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The history plays of shakespeare
Bartleby macbeth psychological
The history plays of shakespeare
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While reading William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is clear that Macbeth is great example of a tragic hero, which is also the main theme of the play. A tragic hero is defined as a person who makes a bad choice and it eventually causes them to self destruct. Although Macbeth has his qualities of being an average hero, he shows more traits of a tragic one, hence; from the prophecy given by the three witches to the manipulation by Lady Macbeth, he shows common characteristics of the tragic hero he truly is. Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare about the tragic hero of Macbeth. Macbeth had the ambition to becoming King. Macbeth will kill anyone and everyone who got in his path, and that’s exactly what he did. He trusts the prophecy of the three witches of his future. After he sees their first prophecy of becoming Thane of Cawdor was true, that’s when he thought he’d become the king. Lady Macbeth is totally behind Macbeth's ambition to become king, even encouraging him to do more when he feels he has gone a little too far with the prophecies. Throughout the play, Macbeth kills a king and his best friend in order to benefit him. The entire play shows his fate …show more content…
But, this title doesn’t just come to him because he deserves it. Macbeth would receive the title of King only after the death of King Duncan. The witches he encountered also told him that he will also be the King of Scotland. He was as curious as George on how he could possibly become the king. It is evident throughout the play that Macbeth began relying on the prophecies given to him by the witches. For example, Macbeth would do anything to speed up the process of becoming Thane of Cawdor. Because of his desire, Macbeth and his wife decided to come up with a plan in which Duncan was to be slain. More of the curiosity he developed throughout the entire play, which led him to self destruct by the
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...
Greed is a quality that many have, but too much of it can be catastrophic. In the tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth has a tragic flaw that leads to his eventual downfall. A tragic hero is generally defined as someone who has great potential; someone who is born into nobility and could have a great future. However, they are doomed to fail and often die because of a tragic flaw. These characters usually learn a lesson from their deeds. However, it is usually too late for them to have a happy ending. These characteristics apply to Macbeth, whose greatest flaw is his greed for power. Shakespeare uses characterization, conflict, irony, and foreshadowing to show the audience that Macbeth is a tragic hero.
The definition of a tragic hero, as stated on dictionary.com, is a literary character that makes an error in judgment that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. It has been argued for years whether Macbeth from Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, can truly be considered a tragic hero or whether he is solely a villainous tyrant. Although there are some valid arguments for the Macbeth is pure evil viewpoint, by looking at Macbeth in a holistic way you can see the tragic, the heroic, and the tragic hero within him. Macbeth is a tragic hero in every sense of the definition.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a kind and caring person, he is the Thane of Cawdor. He is well respected and honest and loyal to someone he is knows well, King Duncan. Macbeth then gains greater ambition when he is encouraged by the witches and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth gets into his head on how greater power he could have if he takes the throne of the King by murdering him. When Macbeth kills the king he goes into a stage of fear and guilt making him want to kill someone again so that it satisfies him. At the end of the play he is killed because of the evil crimes he has
A tragic hero is someone who dies as a result of a bad choice in life. In the play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, is a tragic hero, fulfilling several of the characteristics of a tragic hero. Macbeth makes several errors of judgement, has a significant reversal of fortune, has excessive pride, and also follows other characteristics of a Shakespearean tragic hero.
Macbeth exhibits most, if not all, of the classic traits of a Shakespearean tragic hero almost flawlessly. From his rise to greatness to his ultimate destruction and death, he is most certainly a tragic hero.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a play about an honest and brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that he will be made Thane of Cawdor and one day King of Scotland. As the first prophecy comes true, Macbeth becomes consumed by ambition and greed leading him to murder King Duncan and taking over the throne. Afterwards he is filled with regretted and guilt yet continues on killing as a means to protect himself, losing sight of the honourable man he once was. Throughout the play Shakespeare uses many stylistic features and language techniques such as imagery, paradoxes and soliloquies to engage his readers, both those of his time and today, as well as highlighting important issues.
I believe that Lady Macbeth is a tragic hero. A tragic hero can be defined as a character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. In the case of Lady Macbeth, she’s the one who persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan when he has second thoughts about the prophecy, simply because she wishes to have the power as well. This is a judgmental error on her part as she only sees the short-term effects and doesn’t realize the long term ones that could arise from this mistake. Macbeth is traumatized by these decisions, and as he continues to make worse and worse decisions lady Macbeth begins to feel guilty for what she persuaded her husband to do.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
Throughout the history of literature, there have been many tales of tragic heroes. These heroes include Oedipus from Oedipus Rex, Cassius from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and many others. Many may ask, “What is a tragic hero?” A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. This person is fated by the gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. But the hero struggles greatly against this fate and this cosmic conflict wins our admiration. In short, a tragic hero is a character of noble beginnings who is doomed and destined for defeat, downfall or suffering. Macbeth is the perfect example of a tragic hero because he embodies all these traits and characteristics. Through his actions in the drama Macbeth, Macbeth epitomizes the classic example of a tragic hero. Macbeth initially only has one trait of a tragic hero which was his noble beginnings fighting for King Duncan. The major contributions that caused Macbeth to become a tragic hero were the intervention of Macbeth’s ambition, his wife Lady Macbeth and the prophecies of the three witches but in spite of all his downfalls Shakespeare manages to cause the audience to have sympathy for Macbeth.
Macbeth as Tragic Hero Tragedy always involves human suffering, but not everyone who suffers is a Tragic Hero. Aristotle established the first criteria that must be met for a character to be considered a Tragic Hero. Although the definition of a tragic hero has evolved over the years, Macbeth was clearly a tragic hero. He had many noble qualities, as well as several tragic flaws. Macbeth began as a courageous, brave and good nobleman who was gradually ruined by his own superstition, cowardice and blind ambition.
The tragic hero is a very specific character and must meet several criterias. This tragic character must not be an extremely virtuous individual that instead of the audience feeling pity or fear for their downfall, they feel anger. The character must as well not be so evil that the audience wishes their downfall, simply for the sake of justice. This tragic hero is best described as someone ‘’who is neither outstanding in virtue and righteousness; nor is it through badness or villainy of his own that he falls into misfortune, but rather through some flaw", Macbeth fitting this character perfectly. He is introduced to us as a military hero who has proven himself in battle time and time again, but still an average man, easily comparable to a modern day soldier. Along with all of Macbeth's many positive attributes comes his tragic flaw, a moral weakness of being extremely ambitious. It is this seed planted in him that inevitable takes over this ordinary man and entraps his will and leads him down his
In conclusion, these numerous different factors lead me to say that Macbeth can accurately be called a 'tragic hero'. Even at the most basic level of tragedy it is true, because there is a definite feeling of pity for him. Despite the fact that he ruthlessly murdered numerous prominent individuals, including his own king, there is still a sense of pity. While the audience ultimately feels relieved that Macbeth is justly punished at the expense of his own life, there is the feeling that he was really just a good guy who made some bad choices and got pulled into something way over his head. For this reason we sympathize with him, and out of the realization that this situation could quite possibly happen to any of us, fear and pity him as well. All these factors combined prove that Macbeth really is a tragic hero.
In Macbeth, a play set in Scotland, William Shakespeare wrote a tragedy of a mans ambition. In the play, Macbeth is described as a man who has ambitions of becoming king. After the first part of the prophecy by the witches whom he has met returning from battle comes true, he begins to think the second part may also come true, supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good. The witches have predicted that Macbeth would first become Thane of Cawdor and then king of Scotland. Encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan who stays as a guest in his castle. Macbeth then becomes king of Scotland.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth is a tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral coward: all these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play.