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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
“This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest…” (77). This quote represents the change of Macbeth throughout the play. The use of blood imagery is used to represent the character development of Macbeth from a noble thane to a murdering tyrant. We first see blood imagery characterizing Macbeth when he is called noble for defeating Norway. Then, the idea of un-washable blood shows that Macbeth’s character will change. When Macbeth begins to experience the blood of others on his own hands, it leads him to ultimately become the “villain” or antagonist of the play. Finally, before the death of Macbeth, blood imagery has been used to characterize Macbeth so much that he is now over confident and seems to be fueled by the idea of it. By examining the use of blood imagery, one can determine that blood represents Macbeth’s character development from an honorable thane to a disrespected tyrant.
This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth or potentially heroic qualities. The role of a tragic hero is common in many of Shakespeare's plays such as Macbeth. The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. A tragic hero often has a noble background. This person is predominantly good, but suffers a terrible fate falling out due to glitches in their personality. The tragic hero has a monstrous downfall, brought out by their fatal flaw. Macbeth is named a tragic hero because he learns through suffering, he is isolated, and he exhibits personal courage in his acceptance of death.
The passage shows that Macbeth does not know whether getting the kingship is good or bad. He says it is neither, but Macbeth also hints that he desires the kingship. The violence of murder against the king, Duncan, in his mind is what hints his desire. Macbeth’s desire will lead him to violence. To prove the desire, Macbeth wrote a letter to Lady Macbeth, and in it said, “When...
Firstly, Macbeth is respected and admired by King of Scotland, due to his great exhibit of courage and strength on the battlefield against Norwegians, which resulted him being rewarded with the titles of “Thane of Cawdor”. Macbeth, who also holds a strong moral conscious regrets his decision of murdering Duncan and Banquo, due to his mature personality. After the regicide of Duncan, Macbeth feels greatly remorse and is deeply troubled by his guilt conscience. This is shown when Macbeth says to himself “Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou coudst”. This suggests that Macbeth was aware of the crimes he has committed, and he wishes he could turn this tragedy around. Macbeth also deserves respect and admiration due to his courage and bravery. Macbeth was aware of the fact the Macduff is not born from his mother’s womb, however, Macbeth refused to surrender in front of Malcom, knowing he was going to die. Macbeth’s bravery is evident in his last words, when he says “And thou opposed, / being of no woman born, yet I will try the last. Before my body/. I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!’.”
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’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...
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
Everyone has character flaws. Some are harmful, others are a nuisance. In a way character flaws will always come back to make your life miserable unless you will learn to control them. William Shakespeare a phenomenal dramatist from the 1600’s incorporates this moral into abundance of plays, and in Macbeth he a does prodigious job. Macbeth is the most horrific of Shakespeare’s tragedies because the protagonist commits such bloodthirsty acts. There are heaps of powerful themes, morals and symbolism introduced by Shakespeare to the reader. One of the more meaningful ones was the deterioration of Macbeth, a strong valiant hero with so much promise that ultimately fails and degenerates into a corrupt, merciless tyrant who choices to embraces evil. In general, despite Macbeth’s actions at the beginning of the play; where he quells a military coup against Scotland, his flaws determine his fate. Indeed it can be shown that Macbeth’s pride vulnerability, vaulting ambition, and over confidence brought him to kingship and change the tragic hero into a sinister tyrant, bringing him closer to his death.
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?
A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders. He killed his best friend Banquo out of fear and he senselessly murdered Macduff’s family. The hallucination of Banquo’s ghost is a representation of Macbeth 's guilt, all of Macbeth’s guilt is manifested in the ghost. Macbeth states that he feels guilty because of the murders. “Ay, and since too, murders have been performed Too terrible for the ear.” (III, iv, 80-81) Seeing the ghost of Banquo is the breaking point for Macbeth. The ghost also causes him to think more irrationally which leads to the murder of Macduff. Also, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is full of regret and guilt. The voices he hears reflect his mental state. “Methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!” (II, ii, 35) His innocence was killed and he knows that he has to live with this guilt for the rest of his life, hence Macbeth will never sleep peacefully ever again. After each successive murder, Macbeth becomes more and more inhumane. “I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o 'er.” (III, iv, 143-145) Macbeth claims that after committing a murder, there is no turning back. He killed his best friend due to his ambition and fear. The third murder was outright moralless and unnecessary, he compulsively killed Macduff’s wife and children. Macbeth shows no remorse in his murders, he becomes an absolute monster towards the end of the play. As Macbeth loses his human morales, hallucinations appear to remind him of the sins he
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.
Aristotle once said, “A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his downfall.” According to Aristotle, the characteristic of a tragic hero is a man of noble stature and occupies a high status position. There should be a fatal flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, the tragedy is usually raised by its character’s fatal flaw and the audience must feel pity or fear for this character. While there is less pity or fear for Macbeth, Macbeth still is a character who portrays a tragic hero through his nobility, high status position, his hamartia, and error in judgment.
“The witches predict that Macduff may harm Macbeth. The prediction becomes the catalyst again and makes Macbeth decide to murder Macduff’s family in order to make sure his own safety. Apparently he’s determination is continuously becoming stronger. He no longer struggles with moral justice and this is when Macbeth’s ambition reaches a climax” (Blind ambition kills).