Macbeth is a Tragic Hero

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Macbeth was a true tragic hero. He had many noble qualities as well as several tragic flaws. He was a courageous, brave and good nobleman who was haunted by superstition, moral cowardice and an overwhelming ambition.(Boyce) Macbeth’s ambition to be king starts off as just a desire and progressively as the play goes on it becomes his tragic flaws. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder king Duncan by putting his manhood and courage at stake. Macbeth is represented as a tolerably good man up to the time when evil opportunity and a bad wife conspired to transform him into a villain. (Clayden) Since Macbeth was known as a genuinely good man, this desire he had to become king led him to take these huge risks in ruining his reputation. The Witches’ prophecies pushed Macbeth to a point of evil thoughts in order to get what he wanted. His uncontrollable desires led him to the point of evil, and the ambition is too strong for him to realize the wrong he is doing. In, Macbeth, William Shakespeare shows Macbeth’s ambition to be king by using the influence of others.

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a respected general, a devoted husband and a loyal subject of the king. (Clayden) What led him to this desire to be king? The first of the witches’ prophecies brought out this ambitious nature.” All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth,that shalt be king hereafter! ” (Crowther.1.3.49-51). These were the three witches’ prophecies that they gave to Macbeth, which he is very intrigued by. This suggests that Macbeth likes what he hears and is seemingly loyal to Duncan but he is easily swayed by the power of suggestion, no matter how preposterous. Right after ...

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...of this play Macbeth proves to be man who is greatly influenced by his wife’s ideas and ambition. Lady Macbeth’s control over Macbeth’s decisions becomes stronger and stronger the further into the play it gets. Lady Macbeth plots Duncan’s murder from the beginning. She had the organized the entire plan of murdering Duncan, which involved killing the guards also so it could cover up their bases in the murder of Duncan. Macbeth is slightly doubtful of her plan to kill the king, however Lady Macbeth subtly bombards him with comments that now question his courage and by saying their love is nothing if he refuses to go through with this plan.(Hazlitt) With this said Lady Macbeth had influenced Macbeth enough not only to kill Duncan, but also the guards.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, and John Wilders. Macbeth. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.

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