Macbeth Essay, Research Paper

MacBeth Everyone who is mortal has at least one flaw. Some are more seriousthan others. For example, some people have addictions to gambling, whileother people can’t remember to put the milk away after they use it. Aftera while though, a person’s flaws come back to haunt them. The tragedy MacBethis no exception to this. In it, many of the character’s die. And the reasonis that they have a flaw, that would eventually lead to their downfall.Not every character is deserving of his fate though. Some characters havea minor flaw, which shouldn’t lead to their death. But other’s have a majorflaw, which is would eventually lead them to their death anyway. The firstThane of Cawdor, is killed by MacBeth for trying to lead a revolution againstEngland. His fatal flaw was that he was according to Ross, “a disloyaltraitor”. The thane of Cawdor was greedy, and wanted the throne ofEngland for himself, and as a result was murdered. But his murder wasn’treally disheartening, because the Thane of Cawdor, deserved his fate. Hewas leading a battle, in which many lost their lives, for the sake of greed,and deserved to die because of his flaw. Duncan was the King of England,and was murdered by MacBeth. He was murdered, because in order for MacBethto fulfill his plan and become king, Duncan would have to die. Duncan’sfatal flaw was that he was too trusting. For example, he thought that noneof his friends could really be enemies. If Duncan was more careful abouthis safety at MacBeth’s castle, he may have had a chance to survive. ButDuncan’s flaw, wasn’t something so horrible that he should die. Most peopleneed to trust each other more, and just because one person did, he shouldn’thave to die. MacBeth’s former best friend, Banquo was also killed by MacBeth.Banquo was killed, because he knew too much about the murder of Duncan.But that was not his fatal flaw. Banquo’s fatal flaw was that althoughhe knew that MacBeth killed Duncan, he really didn’t do anything aboutit. There were many opportunities where Banquo could tell someone suchas MacDuff what he thought about the murders. But Banquo didn’t deservedeath, just because he didn’t act quickly in telling someone that MacBeth

killed Duncan. Banquo knew that if he said anything, no one would believehim, and he would be executed. Lady MacBeth is MacBeth’s wife. She is hiscoconspirator in killing Duncan. Although she helps MacBeth get the courageto commit the murder, she isn’t willing to do it herself. She uses theexcuse that Duncan looked too much like her father. Unlike MacBeth though,it is harder for Lady MacBeth to live with the fact that she helped causethe murder of the king. And in the end, it makes her so crazy that shecommits suicide. Whether or not Lady MacBeth deserved her fate is a trickyquestion. Although she did encourage MacBeth to murder Duncan, she feelsregret for her action. Also, she realized what she did was wrong. But inmy opinion, she realized it a little too late, and Duncan was still deadso she did deserve her fate. MacBeth was the focus of the entire play,and that’s why it was named after him. All of the problems start when hemurder’s Duncan. He commits the murder because of his fatal flaw, he istoo ambitious. If he wasn’t so ambitious and determined to be king, thenhe would never have killed Duncan. And if MacBeth didn’t kill Duncan noneof the other characters would die. MacBeth deserved his fate more thanany other characters in the play. He did many things wrong. First he killedDuncan, then he killed Banquo. After that, MacBeth killed MacDuff’s family.And worst of all, MacBeth disturbed the balance of nature. Also, MacBethdidn’t feel any remorse until he was faced with death. If MacBeth justwaited for his time, he would have been king, and have had a chance toenjoy it. Every character that died in MacBeth had one fatal flaw. Thefirst Thane of Cawdor was a traitor. Duncan was too trusting. Banquo didn’tdo anything about the knowledge he had. Lady MacBeth helped plot the murderof Duncan. And MacBeth, destroyed the natural order and harmony of nature.But not all of the characters who died deserved to die because of theirflaws. Duncan shouldn’t have been punished for trusting someone, and Banquowould have said something, but was waiting for the right time or some physicalevidence. But if MacBeth hadn’t been so ambitious, none of the problemsthat occurred would have.