Tragic Essay, Research Paper

Macbeth is a tragic hero, a person of high rank who is brought to eventual ruin by a flaw in his character Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his ambition, which leads him to a series of bloody and increasingly indefensible acts.

The most apparent flaw, and perhaps the most tragic in Macbeth’s character, is his lack of patients and temperance. These shortcomings haunted Macbeth, causing him to let his “overvaulting ambition” rush fate, and hasten his doom. Macbeth could not wait for an appointment to a position of more power. Instead, he murdered the king to take his place. Opting not to wait to see if Banquo would be loyal to him, Macbeth had his companion murdered. His impatience led Macbeth to listen to his wife, the witches, and his darker side. He again informed people what a good man was not. In the end, Macbeth did regain a shred of his previous distinction when he faced his adversaries like a true warrior. Macbeth’s last words are those of a good man who faces his own problems. To Macduff he shouts his last words, “Before my bodyI throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,And damn’d be him that first cries, `Hold, enough!” Like a bear, Macbeth regains his seat of honor, and becomes in his last breath, a good man.

To proceed further, MacBeth’s superstitious and vivid imagination is also a primary contributor to his downfall. MacBeth’s belief in the weird sisters and their prophecies is perhaps the greatest flaw that leads to his demise. It is his option to take the witches’ words as having any substance. MacBeth can assume that the prophecies becoming reality is merely coincidental, but his superstition and curiosity in the Weird Sisters is the basis for all his actions after his first visit with the hideous hags. “Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: the greatest is behind….Two truths are told…” (1,3) Upon hearing that the king has pronounced him Thane of Cawdor, MacBeth immediately finds that the witches were correct in their prophecy. This makes MacBeth wonder about the next prophecy, and he ends up acting on his free will to make it come true.