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Macbeth character analysis short essay
The play macbeth characters analysis
Macbeth character analysis short essay
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A “tragic hero” is both fair and foul. In our society, a hero is someone that does something good for someone and doesn’t ask for anything in return. A tragedy is when something bad/sad happens and it will eventually have a negative impact on people. Macbeth by Shakespeare is about a brave warrior, Macbeth, who receives a prophecy to be king. The prophecy slowly destorys the brave warrior he once was; his wife manipulated him into killing Duncan (the king). This leads Macbeth down a path of darkness. Which led him to his sad death, and him figuring out what led him to this. All those characteristics of the story of Macbeth shows that he is a tragic hero. Hamartia is the hero’s fatal flaw or the thing that will cause the hero to die. Macbeth’s …show more content…
Catharsis was shown when Macbeth not wanting to kill Macduff and when Lady Macbeth is dead. In the final “battle” Macbeth faces, is with Macduff and Macbeth doesn’t want to do anymore bad; refused to fight him. Macbeth say to Macduff: “Of all men else I have avioded thee, But get thee back, my soul is too much charg’d Witht blood of thine already” (V, viii, 4-6) Macbeth didn’t mean for anything that happened to happen. This gives us a moment of catharisis. Macbeth has acknowledge that he has done wrongs and he never meant to do those fromt the start. Macbeth’s ambition led him to death. Macbeth is a tragic hero; a noble warrior led to the dark side and is fated for death . The events that ultimately lead Macbeth to his sad death is when he finds out he is Thane of Cawdor, when he finds out Macduff was C-sectioned out, and when he notices he has turned to the dark side. Reading about Macbeth, has taught me that no one really is perfect and we all have evil sides. These ideas lead Macbeth into a lot of trouble, so it is warning us to watch out sometime. Everyone has a good and bad side, whether either side takes over you is your
Macbeth was a tragic hero. Traditionally, a tragic hero is someone who is born as an example of greatness but somehow along the way they acquire a flaw in character that brings about his own downf...
...till (5.7.20-21). Macduff wanted to kill Macbeth because Macbeth had ordered the murder of Macduff’s family. The cycle of violence continued until Macbeth was on the receiving end. Macduff killed Macbeth which stopped the violence. The violence started and ended with Macbeth.
“Disdaining fortune; with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution like valor’s minion carved out his passage till’ he faced the slave” (I.ii.17-20). This quote shows Macbeth's insane determination to achieving his goals. A major problem with this is that he sometimes has too much ambition. Near the end of the play, Macbeth's flaw finally catches up to him as Macduff executes him. “Yell I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries ‘Hold, Enough’” (V.vii.61-63). In this quote it shows that the tragic hero Macbeth will never give up for what he believes in. His beastly determination to succeed every challenge he is turn upon leads him to this point. “And wish the’state o’th’ world were now undone. Ring the alarm bell! Blow, wind! Come, wrack! At least we’ll die with harness on our back!” (V.v.50-52). Not only is he accepting defeat here, he is also accepting death. These series of quotes show Macbeth's true courage and that he is a warrior till' the end, and nothing can modify
This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.
If he did not listen to Lady Macbeth he would have been a successful man. Instead, he became hungry for more power. Macbeth realized that since he had already killed a few, more would not hurt him. Macbeth killed many people, which made everyone angry. Macbeth hurt and put rage in Macduff’s eyes by killing his family. That one decision of killing Duncan ruined his whole life ahead of him. One example of another tragic hero, similar to Macbeth, is Hamlet. Hamlet was the Prince of Denmark so he was already looked up to. His father was murdered and, like Macbeth, he saw ghosts. The Ghost was supposedly Hamlet’s father and he told Hamlet to avenge his death. Being blinded by what he was actually doing, he proceeded to kill and it ended in his own
Throughout the play Macbeth allows his pride to interfere with his judgment and succumbs to the witches’ prophecy, leading to his tragic downfall. “Macbeth orders a slaughter of innocents in a vain and futile attempt to preserve kingships threatened by prophecies” (Hassel). He murders King Duncan, his good friend, in order to secure his fate as king. Although Macbeth knows the difference between right and wrong, he is a victim of his tragic flaw: his ambition. His tragic flaw repeatedly leads him to deceit and murder.
Macbeth is swaying between the forces of good and evil. He wants to stop killing but he also wants to become king and in his mind the only way to do that is to kill whoever is in his path, saying “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (3.4.168-170). Macbeth is already deep into this situation and if he were to turn back now, it would cause him greater hardship than relief. Macbeth has been dealing with this inner conflict ever since he was told by the weird sisters that he is fated to become king. This conflict ties everything together, between fate versus free will and sane or insane. Macbeth started the play as being a glorified war hero, however as time moved on he transformed into a bloodthirsty tyrant. Macbeth has gone through so much that he has shifted into a guilty man haunted by nightmares and hallucinations but will not stop until he gets what he came for. Macbeth has gone so far into the void of guilt that his name has now fell into infamy, as shown by quote by Young Siward saying “The devil himself could not pronounce a title/ More hateful to mine ear.” (5.7.10-11). Macbeth had already grown a name for himself while he kept his innocence, however with all the killings macbeth has made, he has done nothing but shame his name. Macbeth name to others is more hateful and there is nothing that Siward would rather do than to end Macbeth’s life, thus ending all the guilt and evil inside
Macbeth’s visions and the prophecies of the witches cause Macbeth to make poor decisions, which lead him to his eventual downfall. Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power hungry and overzealous. A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders.
Macbeth’s blind ambition leads him to surrender to his dark desires that taunt him throughout the play. Macbeth is frequently tempted to result to the wrongful methods that seem to roam inside of him. In the beginning however Macbeth tends to ignore these desires and depends on chance. He declares “if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare, act 1, scene 3, 143-144). This declaration by Macbeth shows his initial stand, which is reliant on fate and sin free. Yet as Macbeth’s character develops throughout the play, he moves farther from his dependence on chance and closer to his darker desires. Eventually his blind ambition to become king overp...
When anything in life first begins to grow, it begins as a seed. The seed of a plant, or of a thought, or of an idea. Once created, the seed can do one of two things. It can grow, or it can die. Shakespeare’s play Macbeth tells the story of an innocent man who is turned evil from the seeds planted by those around him, allowing readers to explore the repetition of growth and how it is implied through characters. Throughout the play, growth is used to display Macbeth and Banquo as foil characters, show Banquo’s “goodness” through positive imagery, and to show Macbeth’s “evilness” through negative growth imagery. By analyzing Shakespeare’s use of growth imagery, critical readers recognize that growth enforces the idea that growth triumphs evil, embodied in the actions and consequences of Macbeth and Banquo as they make one of two crucial choices? Good, or evil?
This is an example of Macbeth’s ambition taking over; he has the throne by means of murder and now to maintain the crown he has commit violent bloodshed. This affects his judgment; his ability to sleep, his reign; his relationships with family, nobles, and his countrymen. In short Macbeth’s ambitions led to treason, murder and heinous killings of his friends and subjects. And while his killing spree grew his ambition grew within his head as well, until his thirst for power caused him to die at the hands of Macduff.
Aristotle stated that a tragic hero must be of certain qualities: a man of noble stature, good, though not perfect, have a fall that results from committing an act of injustice, which is his own fault, and receive a punishment that exceeds the crime. ”(schoolwork helper.net) “A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. ”(tragic.hero.htm) This fully describes Macbeth because he is of noble birth and shows heroic qualities during the battle. Another criteria of being a tragic hero is that: “This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering.
Many readers of Shakespeare can notice that all of his stories are magnificently written and Macbeth is of course no exception. The use of dramatic change can completely change the atmosphere of any story, putting the audience in a completely new frame of mind. It takes the audience out of their everyday life and puts them in a more dramatic and different world. If used effectively, it can even be used to apply real emotions to a fantasy world, something that Aristotle called ''purgation of pity and fear'', but in the modern day known as catharsis. Furthermore, If every single elements of an Aristotelian tragedy falls in place, catharsis should be achieved. The viewers should feel one with the story and have emotions for each and every action; becoming angered by the plans of Lady Macbeth, sadness for the innocent death of King Duncan, and ultimately sorrow and pity towards
A Shakespearean tragic hero starts out as a noble person; a great exceptional being who stands out. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw of an exaggerated trait that leads to their downfall and eventually to death. William Shakespeare often made his main characters tragic heroes in his plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the role of the tragic hero is given to the main character: Macbeth. This is because he starts off as a loyal and well liked man in the beginning, but has a tragic flaw of ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall.
Macbeth blind ambition makes it hard for others to follow and lead them. Being King of Scotland is his one goal he wants to accomplish, with Lady Macbeth's help on his side, they could rule Scotland. His subsequent destruction turns him into a threatening human-being and starts to lose his followers, making him a lone wolf in battle. His menacing actions he has done to the kingdom gets him killed by Macduff. All these tragedy elements make up the important key parts to the book