Play Macbeth By William Shakespeare example essay topic

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth is a tragic hero. There are many factors, which contribute to the degeneration of Macbeth. Macbeth is very ambitious and courageous, and is later portrayed as a moral coward. All of these qualities lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. There are three major points, which contribute greatly to Macbeth's degeneration. The first was the prophecies, which were told to him by the witches.

The second factor was when Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth's judgment. The final factor was Macbeth's long time ambition, which drove his desire to be king. Macbeth's character degenerates from a nobleman to a violent individual. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare describes Macbeth as a definite hero. Macbeth's defense of Scotland is significant in the opening scene, because it portrays him as a great hero. The witches' predictions to Macbeth after the opening scene influence Macbeth greatly.

Despite Macbeth's rank he is still very superstitious and listens to the predictions of the witches' very carefully. If it had not been for the witches telling him that he was to be Thane of Candor, Thane of Glam is, and King of Scotland, Macbeth would still be his ordinary self. Because of the prophecies, Macbeth's curiosity was aroused as to how he could be King of Scotland. As the play progresses, Macbeth slowly relies on the witches' prophecies to decide his course of action. Shakespeare uses the witches' as a remedy for Macbeth's curiosity, which corrupts his character. At the beginning of the play, he was very loyal to the king.

The King rewarded his service to Scotland with gifts, titles, and gracious praises. For a time, it appeared that Macbeth was going to remain loyal. Macbeth's quote in act one 'Why, if fate will have me king, why, chance may crown me King", made it seem if as Macbeth would remain loyal. However, this would soon change due to the influence of Macbeth's wife. Lady Macbeth's character at the beginning reveals that she is very ambitious. Her character also shows that she loves power and wealth.

Lady Macbeth soon realizes the witches' predictions, and decides to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth was ready to kill King Duncan herself, but she backed out because he reminded her of her father. Lady Macbeth plays an important role in this play, because she provided the scheme, which caused Macbeth to assassinate King Duncan. When Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth controlled his ambition for the time being and did not kill Duncan. The failing of his decision was soon reflected by Lady Macbeth who called him a coward. However, Shakespeare provokes a sense of pity by making Macbeth regret his wrong doing shortly after the murder.

It is after this scene of the play, that the audience can note the change in Macbeth's character. Macbeth's first murder was a trying experience for him; however, after the first murder killing seemed to be the only solution to maintain his reign of the people of Scotland. Therefore, Lady Macbeth introduced the evil concept of murder to Macbeth. Yet increasingly his ambition and desire defeated his good nature.

From then on, after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered a life of evil and destruction. After the first murder he realized that Banquo would one day threaten Macbeth's ruling line. Macbeth knew this because of the witches' predictions earlier in the story. He wanted to protect his ambition, so he hired men to kill Banquo and his son. Macbeth, who now no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her in ignorance of his plans. She died because of all this pressure and guilt from the murder.

The witches' came into play yet again when they predicted that "no man born of woman can harm Macbeth". The witches' also predicted that Macbeth could not be destroyed until Birnam Woods moved to Macbeth's castle. Macduff turns out to Macbeth's mortal enemy. This nemesis shows an additional force beyond Macbeth's control.

Because of Macbeth's strong belief in ambition and superstition, when he found out Macduff was not born of woman and also that Birnam Woods was moving towards his castle, he realized that the apparitions had deceived him, and he understood he was no longer safe. Through the development of this tragedy, Macbeth has turned from a fine natured person to an evil person. His ambition, and his strong belief in the witches, has brought him to a tragic end. However, Macbeth's ambition alone had not been strong enough to carry the motive to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth's influence was a major downfall for Macbeth. If it were not for Lady Macbeth, his ambition would not have been intensified enough to drive him to obtain and maintain his title of King of Scotland.

This new character of Macbeth embodied greed, violence, and for power hunger. In a tragedy the main character rises to greatness, then continues to fall down a shame spiral, which leads to his or her downfall. Macbeth had regressed from life as a decent and moral man to becoming indifferent to what was fair and what was foul. Macbeth brought both an immense tragic fate onto himself as well as creating tragedy in the lives of his peers. Macbeth regressed from being a decent, moral man, to someone who closely resembled a devil, who could make no distinction between good and evil. Shakespeare through Macbeth is portraying another flaw of humanity that causes destruction.

Shakespeare is telling us that it is easy for any good person to become caught up in his dreams and forget the well being of others. Macbeth became so engrossed in himself as well as the prophecies that were laid upon him by the three witches that he became blind to the thoughts and feelings of the people around him. It is these reasons that Macbeth is a tragic hero who was destroyed by a human flaw. Written By Scott S.