disastrous Attributes of Shakespeare's Macbeth

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    that Macbeth is the victim of fate, while others argue that his character decides his downfall.  The argument for fate is strongly led by the actions of others, with Lady Macbeth being the prime influence on Macbeth. While the opposition is led by Macbeth^s troubled conscience, his own internal conflict and his hamartia.  It is clearly visible that Macbeth^s own character is at fault for his tragic downfall.  It is the opinion of many, that Macbeth is a victim of fate.  These critics state that

  • Tragedy in Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, and the Book of Job

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    human folly. The divine intervention of God is what causes the tragedy in Job. The tragedy in Oedipus Rex is a result of fate, in Hamlet a result of human folly, and in Job a result of divine intervention. The play Oedipus Rex involves the tragic downfall of the main character King Oedipus. This tragedy was a result of fate. From the time Oedipus was born it was predicted that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He tells Jocasta, "Apollo said through his prophet that I was the man

  • Persuasion in Macbeth

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    him to kill more people. In the end the lords and nobles join forces with the king's son, Malcolm, to destroy Macbeth. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the character Macbeth was persuaded by the three witches to commit evil, leading to his tragic downfall. Macbeth first encounters the three witches when he is returning to Scotland after defeating his enemy Macdonwald. The witches discuss with Macbeth and Banquo what they can expect in the future. "FIRST WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee

  • A View From the Bridge

    3444 Words  | 7 Pages

    it becomes evident to us that a fall is about to occur. Many factors contribute to the tragic downfall of Eddie Carbone. However it is his limited understanding of what it means to be a man that is the most prominent. Eddie’s perception of what it means to be a man is also connected with his views of women. Eddie’s forbidden love for Catherine is also one of the main driving forces behind the tragedy. The downfall of Eddie Carbone may have eventually occurred even without Marco and Rodolpho coming

  • Comparing Antigone and Oedipus The King

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    plague. Oedipus The King reaches its climax with a now blinded Oedipus daring to show himself to the people of Thebes, forgetting that he is no longer the leader of the state. In Antigone, it is Creons abuse of absolute power that leads to his tragic downfall. Whilst Oedipus determinedly tried to get to the root of his peoples ills, ultimately discovering that he was in fact the cause of them, Creon morphs from a supposedly caring leader into a tyrannical despot, eager to take the law into his own

  • Macbeth: Schizophrenic?

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macbeth’s tragic downfall into insanity could be modernly diagnosed as the mental disorder schizophrenia. Many of the actions carried out by Macbeth during the play lead the reader to believe that Macbeth is crazy. However, by today’s medical standards, Macbeth falls into several of the categories under the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as, "a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in

  • MacBeths Ambition

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    importance of ambition is revealed throughout MacBeth in a manner that is not always instantly visually evident to a conscientious reader. Although it is responsible for MacBeth’s rise to power, his “vaulting ambition” is also to blame for MacBeth’s tragic downfall. MacBeth would not have been able to achieve his power as King of Scotland, or have been able to carry out his evil deeds, if it was not for his ambition. In these instances, ambition helped MacBeth achieve his goals to a certain subdued degree

  • A Hero’s Tragic Downfall

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Hero’s Tragic Downfall In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus is portrayed as a tragic hero. He believes he can amend the Roman Empire by killing Caesar and granting Romans freedom from a potential monarchy. Cassius comes to Brutus with intentions of obviating Caesar from the throne. At first, Brutus is against this. Then, Cassius changes his mind by lying to him and persuading him with false letters supposedly from other Romans. Ultimately, Brutus is the tragic hero because

  • The Tragic Downfall of Macbeth

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Tragic Downfall of Macbeth William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a tragedy about a war hero named Macbeth, who follows his ambition with evil and who is repaid with evil. Although the witches' predictions are responsible for influencing Macbeth's thoughts, no one tells Macbeth to kill Duncan. Macbeth is responsible for putting power into the hands of Lady Macbeth and letting her influence him. Another example of Macbeth's early thoughts of treachery occurs when Duncan formally names

  • Macbeth’s Tragic Downfall

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    Is murder and betrayal really worth power? Macbeth is one of the most tragic, powerful, and gruesome plays William Shakespeare has ever written. Shakespeare is the father of tragedies. More importantly, with every tragedy he wrote, he based it around a moral or a lesson that should be learned after the completion of the play. This being the case, in the play Macbeth, Shakespeare puts forth the idea that by betraying others one is in turn betraying themselves. Shakespeare proves this by showing that

  • Tragic Hero's Downfall In Othello '

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    October 14 2015 A Tragic Hero’s’ Path Towards His Downfall In society there are always people who are easily manipulated and possess poor judgment. This leads them to make wrong decisions and negatively affect their lives and the lives of the people around them. The reason for Othello’s tragic downfall was because of his poor judgement, his easily manipulated conscience and his jealousy and obsession with. These traits displayed why Othello was responsible for the play’s tragic outcome. The first

  • Shakespeare's Macbeth - Downfall Due to Ambition and Human Weakness

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Macbeth: Downfall Due to Ambition and Human Weakness William Shakespeare through one of his most well known plays portrays a tragic downfall of a king through his ambition and human weakness.  Shakespeare develops the play Macbeth by showing the changes in the protagonist and the effects others have on him. Shakspeare's use of detail helps to show the changes in Macbeth through a gradual process.  Before actually completing his horrendous act of killing the much loved King Duncan, Macbeth

  • Macbeth: The Tragic Hero's Downfall

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    his horrible actions do not go without consequences and soon Macbeth pays for his actions both mentally and physically. Over the course of the play, Macbeth shows common characteristics of a Shakespearean. Leaving us with the question is Macbeth a tragic hero?

  • Oedipus' Tragic Flaws: Prophecy and Downfall

    1946 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oedipus the King tells the tragic story of Oedipus and how Oedipus unwittingly fulfills his prophecy. Oedipus prophecy was that he would murder his father and marry his mother. Oedipus grew up in the kingdom of Corinth where he believed that he was the son of the Kings of Corinth; when Oedipus discovered that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus decides to leave Corinth and try to prevent the prophecy from happening. Unknowingly to him during his escape from his destiny

  • Tragic Heroes And Their Downfalls In Shakespeare's Othello

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tragic Heros and Their Downfalls in “Othello” Northrop Frye once said, “Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” Othello is the pillar of tragic heros, first playing the part of a loving husband with a beautiful wife, then being manipulated into