Aristotle's Theory Of Tragedy In Macbeth Analysis

Applying Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy to Macbeth

This essay will look at Aristotle’s six elements of tragedy they are plot, character, thought, diction, spectacle, and music. Including his structure of complication and denouement, and to the principles of protagonist, antagonist, nemesis, hubris, peripety and catharsis and how they apply to Macbeth.

The three places that demonstrate peripety in Macbeth are when Macbeth goes to kill Duncan, when Macduff’s wife and son are murdered, and when Macbeth hears that Lady Macbeth has died. An example of this is when Macbeth goes to kill Duncan fear builds in the audience that he is going to be caught in the act or something is not going to turn out right. Then after he kills Duncan he comes into

He arranged the plot around them. He started out by showings us what a great fighter Macbeth was. Shakespeare then built him up to be very ambitious but maybe more sensible than his wife. He built up the plot by having Lady Macbeth push her husband to do horrible things to achieve his success and then shows how their world came crashing down when everything fell apart.

I felt the climax was when Fleance escaped. There was this brief moment when Macbeth was about to have everything he wanted and had Fleance died with Banquo it would have sealed the deal. But his escape changed everything for Macbeth and from that point on it was all downhill for him. He started having more hallucinations and really started losing his mind. He lost all control over his situation. Macbeth is the protagonist. He is the character that drives the entire play. Without Macbeth, Shakespeare would not have had a story. There are several antagonistic characters in the play, Banquo and Macduff to name a couple. Even the witches could be antagonistic and against Macbeth by giving the prophesy that Banquo’s family line would be kings, however, I tend to think that Macbeth was the main antagonist. I think Macbeth had more conflict within himself. His unbridled ambition, his struggle with right and wrong, and his battle with his mind and sanity are some great examples of him struggling with