Marilyn Monroe Flaws

It has been said that Marilyn Monroe is likely to have committed suicide because of the overwhelming amount of broadcasting and media surrounding her. Marilyn Monroe’s popularity led to her death. This is similar to the effects of Macbeth’s popularity, in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. His power pushes him past the point of humanity. The pressure from others both brought out the worst in these characters; The more power they had the more their tragic flaws became more prominent. A tragic flaw is a trait in a character leading to his downfall, and the character is often the hero of the literary piece. A character that may start as strong and confident can be lead to a terrible downfall because of tragic flaws that lead to tragic endings. A perfect example of this scenario is Macbeth. Macbeth’s weak character led him to have many tragic flaws. Macbeth’s characteristics of ambition, gullibleness, and self-doubt, ultimately lead to his own downfall proving that power corrupts mankind.

At the start of the play, Macbeth was promoted as Thane of Cawdor and Glamis. Once Macbeth hears from the witches he will be king, he becomes anxious and wants to it happen right away. He craves the power of being king and the thought of

killing Duncan, so when he is confronted with the “evidence” that this could be a possibility, he is fueling with ambitions to complete the job. With addition to these ambitions, Lady Macbeth is whispers in his ear trying to persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan because of her own ambitions to be Queen. Lady Macbeth used Macbeth’s ambitions to manipulate him. Macbeth has a very weak character making him easily persuaded. Macbeth also has the ambition to want to prove himself manly enough to his wife. Lady Macbeth knows how she can influence Macbeth like this, and succeeds.
Macbeth’s ambitions of proving himself manly and becoming king are a part of what ruin him as a person. He let his ambitions get in the way of rational thinking. Lady Macbeth is able to manipulate Macbeth into committing a crime he did not want to commit. During this time period manliness was seen as “being overpowering and overreaching, not patient and having no self-restraint” (Langis 1). It is able to tell Macbeth does not match the characteristics of “manly” (Langis 1). Lady Macbeth scares him to the point where he doesn’t speak up for himself. All of Macbeth’s ambitions are provoked by proving himself manly. Not only is Macbeth driven by these ambitions, he is also easily persuaded and has a tendency to be gullible.
Aristotle once said, “The ambitious man . . . aiming at honour more than is right and from wrong sources." This explains how Macbeth’s need for power overrides his regard of right and wrong. Macbeth hallucinates and sees a dagger floating in the air and says, “The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee” (Shakespeare 2.1.43). Macbeth becomes infatuated with the thought of killing the king. He wants to grab and touch the dagger because it intrigues him. He wondered if killing the king was worth himself being king. He hesitates but then the dagger leads him to Duncan’s chamber where he uses the dagger to kill him.
Throughout the play Macbeth had a susceptibility to be easily persuaded to believe or do something. After the second prophecy, becoming Thane of Cawdor, came true. Macbeth was convinced that the witches are right and he will be king. The witches took advantage of this tendency and were testing him to see what he would do. Lady Macbeth also played a vital role in taking advantage of his weaknesses. At the end of the first act Lady Macbeth says,
“Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this” (Shakespeare 1.7.60-65).

This quote from Macbeth is great for showing how heartless Lady Macbeth is toward her husband. Because of her own ambitions, Lady Macbeth makes her husband feel like a coward by telling him if she promised to kill her own child, she would because she promised him that. This is another reason Lady Macbeth was able to convince Macbeth to follow through with his idea.
When Macbeth was given the second set of prophecies, he became confident.

The prophecies state he can not be harmed by anyone born of man, he should fear Macduff, and his downfall won’t come until the nearby forest comes against his castle. Macbeth did not question these prophecies because he has a weak sense of self, so his gullibleness blindly led him to believe the witches and have a false sense of confidence.. Macbeth recalls back to what the witches say and thinks about it. Unlike Macbeth’s “friend” Banquo who is curious about the witches, Macbeth is infatuated. Macbeth demands to know more after the first set of prophecies. Macbeth looks up to the witches and is excited about what they have to tell him when they reappear the second

time.
Macbeth thinks he can never be harmed because it is impossible for the forest to come to him. He also knows to fear Macbeth so his first action is going to be killing Macduff. Macbeth hires people to kill Macduff but they are unsuccessful. Impulsively, Macduff’s family members were killed instead. Macbeth is doing everything he can to stay King. He does not want to lose the power just given to him. His actions were taken because he felt the need to protect himself from Macduff. The witches told him to fear Macduff therefore supporting the notion that Macbeth is foolish and gullible. Macbeth also has a lot of self doubt.
Macbeth can decide whether to kill Duncan or not because he did not believe in himself. He thought he was a coward because Lady Macbeth told him that.
Throughout the second half of the play, many things spiral out of control. Due to Macbeth’s actions, Scotland is in panic mode. People are basically waiting for the next person to be killed. When people start to discover Macbeth is the killer, Macduff and Malcolm start to create a plan to take him down. Macbeth acts frantic after the apparitions and ends up digging himself into a deeper hole. Ever since he became a murderer, he changed. This can be seen, after a scream sounds throughout the castle and Macbeth states, “I have almost forgot the taste of fears” (Shakespeare 5.5.?). Macbeth’s lack of fear is a developed characteristic that was not seen in the beginning of the play. Macbeth becomes heartless. This the effect that one of his tragic flaws, his self-doubt, had on him- a complete character change.
Macbeth was hesitant about killing Duncan at first. He doubted himself and was not sure if he could pull off the deed. Lady Macbeth constantly calling him a coward increased his self-doubt and made him question himself. Macbeth is caught between being rational or appetitive, evaluating his virtue and self esteem.. In the beginning Macbeth questioned his decisions and then he became so involved he couldn’t even murder anymore. Macbeth hired people to murder for him because of the guilt and self doubt from killing Duncan. He knows he would not be able to kill all of these people by himself. He uses his power to his advantage. Macbeth’s self doubt and guilt played a major part in the demise of “the King hereafter” (Shakespeare 1.3.51).
Macbeth changes drastically throughout the course of this play. At first Macbeth is viewed as a successful warrior who seems to have great leadership abilities. But, Macbeth d he slowly turns into a very different person when faced with the prophecy to be King. Macbeth transitions from a valiant warrior into a murderer starting with the murder of Duncan. Macbeth would not have committed the first murder if it was not for his gullibleness towards Lady Macbeth and the witches, his ambitions to be king and to prove himself manly and self doubt. Macbeth’s tragic flaws, of ambition, gullibleness, and self-doubt, ultimately lead to his own downfall proving that power corrupts mankind. Aristotle introduced the term “hamartia,” defining it as an error of judgment which ultimately brings about the tragic hero's downfall. Tragic heros are common throughout literature where the “hero” or main character’s personality traits and characteristics are the cause of the downfall.
It has been said that Marilyn Monroe is likely to have committed suicide because of the overwhelming amount of broadcasting and media surrounding her. Marilyn Monroe’s popularity led to her death. This is similar to the effects of Macbeth’s popularity, in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. His power pushes him past the point of humanity. The pressure from others both brought out the worst in these characters; The more power they had the more their tragic flaws became more prominent. A tragic flaw is a trait in a character leading to his downfall, and the character is often the hero of the literary piece. A character that may start as strong and confident can be lead to a terrible downfall because of tragic flaws that lead to tragic endings. A perfect example of this scenario is Macbeth. Macbeth’s weak character led him to have many tragic flaws. Macbeth’s characteristics of ambition, gullibleness, and self-doubt, ultimately lead to his own downfall proving that power corrupts mankind.