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Tuesday, December 23.
Item 1: Identify and EXPLAIN two themes in Macbeth, and use two examples from text to support the presence of the themes in the tragedy.
Item 2: Using two elements of Greek Tragedy, and two elements of Shakespearean tragedy, explain how Macbeth is both. Be sure to use examples from the TEXT (not the movie) for support.
Item 3: Who is the tragic hero in Macbeth? Defend your response.
1) One theme of Macbeth is that often times people confuse fate with free will and tend to use it to justify their actions. This theme applies to Macbeth as well as real life. If an underprivileged boy grows up in a bad area with little to live on the odds of a good life would be against him. When people constantly tell him that he is nothing and that by the time he is 20 he will be in jail, he could see that as his fate. Instead of rising up against his determined future, he steals and sells drugs to fall into the status quo of his neighborhood. This is a common story of young criminals. They claim that they did not have a chance because of their poor circumstances. However, stealing and selling drugs what not determined by fate, it was the individual’s free will to make those life decisions. It is shown in the play by first the prophecy of the Weird sisters. They told Macbeth that his fate was to be king. He then tells Lady Macbeth of their predictions and she devises a plan to murder Duncan. The fate that the Weird sisters told him did not tell how he was to be king, only that it was in his future. He could have left it to fate and had faith that an accident may happen and take out the royal bloodline. Instead, he murdered Duncan to ensure his place. This was an act of free will, not fate. After this Macbeth becomes king because Duncan’s sons go into hiding. Apart of Banquo’s prophecy was that his sons will be legendary. Wanting to avoid this fate that Macbeth will be forgotten, he decides to hire murderers to kill Banquo and his son. The paranoia of the prophecy led Macbeth to make his own decision to kill. Similar to making decisions for oneself, another theme of Macbeth is that humans can be led down a path of self devastation by ignoring morals as a result of the evil drives of ambition. This theme applies to everyday life because it is seen in the school system. Kids often have the ambition to achieve good grades in school. The means of obtaining these goal vary. Some ignore morals to be honest and put in hard work to achieve goals and end up cheating on assignments and tests. In the end cheating and lying only hurt themselves because they will not get anywhere in life. Self devastation was present in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the play. Lady Macbeth brought self devastation to herself by ignoring her morals and having a part in the murder of Duncan. She went crazy and killed herself because she could not take the guilt her ambitions forced her to do. Macbeth was killed as a result of his ambition to become King and the power and paranoia that went to his head. He made enemies by killing innocent people to hurt his foes. Both had the ambition to become royal so they schemed to kill everyone in their way. All morals they had were thrown out and replaced with an evil drive.
ReplyDelete2.) Macbeth is a mixture of a Greek and a Shakespeare tragedy. The play shows greek tragedy qualities by demonstrating an evolution of justice for Lady Macbeth. She transforms from a wicked evil woman to a weak mentally insane fragile woman. In the beginning of the play she wishes she could kill Duncan herself and prays to become a man. She believes she is more masculine than her husband and taunts him for that. After the many murders her husband commits she then has a breakdown. The guilt that she carries causes her to go insane. She cries out and wants to wash the blood off her hands. Lady Macbeth ends up getting justice for herself by committing suicide. Another greek tragedy quality the play expresses is the focus of psychological and ethical attributes of characters. The human flaws Shakespeare focuses on are greed and envy. These are apart of the seven deadly sins which affect everyday lives of all people. The draw of power and status cause Macbeth to murder many people, most importantly Duncan to become king. This shows his greed to be the most powerful man and take out all of his foes. The envy of Banquo’s son’s prophecy to be more legendary than Macbeth prompts him to murder him and his son. The flaws of greed and envy direct Macbeth to make all of his decisions which lead to his downfall. The play reflects a Shakespeare tragedy for its use of the supernatural. The appeal of the Weird Sisters being able to tell Macbeth and Banquo their fate was well liked during the time the play was written. The Weird Sisters would do witchcraft throughout the play to keep the audience interested in the unknown of the supernatural. Another way the styles are similar is because of the use of pathetic fallacy. Often times Shakespeare would use nature and animal behavior to reflect the conflicts in the plot line. This is present in Macbeth in Act 2 the night that Macbeth murdered Duncan. Lennox explains that the night was “unruly” and people heard cries of grief in the air. He is explaining the wind was restless just as Macbeth was whenever killing the king. Lennox also says that the owl made noise all night which matched the chaos that Macbeth was dealing with during the murder.
ReplyDelete3) The tragic hero in Macbeth is Lady Macbeth.She goes through the cycle completely and most evidently. She begins as a noble status, a wife of a well known thane. Her tragic flaw is her ambition for power. When she learns of Macbeth’s fate, she will do anything to become queen, including plotting to kill anyone in her path. The crisis arises because of this flaw. Her ambition leads to planning the murder of Duncan with Macbeth. She wishes she could do it herself but ends up doing the cover up job after her husband. The chain of events following the death of Duncan were his sons going into hiding therefore making Macbeth king. The pressure of the power and the prophecy begins to take a toll on Lady Macbeth and her husband. Macbeth starts killing off his enemies and their families including MacDuff’s. When Lady Macbeth hears of all the murdering and her husband’s plan to kill Banquo and his son, she becomes guilt ridden and starts to lose her sanity. The reversal of her fortune comes as a result of her guilt ridden mind and the downfall of Macbeth’s reign when MacDuff attacks with the English. Her self discovery and catharsis come in the beginning of Act 5. The doctor and gentlewoman are observing her as she loses her mind. She is trying to rub out a spot on her hand and wash the blood from her as a symbol of washing her guilt of the murders away. She then proceeds to bed and claims “what’s done cannot be undone”. As she is saying “to bed to bed” the reader then discovers she means ‘to bed’ as in an eternal sleep when a servant tells Macbeth she has killed herself. The suicide is her tragic ending.
ReplyDelete1. A major theme of Macbeth is that absolute power corrupts all. In Macbeth, Macbeth has a thirst for rule of the land. In his path to achieve that goal, he kills the king, Duncan, kills nobles such as Banquo, and kills the Nobleman Macduff's family in an attempt to halt an insurrection. Macbeth went within the play from being a Nobleman to being a despot due to his wish of being a ruler. This is much like how Kim-Jong Un rules North Korea. Kim-Jong Un has absolute power over North Korea, and is corrupted due to it. He imprisons or kills opponents, makes threats to other countries, and holds wealth to himself. Much like Macbeth, his insecurities about his rule have turned him into a Despot.
ReplyDeleteAnother major theme of Macbeth is that a thirst for power leads to bloodshed. Macbeth within the play starts killing those seen as a threat to his rule. As aforementioned, he kills Banquo and attempts to kill his son due to them being seen as threats to the crown. He kills King Duncan in the first place to gain the crown, and he kills the family of Macduff in an attempt to demoralize him from attacking Macbeth. These actions led to much bloodshed, much like how rebel factions in the Syrian Civil War have led to the same conclusion. Thousands of people have died in the path of various factions vying for control of the country. This is related to what occurs in Macbeth.
2. Two elements from Greek tragedy utilized in Macbeth are a Psychological/Ethical effect and Private Guilt and Punishment. There is a massive Psychological effect on Macbeth, warping his mind to becoming a despot bent on securing his rule. Another example of the Psychological effect on Macbeth is that he sees apparitions.He sees the ghost of Banquo whilst talking to the witches, showing he is becoming more Psychologically damaged from the events of the play. Private Guilt and Punishment is a major factor as well. Lady Macbeth becomes more Deranged as well. She gets to the point where she sleepwalks to the murder scene and attempts to wash blood from her hands in order to absolve herself of guilt. The smell of blood only stays in her mind, and she is unable to resolve her guilt.
Two elements from Shakespearean tragedy are fate and the supernatural. The element of fate comes into play as throughout the whole play, Macbeth is informed of actions that are attributed to his fate. He is told he will become king, as well as told that he will be threatened by a man born not of a woman, as well as when the forest starts moving towards the hill. These elements of fate are shown to all be true throughout the play. Another element of the Shakespearean tragedy is the supernatural. Throughout Macbeth, the appearance of witches, ghosts, and other supernatural elements occurs. There are three witches who give all the information to Macbeth regarding fate, and manipulate him into performing the acts in the play. Ghosts are repeatedly seen as those that Macbeth had killed, such as Banquo, and the line of Kings. The examples of these prove that it is incorporating elements from both Shakespearean and Greek tragedy.
3. Macbeth is the Tragic hero of Macbeth. He fits into the Tragic Hero cycle very well. In the beginning, he is one of the most trusted noblemen of the Scottish Crown. He is told he will be king by the witches, leading to hubris about how he will become so. He has a crisis over whether he should kill Duncan or not, leading into a chain of events. It proceeds into a reversal of Fortune for Macbeth, as he starts falling deeper into insanity, ordering the deaths of those who oppose him. He has self-discovery when he realizes that Macduff can defeat him due to Macduff being born from a C-section, showing Macbeth that he subscribed too much to fate. A quick Catharsis occurs, in which he realizes he is doomed to die due to his pride. He dies a quick offstage death and is beheaded. This completes the tragic hero cycle of Macbeth.
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One of the themes shown in the playwrite Macbeth is ambition leads to malicious actions. When people get a hint of power they can easily abuse it within a short period of time. Their drive to get what they want can result in chaos. Today’s world leaders such as Barack Obama, are able to pass certain acts or laws that they believe will make the land that they’re ruling a better place. Obama’s act for Obamacare is an example of how good intentions turn into abused behavior. His willingness to change the country for the better fired back at him by only hurting the economy. On the other hand, Macbeth’s ambition to gain power affected not only himself but the people around him. In order for his fate to come true he took matters into his own hands and chose to take out the undesirables such as Duncan who was chose to be king. Macbeth’s intentions for becoming king resulted in murdering Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family. As Macbeth’s plan was taking place his obstacles were never ending pushing him further away from his crown.
The second theme in Macbeth is hallucinations can seem like reality. Hallucinations can be caused by many things such as guilt or psychological disorders. For some who experience these vision often don’t realize whether what they are seeing is real or their mind is playing tricks on them. A psychological disorder called schizophrenia is a common mental illness that causes an individual to hallucinate by either hearing voices or seeing objects that are not there. This disease can harm the individual faced with the problem and the ones around them trying to help. Although this psychological disorder is commonly known, back in shakespearean times it was not discovered. Hallucinations such as the ones that Macbeth experienced were hidden and if a spell were to happen many would just be suspicious. Macbeth has shown many hallucinations because of the guilt and pleasure he experiences. He was shown in act two as imagining a dagger placed before him. His thoughts on becoming king drove him to think the dagger was fate who told him to use it to kill off his obstacles. Although the dagger was not there Macbeth still carried out the action by using his own dagger. Another hallucination would be when he sees the ghost of Banquo. His guilt is taking over his mind and he can’t seem to escape and accept what he had caused.
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The playwrite Macbeth is a shakespearean tragedy as well as a greek tragedy. In greek tragedies, they involve characters experiencing a chain of events that lead them to private guilt and ultimately justice takes over the situation. As Macbeth eliminates his obstacles in becoming king, he is producing more murders that causes him to consume guilt which then makes him hallucinate. He will see the ghost of his victim Banquo as he can’t escape his guilty pleasure. Many are aware of what Macbeth consists of. As a result, Macduff rebels against Macbeth in order to stop the corruption he is causing. Justice takes action as Macduff cuts Macbeth’s head off and takes the king title that belongs to him. Although it is a greek tragedy it is also a shakespearean tragedy. In shakespearean tragedies, there is supernatural characters and uncertainty of what a character will do next leaving suspense. Witches and ghosts are shown in different scenes of the play to show how Macbeth is becoming affected by his actions. His behavior worsens after he committed multiple crimes. He had many spells of visions that were not actually there. His outpour of emotions cause the reader to keep guessing if he will give in and admit to what he has done or keep everyone guessing by covering up.
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ReplyDeleteMacbeth is shown as the tragic hero in the play. He is shown as a person with status as he is introduced with fate telling him he will become king. He knows this can’t be true though because Duncan is in line for the throne. Macbeth is overcome by his tragic flaws which are jealousy and selfishness for he knows that crown should be his and he needs to take down Duncan. He sparks a crisis as he sticks to his plan in murdering Duncan but thinks others have saw him do it. As more people get involved there are also more people being killed off. His obstacles are a tragic chain of events and as each obstacle gets taken out, another one is created. A total destruction occurs as more murders are shown and his wife ends up killing herself because of his actions. Macbeth then realizes that because of his obsession with becoming king, it only caused him harm and guilt. He now knows how many people he has effected by his plan. When Macduff and his soldiers come for Macbeth, Macbeth can’t help but admit to what he had caused. He expressed his emotions he has been holding in for the time that he has been told fate says he will become king. Macduff does not pity Macbeth for what he has done to his family. Instead a tragic ending occurs as Macduff cuts off Macbeth’s head.
Theme 1: More often than not, ambition is dangerous to have
ReplyDeleteMacbeth is not normally someone who commits evil acts. However, he desires power. He kills Duncan, almost unwillingly, and then feels guilty and is haunted by allusions. It is Macbeth's ambition that leads him to set murderers after people he knows, just so he can keep the throne. Macbeths ambition led to the death, not just others death, but his very own. Ambition is too dangerous to have.
Modern example: Hitler. The man who achieved the impossible: Six million deaths. He tried to bite off more than he could chew because he was ambitious for more power. He had a good run but it ended in his death. His ambition killed him.
Theme 2: Appearances can be deceiving
Macbeth, a noble man, thought of highly and a good man. This WAS true. Macbeth, as good as he is, is able to bring himself to be evil and commit evil deeds. He is not what anyone thought he was. Eventually he is discovered to be a lying, tyrannical dictator. No one could have seen him becoming this man.
Modern example: Alex Hribal the Franklin stabber. He was a normal kid. he had friends, he went to school, and he had two loving parents. It was a slap in the face for him to commit such heinous acts. His appearance was deceiving. No one saw it coming.
Item 2: A Shakespearean Tragedy involves a noble protagonist, who has a flaw, who eventually reaches a fatal conclusion. Macbeth meets all three qualifications. He is a Scottish general, which is a noble higher up position. He has a flaw, which is ambition which leads to actions he would not normally commit. Finally he has a fatal conclusion, his own death. Macbeth has followed each step that it takes to be a Shakespearean tragedy. A Greek Tragedy is a play in which the protagonist, usually a man of importance, falls to disaster and circumstances with which he cannot deal. Again, Macbeth is a Scottish general, a man of importance. He falls victim to evil when he kills Duncan just for his own ambition. Later in the play he faces Macduff, and Macbeth dies. Again, Macbeth fits all the requirements to be a Greek Tragedy. The difference between a Greek Tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy is a Greek Tragedy was common stories already known. The ending was nothing new. With Shakespearean tragedies, they were new stories, no one knew the outcome.
Item 3: It can be argued that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are tragic heroes. However some may view Macbeth as the true tragic hero due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is more like a abusive antagonist. A tragic hero is someone of nobility, which Macbeth being a Scottish general, certainly qualifies him. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw, which for Macbeth is his ambition for power. Lastly, a tragic hero conclusion most likely ends in death which Macbeth is killed at the end of the play. Macbeth fully meets the requirements of being a tragic hero and thus is one.
1a. A theme in Macbeth is that when there is pressure on morals or they are completely disregarded, a monster of a person emerges. This theme means that an individual can pressurize another individual into believing and doing what they want them to do. Creating a person who completely disregards their personal feelings about a situation. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into making the choices that he did not feel certain on making. Macbeth even stated that he loved Duncan and that he did not see a reason to kill him. Countering his argument, Lady Macbeth begins to demoralize him by calling him a coward if he did not proceed. This shows the pressure placed upon Macbeth by his wife and how one can change the morals of another. To please his wife, Macbeth chooses to follow along with her plan. His cooperation shows how he has given into the pressure and disregarded what he believed to be the correct thing to do. After he murdered Duncan, Macbeth’s feelings towards what he knew was correct completely changed. He murdered is friend and ordered the execution of anyone who would oppose him without a trial. The theme can relate to the man who murdered the two police officers in New York. Those officers were shot for no reason by a deranged man. That murder had no presented motive besides the possibility of the killer being upset with the whole Ferguson ordeal. If the riots had not set him off or another outside source such as a friend or authority figure who convinced him to do what he had done, those two officers would still be alive to spend the holiday with their families.
ReplyDelete1b. A theme in Macbeth is that masculinity is something that can be used to manipulate a man. This theme means that when one questions another man’s masculinity he is likely to do what they can to make himself look manlier. In Macbeth he is continuously being called not masculine lady Macbeth even states that he like a woman because he will not man up and kill Duncan. Seeking the approval of his wife, he decides to do what she accused him of not being able to do. When Macbeth is convincing the two murderers to kill Banquo he also questions if they are mainly enough to complete the task. The men take on the task to obey their king and also display their masculinity. After Duncan is found dead Macduff says that the men should take their business away from the women because it is too much for them to handle. This displays how men want to be viewed as masculine and take their manly business elsewhere. This theme applies to real life by relating to any male. In school when one boy accuses another of not being able to do something the other usually responds by taking the challenge upon themselves. Then after that task is accomplished it usually ends with a fight as to who did it better alluding to the idea of who is more masculine.
ReplyDelete2. Macbeth is both a Greek and Shakespearian tragedy. Macbeth is a Greek tragedy because he is continuously feeling guilty about his actions and is susceptible to weakness. He is feeling guilty about murdering Duncan. Macbeth questions and worries if he will ever rid himself of the guilt that he feels. He states that no water in the ocean could cleanse him of his deeds. That displays that the guilt he feels will be everlasting. Macbeth is also susceptible to weakness. His weakness is his wife. All of the events in the play branch off of what his wife wanted Macbeth to do. She wanted him to kill Duncan and he did so to please her. His other weakness is the prophecy. He was told that Banquo’s sons will be kings. Therefore to keep himself king, he had Banquo killed. When it came to his wife, he would do anything to please her. That is shown with the murders. The prophecy also shows a weak side to his power-hungry personality. As well as his guilt about killing the king whom he loved. Macbeth is also like a Shakespearian tragedy because of the use of fate and the supernatural. Macbeth has a conflict with fate, if he believed in fate, he would not have taken matters into his own hands. He would have let them play out how fate should. Because he took initiative he didn’t allow it to predict the future of the characters. Macbeth also experiences the supernatural; witches and the ghost of Banquo. The witches proposed the prophecy in the beginning, leading to the events after. The ghost of Banquo also is there to haunt Macbeth and be a reminder of the poor choices he had made.
ReplyDelete3. The tragic hero in Macbeth is Macbeth. He begins as a person of nobility. He was the thane and pronounced in combat. Macbeth’s tragic flaw was his ambition. He states that his flaw during his speech about the reasons to not kill Duncan. His ambition led him to kill Duncan and Banquo to achieve the throne. The crisis Macbeth encounters is that he is becoming mentally fatigued by everything that has occurred. He is experiencing the torture of what he had done and it begins to show after he orders the death of Banquo. The chain of events following his crisis is the murder of Banquo, his mental break down in front of his guests after he sees the ghost, and the suspicion towards Macduff. During the chain of events Banquo is killed and he was a central character vital to the plot. Macbeth’s reversal of fortune occurs when Macduff convinces Malcom to fight against the tyranny of Macbeth. Macbeth soon realizes what he has done when everyone begins to turn against him and he realized that would happen, yet he did not care. He kept his belief in the prophecy and continued to do what he wants. He experiences his catharsis after he heard lady Macbeth scream. He says how he no longer has any fear and that evil does not startle him. He finally realizes that what he has done is evil. He also states that life is nothing but an allusion and means nothing. At this point he is feeling sorry for himself. After his outpouring of emotions he is killed by Macduff. Macbeth glides through the tragic hero cycle giving him the title of a tragic hero
ReplyDelete1- One theme from Macbeth is the thought of power can consume even the best people. We see this in Macbeth, when Macbeth is told by the three witches that he will become the king of Scotland. Macbeth had never even pictured himself as the king before. He was a very high ranking member of society, with everything going his way. Once he was told that he would be king however, he became obsessed with this idea. He went so far as to kill his own king in order to make sure the prophecy was correct. Another example of this theme can be seen after Macbeth becomes the king. Once Macbeth was the king, he immediately focused his every thought on keeping power. The witches had told him that Banquo's son would be a king as well. This meant that the crown would not stay in Macbeth's bloodline. Macbeth ordered the death of his best friend and his son along with many others in a desperate attempt to change the prophecy that was the reason he even became king in the first place.
ReplyDelete- Another theme from Macbeth is if you want something bad enough, you can get it. In Macbeth, after the witches tell Macbeth that he will be the King of Scotland, he is obsessed with this idea. He does whatever it takes to make sure it happens. He kills Duncan and comes up with a good story to cover it up. He wanted something very badly, and he worked hard to get it. Another thing that goes with this theme is when Macduff learns that Macbeth had his family killed. Macduff becomes enraged and focuses his thoughts on killing Macbeth and removing him from power. In the end Macduff kills Macbeth, avenging his family, and removing Macbeth from power.
Macbeth showed the evidence of many themes as the storyline progressed. People use fate to justify their actions of free will was a main theme. Fate is a concept that many people during Macbeth and the present day strongly believe in. However, their actions that they presume to be determined by their predetermined fate are simply an act of their own free will. Their free will prevents the so-called fate from even having a chance to happen. In modern society, this is depicted with sports. The recent game of the Ravens and Texans showed that fate is certainly untrue. The game had a clear-cut prediction of the Baltimore Ravens spelling out their spot in the play-offs. It was “fate” for them to be victorious over the Texans. The game had a different outcome due to the way the members of the Ravens played on Sunday. Their free will to pick the plays and run the ball how they felt was necessary proved that fate is just not the answer to everything. In Macbeth, fate is involved in everything. Macbeth himself is a product of fate. He schedules meetings with the witch sisters to have his fate handed to him. He believes every second of it. This fate that he believes in is what lead him to kill Duncan. The witches told him of his fate to be king and he went to kill Duncan. Macbeth did not even know if the fate that these creatures told him was true, but he took it into his own hands because he was too scared to wait for the outcome. He also acts the same way when the sisters tell him to fear Banquo. He takes the words into his own hands and goes ahead and gets Banquo killed.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth shows the presence of another theme as well, the expectations of men and women are clear cut and often punished when not met. Both sexes have these unsaid rules to be lived by, and when they are not followed society punishes them. More recent than ever, homosexuality is becoming part of the world. The individuals who are living this way are often punished and looked at as an outsider. A gay man is punished for his feminine views and likings. A lesbian woman is made fun of because people cannot tell if “it” is a woman or a man. There is a solid line between the two genders, when caught crossing over someone will sure notice. This theme is supported in Macbeth with the same kind of ridicule. Macbeth, in the beginning, seems to be a coward. He is scared to do things to put him into power. Lady Macbeth will not stand for that. She calls him out right on the spot telling him that he is not being a man. He is not what a man is supposed to be and his wife is punishing him for it. Lady Macbeth herself is also a part of the gender expectation struggle. She proclaims that she does not want to be a woman any more. She wants to be “unsexed” and be like a man so she can be tougher. She thinks that she needs to be a man in order to have the tough persona. That would be nothing expected from a lady.
Macbeth is both a Greek and Shakespearean tragedy. Macbeth contains the two elements of private guilt and punishment and evolution of justice making it a Greek tragedy. Private guilt and punishment is portrayed dominantly in the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They both are torturing their own minds due to all of the destruction they have caused. Specifically, shortly after Macbeth killed Duncan, he goes through a stage of guilt. He says to his wife that all the water in the oceans cannot get rid of all the blood on his hands. He is guilty of his deed and does not think anything can fix what he did. He is punishing himself with these ridiculous thoughts. The evidence of an evolution of justice is also shown in both Lady and Macbeth. The evolution of justice for Macbeth is when he meets his death with Macduff. The fate of Macbeth was that a man born of a woman could not kill him; Macduff was born of a C-section therefore getting justice for everything and everyone who had spite with Macbeth. He did what was needed for his family and all the others by killing and beheading Macbeth. He got the justice that was well deserved. These two characteristics of Macbeth further prove that it is a Greek tragedy.
ReplyDeleteShakespearean qualities also are present in Macbeth. A quality of this type of tragedy is pathetic fallacy. Macbeth contains this throughout the play. Lennox, for example, comes to talk to Macbeth describing that the night had been chaotic with much wind and owl noises. He said how he and others believed that the world had shook. This night was the same as when Macbeth killed Duncan and his two guards. The happenings of the play directly connected to the weather and nature. Macbeth also possesses elements of the supernatural, a common element in the Shakespeare’s tragic from. The wyrd sisters ultimately control the entire play by making Macbeth descend into madness as he tries to prove his fate and kill everyone in his path. The witches were present throughout the entire cycle of Macbeth. Fitting these two qualities, Macbeth can also be identified as a Shakespearean tragedy.
The tragic hero of Macbeth is Lady Macbeth. She goes through the entire cycle and in the end receives her infamous tragic ending. Starting off the play, Lady Macbeth is a noble and wealthy character. She is of high stature because of her soon-to-be king of a husband. She may have this power in her hands from her place on the social ladder, but she possesses a flaw. The tragic flaw of ambition. Lady Macbeth is too ambitious to accomplish anything she wants. Her flaw comes through right in the start when she wants to help kill Duncan. She is completing a nearly impossible task, but has the ambition to see it through. With a plan nearly all of her own, Lady Macbeth instructs her husband on exactly how to feed her ambition. Duncan is dead and it is due thanks to her. The crisis begins. The crisis and chain of events link together after the murder. Everyone flees and her husband has gone on a killing spree and it is Lady Macbeth’s fault. She soon gets the reversal of fortune as she begins to notice that her husband has gone mad and there is nothing she can do. She lives in this huge castle but can never be happy because of the guilt that she possesses. She is loosing her husband to madness and is ultimately all alone. The doctor comes to cure her of her craziness but this is when the self discovery and catharsis comes out. She is rubbing her hands together trying to get out the “spot.” She thinks the blood from the killing is still on her hands and she cannot get it out. Her out pour of emotion frightens the woman and doctor because it is so dramatic due to her madness. She continues to sob while she is talking to herself and both the woman and the doctor telling that her hands still smell like blood and no perfume in the world will get rid of it. She exits the script for the last time by saying, “What’s done cannot be undone.” Her ambition led to all of this guilt and the tragic ending of an offstage death. The readers are informed of her death and are later noted that it was a suicide. Lady Macbeth completes the entire cycle, making her the tragic hero of Macbeth.
ReplyDelete2- One reason why Macbeth is a Greek tragedy is that it involves a chain of private guilt and punishment. Macbeth is haunted by his killing of Duncan from the very beginning. We see Macbeth begin to lose his sanity right after he does it. He is clearly overwhelmed with guilt and is talking to himself and can not get his terrible deed off of his mind. As a result of this guilt, becomes insane. His insanity causes him to kill more people, and in the end, he is killed for it. Another reason that this story is a Greek tragedy, is that the story focuses on the psychological and ethical attributes of the characters. In the story, we witness Macbeth and Lady Macbeth slip slowly into madness. They are terrorized by guilt because of the things that they have done. The story gives many details as to what the characters are thinking and the guilt that they feel.
ReplyDelete- One reason why Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy, is it's suspense. At the end of the story, we do not know whether or not Macbeth is going to kill Duncan. He has defeated him in battle and it seems as though Macbeth is going to finish Duncan off. He is then beheaded by Duncan. Shakespeare makes the audience think that the unthinkable is going to happen and that the evil Macbeth is going to kill Macduff after killing his entire family. He does not however. Another reason why Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy is the use of the supernatural. In the story, Macbeth meets with three witches multiple times. These witches predict the future and give the story a little bit of a weird twist. They make it interesting and unlike other stories.
3- The tragic hero in Macbeth is Macbeth. A tragic hero is a person of noble status, which Macbeth is. He is a high ranking member of the Scottish army. Another characteristic of a tragic hero is the tragic flaw. Macbeth's tragic flaw is his lust for power. His lust for power leads to a crisis. The crisis is another characteristic of the tragic hero cycle. In Macbeth, the crisis is that he kills Duncan to become the king and has to spend the rest of his life trying to cover it up. In covering it up, he commits a tragic chain of events which include many killings. These killings result in his downward spiral which ultimately ends in a reversal of fortune when he ends up being killed himself. His death is the tragic ending which is the last part of the tragic hero cycle.
ReplyDeleteThe first theme we see throughout macbeth can be explained as: Once power is achieved, the urge for more never stops. We see this theme carry on in the story with Macbeth. His first act in gaining power is to kill Duncan in order to be king. Once he receives this high power, he is still not pleased and wants more. He not only wanted the position for himself, but he wanted it for his sons too. In order for this to happen, He had to kill multiple people. To keep his crown for himself and for his family. Macbeth showed that he was never content with where he stood and always wanted more for himself. A second theme we see in Macbeth is: Power and strength are seen through your sex and whether or not you are masculine or feminine about your ways. The saying of “are you not a man” pops up frequently in the play. Lady Macbeth tortures her husband and says if he does not kill Duncan he is not a man. She tests his masculinity and it works. Later on, Macbeth asks the two murders if they are men. Quite shook, they reply “of course we are” and they agree to the murder Banquo and his son right than. During the time of Macbeth, gender played a huge rule. No man wanted to have feminine qualities. They wanted to be seen and thought of as masculine in everything they do.
ReplyDeleteThe two main qualities in Macbeth of it being a greek tragedy are the evolution of justice, and the privacy of guilt and punishment. Macbeth has killed multiple innocent people in order to be king. In this unjust way to gain power, he was tortured by the ghost of Banquo in act three, scene three. Macbeth hallucinated many times and could never get past the murders he conducted. This guilt of his own punishment led to the evolution of justice. In act five, scene eleven, Macduff gains revenge on Macbeth for killing his wife and children. He returns to the group with his trophy, Macbeths head. This justice was not just for Macduff, but for every person who suffered. Elements of Shakespearean tragedy are shown with the supernatural characters and suspense. The supernatural is seen through the haunting of Macbeth from Banquo. During dinner in act three, scene four, Banquo’s ghost banters Macbeth to a breaking point. His tantrum is so outrageous that Lady Macbeth had no choice but to dismiss the quests. The suspense was centered around uncertainty of character behavior. Throughout Macbeth, just when one murder happened and Macbeth seemed to be safe, a new problem would occur. For instance, Macbeth visits the witches after killing Banquo only to discover there are more descendants in line for the throne. He was never at a safe point of relief in the play, which intrigued the audience
I believe the tragic hero in Macbeth is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth started the chaos when she demanded Macbeth have Duncan killed. The deed came easy to her, little did she know she corrupted a monster in Macbeth. She was the reason for all the occurrences after the death of Duncan. Macbeth would have never received power unless Lady Macbeth encouraged him. The tragedy seemed to be never ending for Lady Macbeth. She had to live with Macbeths allusions and freak outs daily. Than, over time, she started to hallucinate too. The main scene where we see Lady Macbeth crack is in act five, scene one. A doctor watches over her as she sobs trying to wipe off blood on her hands which is not there. The end of Lady Macbeth is by her killing her own self, which I believe is a huge part in being the tragic hero of Macbeth. She gained power for the couple, but, was also was the reason for their death.
Item 1:
ReplyDeleteTheme 1: The first theme we see in Macbeth is said by Lady Macbeth in act 5. "What is done can not be undone". This means some acts are bad they can never be forgiven or taken back. This appiles today just as it did during Shakespears time. We see this when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth start to regret the acts they have done to get where they are. The acts they have preformed were so terrible that they could not be forgiven for them.
Theme 2: The second theme in Macbeth is power can corrupt even the best of men (or women.) When Macbeth became king, he went from a good caring man to a evil dictator killing anyone he didnt like. Lady Macbeth became quite mean when she found out she had a chance of becomeing queen and degraded Macbeth to get him to carry though with the murder. Today we see this with corrupt cops or judges being paid off to let people go.
Item 2: Macbeth is like a greek tragidy because we see the psychological downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They start to experience unnatural phenomonos such as seeing ghost or rexperienceing tragic events they preformed. We also see Macbeth experience private guilt when he sees the dagger infront of him. The play is like a Shakespearen play because he takes ideas and throws them into opposition. This is shown when Macbeth is portrayed with more feministic traits while Lady Macbeth showed more Masculine traits. Shakespeare also uses witches as forces that Macbeth has no control over. The witchs give him profocies that he can not control.
Item 3: Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play. He started as a thane. His tragic flaw would be his inability to say no to Lady Macbeth. Although is is difficult to tell if this is out of fear or love. The crisis would be when he finds out he is going to become king and realizes he has to kill the current king. Then we see the events where Macbeth rises to his dictatorship killing anyone he does not trust. Then everyone starts to turn against him. The reversal of fortune happens when he talks to the witches and all their prohocies about his down fall start to become true. Self discovery and catharsis happen at the same time when Macbeth is talking to his servant in act 5 scene 3. He realizes the monster he has become and hes trying to apologize but he knows hes just going to keep doing it anyways. The tragic end is obvosily the death of Macbeth. Altho it was a tragic end for him, it was a victory for the people of Scotland.
Alexandra Wright
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
12-22-14
Mr. Moio
The first main theme, which is portrayed in Macbeth is the destruction brought on when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints. This theme is expressed in the views of two main characters in the play. Macbeth, who could not normally commit such evil doings, becomes overwhelmed with a great desire to become a man of power. He murders Duncan, which later reveals his inner guilt and shattering mental stability. Lady Macbeth, however, completes her intentions with little shame or remorse. She encourages Macbeth to commit these murderous acts, and tries to hide the evidence of Macbeth's guilt. The potential threats of Banquo, Macduff, and Fleance tempts them and makes them consider more violent ways of terminating them and their possible power.
The second theme in Macbeth is the relationship between cruelty and masculinity. Issues of gender are commonly and frequently dwelled upon. Lady Macbeth often questions her husband's manhood, as well as his masculinity. Once Macbeth's manhood is questioned by his wife, he then questions the manhood of the men he hires to murder Banquo. Once manhood is conversed between the couple, violence tends to follow shortly after, as if Macbeth is trying to prove his masculinity while Lady Macbeth provides the plot behind the murders and trying to keep her husband sane, the Wyrd sisters spark his ambitions of being violent. The male characters in the play are violent, but it is made clear that the aggression of female characters goes against the expectations of how women usually behave, which explains the theme.
Greek and Shakespearean tragedy pertains to Macbeth by including a tragic hero, which would be Macbeth as his mental stability declines and excessive pride or self-confidence, which pertains to Lady Macbeth, because she is overly confident that her plans will succeed, as well as Macbeth for his anticipation of rising higher up on a social scale.
Lastly, the tragic hero of Macbeth is Macbeth himself, because of the prophecies, which the witches had given him, as well as his wife's influences and intentions. His ambitions contributed greatly to his diminishing character traits. All of these things influenced him, which ended up resulting in his own death, which makes him the tragic hero.
2) One key element of a Greek Tragedy is that the story involves a chain of punishment and gilt (the audience therefore witnesses a deep internal struggle within the main character/s). Macbeth displays a deep internal struggle inside his hallucinations and dealings with others, particularly Lady Macbeth. His internal struggle is most obvious when Macbeth says to his wife, “My mind is full of scorpions, wife” which perfectly describes his mental anguish and psychological disarray that has occurred because of his choices -- an unending circle surpressed punishment and guilt. Another key element of a Greek Tragedy is the evolution of justice (as character actions and motives increase in complexity, proper justice evolves as well). As the audience grows in understanding of Macbeth’s tortured mental state and continued reproachable actions, thoughts of justice evolve in some way (often from grudgery to deeper grudgery or grudgery to a form of forgiveness because of his mental depravity).
ReplyDeleteOne important element of the Shakespearean Tragic form is that fate complicates the plot but that characters live through (and colaborate with) fate. This is evidenced several times throughout the play, particularly in Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan “I shall do it” and his decision to hire murderers to kill his other enemies (he convinces the murderers that he is their friend: “Have you considered of my speeches? Know / That it was he, in the times past, which held you / So under fortune, which you thought had been / Our innocent self. This I made good to you / In our last conferences, passed in probation with you / How you were borne in hand, how crossed the instruments”). In choosing to facilitate these actions, Macbeth complies with the fate prophesied to him.
3) Lady Macbeth is a tragic hero in Macbeth. She is ordinary except for her tragic flaw (stopping at nothing to prove strength and prowess, through actions and her desire for masculinity). Lady Macbeth’s tragic flaw is demonstrated when she says of her husband’s prophecy: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, / And chastise with the valor of my tongue… Come, you spirits / THat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.” Her desire to exert her strength leads to actions with irreparable consequences such as murdering others (namely Duncan), and ultimately experiencing mental illness because of this. Her tragic flaw leads to destruction, the point that she is incapable of having a catharsis moment, although the audience is able to witness her mental breakdown, and her catharsis is experienced by the audience, in a poignant and brilliantly transposed way.
In Macbeth, there are two themes that stand out the most. The first one is fate and free will. This is the extent to which we control our own destiny. You can see examples of fate and free will in act one scene three : Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches on the heath. Macbeth reflects on their prophecies. You can also see this in act 2 scene 1: Macbeth talks with Banquo about their encounter with the witches, sees a visionary dagger and makes his decision to kill Duncan. Another theme is appearance and reality and how people and events are often not as they seem. You can see this theme in act 1 scene 4: Duncan reflects on the traitorous Thane of Cawdor and ironically rewards Macbeth with this title, saying, 'I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing.' And also in act 1 scene 6: Duncan remarks on the Macbeths' castle having 'a pleasant seat' as the Macbeths plot his murder.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare's play cannot be a Greek tragedy because it is an English play. However, it is like a Greek tragedy in the sense that Macbeth has many of the qualities of a tragedy. A greek tragedy is defined as a play that shows the destruction of a tragic hero through "hubris (pride), fate, and the will of the gods." One could certainly make a case that Macbeth meets all three criteria by showing how Macbeth is ultimately destroyed because of his desire for power and position, because of his chance meeting with the path witches (fate), and because of the role the witches (are they gods?) played in leading Macbeth down a of delusion.
One could easily prove that Macbeth is indeed a tragic hero. A tragic hero must be of noble birth or high stature, Macbeth certainly is, he must be imperfect or fallible, he must have a tragic flaw (his murderous desire for power and his weak nature that allows him to be manipulated by both his wife and the witches, his downfall must be a result of his own choices (he has ample opportunity to spare Duncan's life, but he chooses power instead), his fate is not wholly deserved (this would be the hardest one to prove, but one might point out that had it not been for the witches and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth himself would have never chosen the path he took), he must ultimately accept his demise with nobility and grace, recognizing his fatal flaw in the end which Macbeth clearly does in the final scenes of the play.
In Macbeth, there are two themes that stand out the most. The first one is fate and free will. This is the extent to which we control our own destiny. You can see examples of fate and free will in act one scene three : Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches on the heath. Macbeth reflects on their prophecies. You can also see this in act 2 scene 1: Macbeth talks with Banquo about their encounter with the witches, sees a visionary dagger and makes his decision to kill Duncan. Another theme is appearance and reality and how people and events are often not as they seem. You can see this theme in act 1 scene 4: Duncan reflects on the traitorous Thane of Cawdor and ironically rewards Macbeth with this title, saying, 'I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing.' And also in act 1 scene 6: Duncan remarks on the Macbeths' castle having 'a pleasant seat' as the Macbeths plot his murder.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare's play cannot be a Greek tragedy because it is an English play. However, it is like a Greek tragedy in the sense that Macbeth has many of the qualities of a tragedy. A greek tragedy is defined as a play that shows the destruction of a tragic hero through "hubris (pride), fate, and the will of the gods." One could certainly make a case that Macbeth meets all three criteria by showing how Macbeth is ultimately destroyed because of his desire for power and position, because of his chance meeting with the path witches (fate), and because of the role the witches (are they gods?) played in leading Macbeth down a of delusion.
One could easily prove that Macbeth is indeed a tragic hero. A tragic hero must be of noble birth or high stature, Macbeth certainly is, he must be imperfect or fallible, he must have a tragic flaw (his murderous desire for power and his weak nature that allows him to be manipulated by both his wife and the witches, his downfall must be a result of his own choices (he has ample opportunity to spare Duncan's life, but he chooses power instead), his fate is not wholly deserved (this would be the hardest one to prove, but one might point out that had it not been for the witches and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth himself would have never chosen the path he took), he must ultimately accept his demise with nobility and grace, recognizing his fatal flaw in the end which Macbeth clearly does in the final scenes of the play.
1.) One of the major themes of Macbeth is that karma will always come around to get you. This is shown through Macbeth's vicious tactics to get to where he is at the end of the play. Killing the king, innocent people, and even Banquo for nothing. It came back to get him when he was brutally murdered by Macduff. This all had started from the moment he killed Duncan. The karma of that first villainous deed caused the chain of events proceeding to his death.
ReplyDeleteAnother major theme of Macbeth is that even the most evil people have a conscience and it will inform them of their wrongdoing. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both have no problem in commiting a murder against their king, but throughout the play it begins to get into their heads and start feeding at their core. Lady Macbeth is the prime example when the doctor comes to visit her and she appears strangely ill due to her conscience coming after her realizing what she had done was wrong. This is what leads up to her offstage suicide. No one understands why until the moment when Macbeth is killed. Macbeth also faces his conscience being revealed to him when Banquo's ghost shows up to the dinner party they are having and it frightens him making him appear ill like his wife.
2.) Macbeth shows characteristics of a Greek tragedy through Macbeth's character change throughout the play. He commits his tragic crime and then later realizes his fault in doing so. Also, the plot all goes together into one major plot. There are no loose ends or subplots being submitted in this play. The one single plot is developed my many conflicts or problems into one.
It shows characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy through the constant external and internal conflicts Macbeth faces. The external of the society and the witches against Macbeth and the internal conflict he faces by deciding what his fate should be changing his future. Also, the fight between good and evil in the play. The good of the people foghorn from England and Scotland both for the honor of Duncan and his wrongful murder. And the evil of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth causing problems in their city.
3.) Macbeth is the tragedy of his own story. This is true because he passes fully through the tragic hero cycle. It begins with Macbeth being shown as a person of higher stature in the town, although he is not of the highest, he is shown as an authority figure and a man of respect. Macbeth's tragic flaw follows with his personality of doing whatever it takes to get what he wants. After he is told by the witches of his possible fate he comes to the conclusion of doing anything possible to make this happen. Macbeth also faces the truth. He realizes what he had done was wrong and later admits to his wrong doing, but this does not help his situation. Macbeth's tragic hero cycle ends with his tragic demise. As set forth for the tragic hero, he or she must face a tragic ending and he certainly does. Although Macbeth's death is an offstage setting, he still is brutally murdered which ends the tragic hero cycle of Macbeth.
1, The first theme of Macbeth is the corrupting power of unchecked ambition. Macbeth is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. She spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder’s aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth’s repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition—helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches—is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one’s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne—Banquo, Fleance, Macduff—and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them. The second theme is the difference between kingship and tyranny. In the play, Duncan is always referred to as a “king,” while Macbeth soon becomes known as the “tyrant.” The difference between the two types of rulers seems to be expressed in a conversation that occurs in Act 4, scene 3, when Macduff meets Malcolm in England. In order to test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland, Malcolm pretends that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth. He tells Macduff of his reproachable qualities—among them a thirst for personal power and a violent temperament, both of which seem to characterize Macbeth perfectly. On the other hand, Malcolm says, “The king-becoming graces / [are] justice, verity, temp’rance, stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, [and] lowliness” (4.3.92–93). The model king, then, offers the kingdom an embodiment of order and justice, but also comfort and affection. Under him, subjects are rewarded according to their merits, as when Duncan makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory over the invaders. Most important, the king must be loyal to Scotland above his own interests. Macbeth, by contrast, brings only chaos to Scotland—symbolized in the bad weather and bizarre supernatural events—and offers no real justice, only a habit of capriciously murdering those he sees as a threat. As the embodiment of tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that Scotland can have a true king once more.
ReplyDelete1. Macbeth has many themes featured in it to show what the characters are like and how they will progress over the course of the play to evolve into the character they are by the end of the play. One theme that is used in this play is be careful of how much ambition you have. The meaning of this theme goes with how Macbeth had a huge amount of ambition and he abused it by being over powerful. Ambition can be a good thing if it does not make you want to be all powerful. This is what happened to Macbeth in the play because he had a bad amount of ambition. The ambition that he had will lead to his death by the end of the play because it is his tragic flaw. In the play if Macbeth would not have let his ambition to be king take over; he would not have had a tragic end most likely. This can be said of real life too because people that have too much ambition usually end up losing control. This theme shows that ambition can be a good thing if it is used in moderation. Another theme that is shown in this play is fate will not always determine what will happen to you in your life. This theme is shown in the play by Macbeth following the prophecy because he believes it is his fate and that he is destined to be king. This is why he does all of the horrible things he does in the play. Macbeth listens to the witches when they tell him that the prophecy is his fate and that he can’t change it which ultimately leads him to kill Duncan and Banquo. Even today, people can be told their fate and they can become frightened by it so they hide from it or they wait for it. Fate is not always the true answer. If something is deemed your fate, it does not mean you can’t change it. In the times of Macbeth, they believed that fate was their destiny and was what was going to happen to them. Fate is not always going to be exactly what will happen to you in your life which is what this theme is showing. Macbeth could have changed his fate if he had tried but he believed that his fate was meant just for him.
ReplyDelete2.Macbeth is both a Greek Tragedy and a Shakespearean Tragedy. It is a Shakespearean Tragedy in that it exemplifies the existence and importance of fate and that it throws two characters into opposition with each other. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are two very juxtaposed characters. Lady Macbeth takes on masculine roles by spurring Macbeth to remain calm after murdering King Duncan, while Macbeth can be seen constantly having his manhood challenged in the same situation as seen previously. It is also a Shakespearean Tragedy because it passionately exemplifies fate. The three witches are there to provide conflict and to show how Macbeth's unchecked ambition will get the best of him, especially after given the first prophecy in the very beginning in Act 1, Scene 3. Macbeth is a Greek Tragedy because the characters contain a set number of traits, often put forth very clearly. Macbeth's traits are foremostly ambition and paranoia, while Lady Macbeth's are greed, maniacal plotting, and ambition as well. These are just examples of the two main characters, but you could do this for every character in Macbeth. It is also a Greek Tragedy because it involves an evolution of justice. Macbeth, with his unchecked ambition causing him to kill people in his way, eventually dies in the end at the hands of McDuff. Lady Macbeth, wrought with guilt and a heavy conscience, kills herself in Act V. Malcolm becomes King of Scotland and restores peace to Scotland. This evolution of justice defends the point Macbeth is a Greek Tragedy
ReplyDelete1. The Corruption of Power is the first theme. Once Macbeth is told his destiny by the witches his ambition kicks in. He kills all of the people in front of him in order for him to be atop the throne. After these murders Macbeth starts to feels guilty for what he has done to all these good people. Towards the end of the play Macbeth's attitude begins to change again. He turns into a boastful madness. This madness changed how he felt about the murders that he committed. This play shows how power can change anybody and can cause them to do things they normally wouldn't. The next theme is The relationship between cruelty and masculinity. In this play you see many examples based on gender. Numerous times Lady Macbeth calls out Macbeth for acting to much like a women because he was feeling guilt about committing the murders and worrying that they will get caught. Also you can see the role that the women are playing as being sources of violence and evil. Therefore throughout the play you can see how cruelty and masculinity have a relationship in the play and how the men and women alternate between these two characteristics in the play.
ReplyDelete2. The two elements of Greek Tragedy are that the action occurs over a short period of time, and action typically occurs in one location. The two elements of Shakespearean Tragedy are fate and the supernatural. Macbeth is both of these because the play occurs over a few days in which Macbeth murders all the people that are above him and also the location is pretty much just Scotland and Macbeth's house. Macbeth also deals with fate because the witches gave him his fate of how he is going to be king and also the supernatural play a role because Banquo's ghost comes back to haunt Macbeth and he can see the ghost but nobody else can. This is how Macbeth fits the role of both Greek and Shakespearean Tragedy.
3. I believe that Macbeth is the tragic hero in this play. Their are three points that greatly influence this. The three points are the prophecy told to him by the witches, how Lady Macbeth influenced Macbeth's judgment, and Macbeth's
long time ambition. If it wasn't for the witches telling him what his future had in store he never would have changed the way he acted. Lady Macbeth influenced him when she found out about his future because not only did she take action herself by setting up the murders, but she also played a big role in tell Macbeth that he needed to kill the people and needed to take control. His ambition caused him to then go through with the murders and drive him to have the title of King. That is why I believe Macbeth is the tragic hero.
H2P!!!!!!
2. Macbeth can be looked at as both a Greek tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy because of the traits that each possesses. Macbeth can be seen as a Greek tragedy because one of its main elements is that the tragedy involves a chain of guilt and punishment that the character experiences. An example of this is throughout the play that Macbeth starts to lose his mind after he kills Duncan. He feels the guilt of the “blood on his hands” all throughout the play. This will ultimately lead to his tragic end. Another example of how this is a Greek tragedy is that it brings justice by the end of it. An example of this is that Macbeth kills Macduff’s family and by the end of the play Macduff is the one who comes back and brings justice by killing Macbeth. This play can be looked at as a Shakespearean tragedy. One example of this is when the tragedy involves fate. This entire play is based off of fate. Macbeth does the things that he does because he believes in what the witches are telling him and that killing Duncan to become king is in his fate. Another element that makes this a Shakespearean tragedy is the use of supernatural forces. This play has witches who give Macbeth the prophecy, ghosts that come back to haunt Macbeth as he kills them, and the prophecies that he is told of. All of these things are used to show the Shakespearean tragedy side of the play.
ReplyDelete3. The tragic hero in Macbeth is Macbeth himself. He experiences the entire tragic hero cycle because he starts out by being a noble character and very high up in the play. It is shown to the reader though that his tragic flaw is his ambition and his want for power. His tragic flaw leads him to his crisis which is when he kills Duncan to get the power he thinks he rightfully deserves. From this one moment in the play on occurs Macbeth’s tragic chain of events. After he kills Duncan, he kills two other guards leading down to the road of his thoughts of killing Banquo. The next stage of the tragic cycle is the reversal of fortune. He starts to feel threatened by Banquo and his sons. Macbeth at this time, scared of his reversal of fortune, plans to have Banquo and his son killed. When Banquo is killed but his son escapes, Macbeth goes through his self-discovery phase where he thinks about everything he has done and starts to realize he is not in a good situation. When Lady Macbeth is killed Macbeth has a moment of catharsis. He has the audience grieve with him which makes the reader feel a kind of pity for him. The tragic end of Macbeth though comes from when Macduff kills Macbeth for all the bad deeds he has done throughout the play. Macbeth goes through the entire tragic hero cycle throughout this tragedy.
ReplyDelete3. Early on in the play, Macbeth is established as being of great stature. He has already earned the title of Thane of Glamis, and as prophesized by the three witches, will soon take reign as the Thane of Cawdor. These titles indicate that Macbeth is of great political importance, and is moving up in the ranks of Scottish nobility. In Act 1, Scene 2, Duncan addresses Macbeth as, “…valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!” and later as a “Worthy Thane”. The manner in which the leaders of his country speak about Macbeth truly shows his respectable and honorable nature. Duncan speaks highly of Macbeth,; unaware of the destiny Macbeth will later impose on him.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth’s blind ambition, along with the provoking of his wife, leads him to take a violent and bloody path to the throne. Following the format of a tragic hero, Macbeth suffers from a tragic flaw. He has multiple flaws in character, the most prominent being his vaulting ambition and his impressionability. After the witches told Macbeth about his bright future of nobility in Scotland, his honorable nature seemed to fade, and was soon replaced by a “by any means necessary” attitude. His lust for power, along with persuasive words from Lady Macbeth, led to him murdering King Duncan in his sleep. Macbeth was crowned King of Scotland, which led to extreme paranoia, fearing anyone with a noble bloodline as a threat to his power. By the end of the play, four deaths can be attributed to Macbeth’s name, all murdered in hopes of protecting his kingship. His ambition blinds him from seeing the destructive path he has created, ruling as a tyrant rather than a noble king. His easily impressionable nature causes him to not form his own thoughts, but rather listen to the words of Lady Macbeth and the three witches. These tragic flaws go on to play a major role in Macbeth’s demise. Macbeth’s tragic flaws lead him to become a tyrant, who is quickly removed from power by the Scottish people. With the bloody path he had made for himself, his fall from power was inevitable. Macbeth’s bloody actions ended with him having to fear for his own life, as thousands in Scotland wanted him dead. Macbeth was aware that his evil deeds would lead to people wanting revenge. However, he did not fear these people, as he fell for the deceptive words of the witches. The three witches told him to be bold and fearless, that no man born of a woman could defeat him, and that he will never be defeated until the trees of Great Birnam Wood attack Dunsinane. Macbeth saw both of these things as impossible, so he did little to protect his castle. He was surprised when he was told that the forest was indeed attacking his castle, which was actually Macduff’s army carrying branches as a means of camouflage. His true anagnorisis came during his battle with Macduff, where Macduff revealed he was not born of woman, rather he was ripped form his mother’s womb, implying a Caesarean section. In this moment Macbeth was enlightened about his vulnerability. Macduff goes on to behead Macbeth, ensuring that his own family did not die in vain. With his death, Macbeth solidifies himself as a tragic hero. The audience learns the dangers of ambition, and good is reestablished. Macbeth fits every characteristic of a Greek and Shakespearean tragic hero. The audience gets to see the full cycle of a rise to power, followed by a great demise. His ambition leads to his degeneration as a character which resulted in his ultimate downfall, death. Macbeth displays all the characteristics of a tragic hero, making him an infamous character in Shakespeare’s time as well as present day.
--Item 1: One major theme in Macbeth would have to be ambition. Ambition is seen within both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth throughout this piece of writing but mostly in Lady Macbeth. Before Lady Macbeth shares the plan about murdering the king, she talks to herself in a very wicked tone. However after the murder occurs and the two characters meet at the sink for the washing of the knives, Macbeth begins his second round of guilt. Lady Macbeth watches this happen and tells Macbeth that if he does not follow through with the plan that she will do it herself. Macbeth brings the knives back and that was not a part of the plan, the plan was to leave the evidence with the drunken guards so they would not even be considered victims. After Lady Macbeth returns from leaving the knives with the guards she looks at her bloody hands and that’s when we start to see a slight start to her guilt stage. Macbeth has ambition later on in Act 4 and Act 5. Since killing people has become repetitious to Macbeth he seems to get familiar with the feeling afterwards. I feel as if Macbeth felt less guilt the more people he killed. The first person that he murdered was probably very harsh on him because he has never done such an evil thing in the past before and he realized that what was done was done and he could not go back and change it and therefore he thinks he already dug himself a big hole and the situation could not get any worse than it already is. Another main theme within Macbeth is violence. Throughout the story Macbeth we experience a lot of violence. Lady Macbeth is a very wicked women and we see that in the story that he plans that she has are always very violent and involve killing and harm to someone else pain. There is non-stop violence throughout this piece, but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth tend to change completely since the beginning of the story to the end.
ReplyDelete--Item 2: Tragedy and hubris are two main elements involved with Greek Tragedy and Macbeth. Macbeth towards the end of Act 5 tends to make fun of people and things because he is mentally exhausted. Everything that he has done comes back to bite him and he is not prepared for it. At that point in the story he knows that he does not make sense and he is going to get killed because he knows that the army coming to attack him is way more powerful than what he has. Macbeth is warned by his people that these people are coming to attack him but he does not want to hear it, he does not want to hear that he is about to be defeated. Hubris is a main element of Greek Tragedy and is found in Macbeth when Macbeth has self-confidence in the end of Act 5. He refuses to listen to people tell him about the attack that is about to happen to him because he thinks that if he killed so many people at that point and no one has touched him that he has everything under control when in reality he does not at all. Shakespearean tragedy also ties into Macbeth because he has a tragic flaw because he is a tragic hero. Macbeth is killing so many people but in the long run he is weak and scared of what is coming to get him back.
--Item 3: The main tragic hero in Macbeth would have to be Macbeth. Lady Macbeth could have been considered but Macbeth experiences more issues. Macbeth starts out as a powerful person but he wanted more powerful after murder after murder things led up to guilt and pain along the way and in the end he gets destroyed. He starts to think that he is gaining control and is very powerful halfway through the story but in really he is just weak but he makes himself feel stronger than the others.
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1. The first theme in Macbeth is that human desires can never be completely fulfilled. A function of the human psyche is a process called Hedonistic Adaptation. Once given a taste of something sweet, people will pursue it at the expense of everything else. The novelty of a new reward will soon wear off, leaving the person to continue their search. This process will continue endlessly until the person dies. In Macbeth, this cycle is evident in the first act of the play. When Macbeth states: “I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition” he is directly stating to the audience that his only reason to kill Duncan is his unending ambition. Because Macbeth has this trait, even being crowned king will not be enough. Like a gambler is never satisfied with their winnings, Macbeth can not be happy with what he already has. Towards the end of the play, even Macbeth begins to realize that his human desires are what drive his quest for power. When Macduff tells Macbeth he wasn’t born from a woman, Macbeth knows he has lost, because he tells us he no longer has any courage. Without this courage, his desires are diminished, and he knows they can no longer be fulfilled.
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2. The second theme in Macbeth is that an individual that has power will be seeked out by those of lower station. This theme is a direct corollary of the first due to the driving ambition that naturally characterizes humans. In Macbeth, there are several instances of this. Duncan's death was Macbeth's attempt at power, and Macbeth's death was a result of Malcolm's decision to find his own power. This is similar to modern elections. Even though a death is not the way power transfers from person to person, negative TV ads, money driven campaigns, and debates are all ways that the less powerful seek to overturn those of higher station. Wherever there is power, or any sense of value, others are ready to take it.
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3. Macbeth is both a Greek and Shakespearean tragedy because it carries qualities of each. Like other Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth follows Shakespeare’s tragic form. The most evident element of Shakespeare's tragic form - fate, is an obvious characteristic of Macbeth. The witches in the play are the biggest representatives of fate, because they speak the future that Macbeth determines is predetermined fate. Throughout the play, Macbeth is forced into many battles with fate, and only fights against fate when it holds an outcome he is not pleased with. The second element Macbeth contains of Shakespeare’s tragic form is the supernatural. The witches, Banquo’s ghost, the strange weather, and Lady Macbeth’s calling of spirits in Act 1 are all large parts of the supernatural in Macbeth. Macbeth exemplifies the structure of a Greek tragedy because it holds a few characteristics of one. Firstly, the play involves an evolution of justice. The lesson learned in the story is simple: too much ambition can lead to unfortunate tragic consequences. Macbeth is the obvious example in the play because he commits murder to those he once called friends simply out of his desire for power. The second reason is that the play focuses on many psychological and ethical attributes of the characters, particularly those of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In many instances, their psychological state is explored. This is illustrated through Macbeth’s hallucinations after killing Duncan and especially the clear expression of guilt displayed through Banquo’s ghost. By these examples, it is easy to categorize Macbeth as a Greek and Shakespearean tragedy.
ReplyDeleteMACBETH AS TRAGIC HERO
4. The tragic hero in the play is obviously Macbeth. Macbeth clearly follows all parts of the tragic hero cycle. Macbeth begins the play as a person of noble status. While he may not be king, he is a highly respected Thane of the Danish. Macbeth holds the tragic flaw of his uncontrollable ambition, forcing him to push for too much power as previously mentioned. This search for power leads to the central conflict. This crisis is when Macbeth is debating whether or not he can kill Duncan. He feels torn on his decision, because he holds nothing against the king, but his ambition is ruthless. Following the central conflict, a chain of tragic events happens including the death of Banquo, killing of Macduff’s family, and suicide of Lady Macbeth. When Malcolm and Macduff conspire against Macbeth, the reversal of fortune occurs. The reversal leads to the ultimate destruction of Macbeth. However, prior to his death, he realizes the damage his overpowering ambition has caused. Through his self discovery stage, Macbeth begins to understand that this is the reason he can not live the rest of his life as king. Moreover, he understands what his tragic flaw has caused. “As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have”, illustrates this realization. After his realization of what he has done, his catharsis unfolds. Following Lady Macbeth’s death, he talks about how life inevitably weans away. At this point, the reader may begin to sympathize with Macbeth and even feel sorry for him because his one tragic flaw lead to this disaster. Finally, Macbeth completes the tragic hero cycle with his tragic death, and an offstage one at that. Macduff’s death-dealing blade seals Macbeth as the tragic hero of the play.
Mary Crissman Pd.5
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In Macbeth, the three witches were a big part of the play. The weird sisters told Macbeth and Banquo their prophecies and were believed to be real. They caused mischief with their supernatural powers. Shakespeare often used the supernatural in his plays because he was very aware of the appeal of ghosts, witches, and unexplained forces. Fate was another big part of the play. The weird sisters told Macbeth it was his fate to become king, which made Macbeth wonder if it was true. Macbeth wasn’t told that he needed to kill Duncan to become king which complicated the plot. By killing Duncan, Macbeth started to become crazy over the guilt he had. Macbeth had Banquo killed and many others along the way. At the end of the play Lady Macbeth ended up killing herself which caused sympathy for the characters affected by the fate. The next two examples explain how Macbeth is a Greek play also. Macbeth had focus on the psychological and ethical attributes of characters. As Macbeth murders more people he starts to hallucinate. The first hallucination was when Macbeth saw a floating dagger before he is about to murder Duncan. His next hallucination was when he saw Banquo’s ghost. These visions and hallucinations all testify that he is slowly becoming unhinged. Macbeth also involves a chain of private guilt and punishment. Macbeth started to feel a lot of guilt after he killed Banquo. He started having hallucinations which shows how he is slowly going insane. His punishment was that Macduff started to rebel against him. At the end of the play Macduff killed Macbeth which shows an evolution of justice, or a lesson learned.
Mary Crissman Pd 5
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Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play. He is a noble character by being the thane of Glamis. His ambition was Macbeth’s tragic flaw. His ambition at the beginning of the play was unfufilled which gets him in trouble. His crisis was whether or not he should kill Duncan.There is a chain of events that are tragic following the crisis. Macbeth first decides to kill Duncan, then had the murderer’s kill Banquo, and killed Macduff’s family. The reversal of fortune occurred when Macbeth’s men and Malcolm conspire against him. Macbeth realizes his self discovery after his wife’s death. Macbeth realized he wouldn’t live a good life with all of his ambition. The catharsis is after Macbeth’s wife passes and reality hits him. The tragic ending was when Macduff killed Macbeth.
Mary Crissman Pd 5
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The first major theme I noticed in Macbeth is the provision of manliness. Throughout the play characters debate about manhood. Lady Macbeth questioned Macbeth’s manhood throughout the whole play. The first time she questioned Macbeth was when he didn’t want to kill Duncan. Banquo believes true manhood means acting honorably, which is what Macbeth used to believe. After Macbeth killed Duncan he wanted to kill Banquo because he resents Banquo’s honor. Macbeth uses the same methods to get the murderer’s to kill Banquo and Fleance that Lady Macbeth used against him. He questioned their manhood, and of course they wanted to be treated like men. Today manhood is defined as courage, independence, and assertiveness. Masculinity is important to men because it is always a competition to see who is more manly. Manhood was also important in the play because the characters didn’t want to be looked at as feminine. The next major theme I noticed in Macbeth is fate and freewill. Once the three witches tell Macbeth and Banquo their prophecies they wonder if its real. Macbeth becomes so obsessed with his fate that he becomes delusional. He becomes unable to see the half-truths behind the witches prophecies. Macbeth may have been fated to be king, but he made the decision on his own to kill Duncan in order to become king. His actions suggest that fate may be predetermined, but free will determines how people reach their destinies.
3). Macbeth is most definitely the tragic hero in this play. He meets all aspect of the tragic hero cycle. Macbeth is a noble character in the play being the thane and eventually the king. He accomplished this with his ambition, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. His ambition led him to all of the tragic events and murders in the play. He was so determined to be the king for as long as he was alive but he lost his morals on the way. Macbeth was killed with a tragic ending when he was beheaded by Macduff. Macbeth is a great example of a tragic hero because although he rises to the highest point in his life being the king, he reaches the lowest point in his life as well.
ReplyDelete1). The first theme of Macbeth is the idea that masculinity has more power over femininity. The expectations of men are known to be more masculine and have a lot of power. While women are supposed to be more feminine and ladylike with little power. However, Shakespeare mocks the idea of masculinity and femininity in the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth murders Duncan in order to be king. Macbeth shows feminine qualities when he complains that the terrible deed stained his hands with so much blood that not even all of the water in the ocean could wash away the blood. In contrast, Lady Macbeth shows more masculine qualities in the play when she tells Macbeth that she has just as much blood on her hands but she can deal with it because she does not have a weak and pale heart like Macbeth does.
ReplyDeleteThe second theme of Macbeth is the idea that too much power or any at all can get to people's heads and they end up making choices they could regret or karma could come back to get them. This happens in the play when Lady Macbeth feels that she has so much power she doesn't know how to handle it so she lets out all of her evil. She orders Macbeth to kill people and at the end of the play she simply goes mad with her guilt and commits suicide. Another example would be when Macbeth is told that he will become the thane of Cawdor that is not enough for him, he must have more and be king. He lets the thought of so much power get to his head and he murders people in the process and loses his morals and ends up being murdered himself. This happens in today's world as well. It is very often that people claim wealth to be the same thing as power. Wealthy people can let their fortune and material things get in the way of their morals and those people end up losing friends in the process, just as Macbeth did.
2). In Macbeth, elements of Greek tragedy appear throughout the play. Private guilt and punishment are present in the character of Lady Macbeth. Towards the end of the play Lady Macbeth explains her true feelings about what has been happening and that she feels beyond guilty for all of the murder that has happened. Even though she never truly killed anyone, she was still a part of the dirty deeds and saw just as much blood on her hands than Macbeth had on his. Another element of Greek tragedy becomes apparent towards the end of the play. The idea of an evolution of justice. Macbeth is eager to become, and stay king so he goes around murdering anyone who would be in the way of him being king. However, in the end of the play, Macduff comes to stand up against Macbeth with thousands of soldiers and justice is served when Macbeth is beheaded!
Shakespearean tragedy is shown throughout the play with supernatural beings. Three witches appear throughout the play and portray very odd characters. In the beginning they tell Macbeth of their vision that he will be thane of Cawdor, and then shortly after he becomes the new thane. Contrast is also seen throughout the play when Macbeth and lady Macbeth are thrown into opposition with each other. Macbeth believes that he will be a great king because he has ambition, while Lady Macbeth believes that he is a coward and she is more evil than him. She explains that if they were to have a child she would be embarrassed if her child were as big of a coward as Macbeth.
One theme found in Macbeth would be the difference between kingship and tyranny. While Duncan and Macbeth were both the king, Macbeth seemed more tyrannical in nature because of the way he gained his way to the top and got rid of his enemies. The difference between the two types of rulers seems to be expressed in a conversation that occurs in Act 4, scene 3, when Macduff meets Malcolm in England. In order to test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland, Malcolm pretends that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth. He tells Macduff of his reproachable qualities—among them a thirst for personal power and a violent temperament, both of which seem to characterize Macbeth perfectly. It is said that the King of Scotland must be loyal and put others’ needs before his own, but Macbeth only seems to bring chaos and murder while king, taking out anyone who seems to be a threat to him.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme found in the play would be the corrupting power of unchecked ambition. This can be seen in Macbeth throughout the play. He began as a general, but his curiosity got the better of him after the witches predicted his advancement in society to the Thane of Cawdor. They had predicted his kingship, but Macbeth’s curiosity and pressure from his wife forced him to take Duncan’s life into his own hands so that he could become king. Macbeth was unaware, however, of the consequences brought by killing his enemies. He became paranoid and felt guilt for what he had done, so much that he began to hear voices, and even saw the apparition of Banquo, who he had ordered the death of.
Macbeth is both a Greek and Shakespearean tragedy because of the elements of supernatural and suspense from Greek tragedy, and fate and pathetic fallacy from Shakespearean tragedy. The supernatural can be found in the three witches, because they obtain their powers from spirits, and predict Macbeth’s future. The supernatural is also seen after Banquo’s death, because his ghost comes to haunt Macbeth. Suspense can be seen in Act II Scene II, when Macbeth murders Duncan. Macbeth begins to hear voices that call out “Murder,” which leave Macbeth in a great deal of anxiety. Shakespearean tragedy comes into play with the weird sisters, who believe everything is determined by fate. During the play, they can be seen taking the life of an innocent soldier, and predicting Macbeth’s future. Macbeth can be seen reacting to inanimate objects, such as the dagger, the “voices,” and Banquo’s ghost.
Macbeth can be seen as the tragic hero of the play because of his role in society. Because of his tragic flaw of ambition and wanting to gain status in society, he resorted to killing his king, friend, and others to become king, and make sure there would be no threats against him while taking the throne. Macbeth realized what he had done wrong, but he had been told that no man could ever kill him, which led him to believe no one could ever stop him. Though he made it through the ranks, he left a bloody trail that ultimately led to his demise.
ReplyDelete1.)One theme present in Macbeth is that ambition can drive humans to compromise their morals, ignore ethical standards and hurt others to achieve their goals. This means that if a person has a great desire to achieve something, they may go against their own life standards or views to achieve those goals, even if it leads them down a dark path. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are evidence of this. Macbeth was a highly regarded and honored thane who had been loyal to his leader, Duncan. Lady Macbeth was the wife of Macbeth, so nobody had a reason to view her as malicious. When they found out that Macbeth was destined to become king of Scotland in Act 1 Scene 3, they changed for the worse. Macbeth murdered his king in Act 2 Scene 1 whom he had previously been loyal to. He had his best friend murdered who he had also proved his loyalty to. He became a murderer all to achieve the power which he had been promised. Lady Macbeth also fell victim to her ambition for power. She called her husband a coward numerous times throughout the play and used woman-like terms to describe him and attack his masculinity. After he blundered, she then went and staged the murder of Duncan by the two guards in a calm and orderly fashion in Act 2 Scene 2. In reality, a person would most likely do the same as many of these people. The poll in class showed that most students believe that they would not sink to such low levels to achieve their goals, that their morals would triumph over ambition. History does not reflect these views and neither do many current events. Mark Zuckerberg for instance was aided greatly by a longtime colleague and friend, but when his friend became distracted, Zuckerberg slowly stepped on his friend and took him off of the Facebook development team. His ambition to create Facebook caused him to step on a lifetime friend to climb to the top in his ambition for money and fame. Another theme present in the play is that Power always corrupts. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were content with the lives that they had. Though they had little power with him being a Thane, they did not have complete power since they still answered to Duncan. When given the opportunity for complete power in Scotland, they pounced on it. They hastily murdered their king and afterwards both became psychotic or paranoid. They were guilt-stricken which caused Macbeth’s paranoia with Banquo’s ghost and his executions of once loyal subjects such as Banquo and Macduff’s family. Lady Macbeth exhibited guilt through sleep-walking and talking. She acted out the murder of Duncan night after night due to her guilt.
ReplyDelete2.) Macbeth is a Greek tragedy because it exhibits a chain of private guilt and because the focus is on the psychological and ethical attributes of characters in the play. It is a Shakespearean tragedy, because it uses fate, and the use of the supernatural. The chain of private guilt is evident for Lady Macbeth when it is revealed in Act 5 that she had been sleepwalking and reenacting the murder of Duncan at night. It is exhibited by Macbeth during the soliloquies throughout the play and when he believes that the guards saw him. The appearance of Banquo’s ghost also shows his guilt for murdering his friend. The focus on psychological attributes is evident during the soliloquies and because of the events that take place in the minds of the characters. The fact that only Macbeth can see Banquo’s ghost and that Lady Macbeth’s guilt is driving her to sleepwalk are vital to this piece of Greek tragedy. The use of fate is evident through the use of prophecies like the one that told Macbeth he would be king, or the one that told him he would die when the Birnam Wood moves. The use of the supernatural is shown in the witches, in the magic they perform when they are chanting in Act 4 Scene 1. The idea of Banquo’s ghost is also evidence of the supernatural.
ReplyDelete3.) Macbeth is the tragic hero, and before I go through the cycle, I should explain why. While Macbeth was called brave, honorable and loyal before he was met, Lady Macbeth was given no comment beforehand. The audience only knew her to be the malicious broad she showed. Macbeth even tried to opt out at the last moment, but Lady Macbeth called him a wuss and told him that a real man would do it, so she pressured him into murdering his king. Macbeth was a person of status, because he was a thane of Scotland, so like a governor. His tragic flaw was his ambition, because he says that his ambition may have brought him too far after killing Duncan. There are multiple crises brought along by his ambition. Malcolm escaped leaving Macbeth the king, but also leaving a loose end. In order to keep his power he must kill Banquo’s son which causes another crises caused by his ambition when his guilt continues to eat him from the inside-out. The tragic chain of events starts with the murder of Duncan. It progresses to Malcolm leaving and Macduff leaving. Then Macbeth has Banquo and his son murdered, but fails. He also had Macduff’s family murdered. Then Malcolm returns and eventually Siward arrives to fulfill the second prophecy. His fortune is reversed when he fails to kill Fleance. After that point he murdered Macduff’s family who proceeded to bring an army to slay him. His moment of self-discovery came in Act 5 Scene 3 when Seyton arrives and he proceeds to say his life is beginning to wither away and that he has no honor, love, obedience, or loyal friends and that he has “ in their stead, Curses”. His catharsis occurs in Act 5 Scene 5 page 2 when he learns of Lady Macbeth’s death. He mourns her loss and takes a sadder less psychotic tone than that of the previous soliloquies. His tragic ending occurs when he is killed by Siward.
1. A major theme present in Macbeth is that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Macbeth is overwhelmed by the fact that the weird sisters visit him in Act 1 and present him with information of his coming kingdom. This leads to him gaining a false account of confidence allowing him to go along with Lady Macbeth and kill Duncan in Act 2. As Macbeth becomes more comfortable with this power he has stolen, he proceeds to kill any who have any association with the previous crown. This turns on him quickly and as he killed to get the crown, then he is killed by the previous king’s men. This completes the circle of power that was thrown out of line by Macbeth. We see this today in mostly Middle Eastern countries where there is uproars to kill tyrants that are then just replaced by someone who is inevitably more evil. Another major theme seen in Macbeth is that self-ambition corrupts men. Once Macbeth has had a taste of power, he's willing to kill anyone and puts his own desires before the good of his country, and thus is destroyed by that ambition. We see this in Act 4 as he kills every member of the McDuff family just to scare McDuff from returning. It also shows when he sends those to kill Banquo and his son so he may keep his kingship in Act 3 who was by Macbeth’s side throughout the play only to be killed by Macbeth’s ambition. This is seen today with leaders throughout the world, becoming too powerful and thus falling under their own shortcomings in their character.
ReplyDelete2. Macbeth shares both elements of tragedies in the play as the main character in a Shakespearean tragedy furthers the central conflict of the play to the point that their lives, families, and socio-political structures are destroyed. This coincides with the fact that like the heroes of Greek tragedy, Macbeth is ambitious, but he is also proud and ultimately falls victim to his own shortcomings. Just as it is presented in the play during Act 1 When he agrees to Kill Duncan as his wife commands him. Greek tragedy defines the ideal protagonist as a man who is highly renowned and prosperous just as all Shakespearean tragedies protagonists are of high status through kingship or military background just as they describe Macbeth in Act 1 as they declare him Thane or Cawdor.
3. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, a tragic hero is a character with heroic qualities and is of noble birth, but above all, this character struggles against his own fate, but ends up losing this internal battle because of a personality flaw. Macbeth can be defined as a tragic hero according to Aristotle's definition, as he once was a noble character who, because of a simple weakness, began to struggle against fate and eventually lose everything, including life. Without this tragic flaw, the brave and loyal soldier probably would've waited the realization of the prophecy and would not have obeyed to his wife.
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ReplyDelete“Centuries from now, when people watch this footage, who will they see smiling just at the edge of the frame?” This excerpt taken from “House of Cards” resonates with the demeanour of “MacBeth” before it. These chilling words set the stage for a conquest of discontent, just as the prelude to “MacBeth” alludes to a dismal, tragic end. Money is a fickle thing that appeals to human desire insofar as to satisfy their brief interest. But even as its facade of power seems to radiate forward as a false sphere of influence, it becomes far more evident that it is of no consequence to the invisible force; and that force is power. Throughout history, men have tore each other limb from limb, stumbling over their decadence in the pursuit of a higher power, so as to mold the world and mankind in their image. These tragedies of undistinguished lust and improbable ambitions have brought some men to their knees, and others to their graves. It persists further today, and as Shakespeare illustrated thusly, man never fears the grave so long as the scent of power extrapolates his lust.
The cold, bitter truth that lies within this text, and the world at large, is that as long as men continue to gear their ambitions towards their own self-righteous hypocrisy, the selfish pursuit of power will not diminish. One such theme is illustrated prominently in “MacBeth,” such as how human hypocrisy often results from the inhibitions of men to stall their ambitions toward a tempting saturation of power. Like a carrot hangs from a stick, the kingship lingers over MacBeth ever since he hears the prophecy mentioned by the witches. MacBeth naturally succumbs to this temptation, and the goal seems to fall right within his reach, setting him up for ruin. This concept of fate factors heavily into his role in portraying this theme, as MacBeth is the troubled main character. Comparing “MacBeth” once more to “House of Cards,” the main character Francis lives by the motto of “doing bad, for the greater good,” whereas MacBeth justifies his front for attaining power and adhering to fate because of his own ambitions. For example, in Act 1, Scene 6, MacBeth is easily convinced into plotting to kill Duncan despite his better judgement. It is here that his tragic flaw also becomes evident, because he has no reason to kill him other than for his own ambitions. At first, this confliction resonates because he is yet unturned. However, the tint of darkness in his eye is ever-clear, and he decides to commit murder for his own personal gain, not unlike Francis does in “House of Cards.” In both instances, as with so many more, they try to justify the end by the means, although the facade is clearly riddled with holes and tears. This is an important move in communicating this theme to the audience, because it not only exposes the reflections of society from it, but it also calls to mind the audience, causing them to become an active part of the meaning in the play. Backrow politics are vile and dark, and just as with MacBeth, it shows that no matter how dismal the act, the attainment of power is of no price.
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ReplyDeleteAnother theme present in MacBeth is that the imprints of reality convolute the true image that it means to portray. That being said, I note Shakespeare’s use of contrast, such as in Act 2, Scene 2, in which he contrasts the images of remorseful, shocked MacBeth and the distinguished, merciless Lady MacBeth after the murder. This theme utilizes contrast as a mechanism to expose how essentially things are not how they seem on the surface, and that in its roots lies a deeper, more meaningful appearance. How a symbol can exist as two opposites in the same metaphysical universe depends on how reality bends to the wills of men. As MacBeth pours his fears and anguish from his heart, it sharply signifies the errors of his ways, which clot his vision, as with ambition. Lady MacBeth’s merciless demeanour only furthers a fearful reality that there is no remorse in her pursuit of power. The daggers as red as blood, for instance, seem of no consequence to her, whereas that image may forever be engrained within MacBeth and those that witnessed the afterimage of the slaughtered king. There is some beauty in contrast in how it draws the best and most diminished colors out from the imprints of reality, leaving behind a colorless actuality - a hopeless disparity in the actions life wished to forget.
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ReplyDeleteThe composition of “MacBeth” is one of complexity and adversity, derived from the implications in the errors of men. In doing so, Shakespeare wrote this play within the bounds of the Greek Tragedy model by playing off human flaws, and their consequences. He writes carefully about the psychological and ethical attributes of his characters, particularly following a line of thinking that serves detrimental to their eventual fate. For instance, at the end of Act 2, Scene 2, MacBeth begins to lose his sanity. Psychologically, Shakespeare pries into the mind of the character to portray to the audience the emotions and fears that naturally inhabit the individual. This scene serves as a pretense, because when the reader later learns of MacBeth’s changed nature, they realize that the impacts of those flaws were predictable and blatant all the while. Not only do his characters seem capable of improbable catastrophes, but mankind itself serves as an ode to this mark of the Greek Tragedy. Following off of this point, Shakespeare modeled this play off the Greek Tragedy model along a chain of private guilt and punishment - that is to say, there is some remorse in the misery the characters displace throughout the play. Using MacBeth as an example, all throughout the play he is talking himself in and out of his and his wife’s plan to take the kingship through murder. Yet, not once did he stray course. He, just as Lady MacBeth later succumbs to, wrestle with decisions made as a result of the natural regret they feel. Regardless of whether or not they would have been capable before the lust for power ever permeated their desires, the blood on their hands cannot be washed off.
(Item 2 - Part 2)
ReplyDelete“MacBeth” is a writing of sincere depth, burrowed underneath layers of attributes that define its importance in literature. Its form adheres to Shakespeare’s Tragic form because of his use of a foil character, or one that, though sounding foolish, is actually telling the truth and important dialogue. For example, the drunk gatekeeper in Act 2, Scene 3 is put on the spotlight for an entire duration to illustrate a metaphorical opening of the gates of the castle representing hell - an ominous allusion to the following events to follow. In addition, elements of Shakespeare’s Tragic form exist as how fate serves as a metaphorical baton to conduct the lives and eventual end of the characters of the play. It is arguable whether or not fate is predetermined and unchangeable, however in Shakespeare’s form it always seems to persist as though the characters had the capacity to change their potential outcome, but decided to stay on course with fate. MacBeth demands from the witches that he be told the prophecy, and after learning that he will not be destroyed by any men born of a women, he accepts that fate and uses it as motivation to construct his rank. And so to their own destruction, perhaps fate is deserved. Regardless, evidence of fate conforms to this Shakespearean model as well.
Item 1: Ambition is a major theme in macbeth. In the play Banquo said ("if you can look into the seeds of time,And say which grain will grow and witch will not speak then to me who neither speak then to me who neither beg nor fear your favors nor your hate. Basically Banquo wants a prophecy. Even though he seems under the rug about it if that's what he wanted to do why would he insist on looking into the future. Another theme is appearance versus reality in act 1 scene 3 Macbeth and Banquo came across the wyrd sisters on the Heath. Then Macbeth reflects on their prophecies. An example is act 1 scene 2 when the wyrd sisters try to confuse Macbeth ("fair is foul, and foul is fair"). Another example of Ambition is when lady macbeth receives Macbeth's letter and show a trait of evil. An example is when Macbeth says this ("I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, and falls on ambition,which overlaps itself and falls on the other"). Pretty match macbeth is straightforward with himself admitting that he doesn't have a good reason to kill Duncan the king at the time. Then the last example of appearance versus reality is when Prince Donalbain says this to his brother Malcolm after their fathers murder ("there's daggers in men's smiles"). Meaning not to trust anyone and then they fled off to other countries.
ReplyDeleteItem 2: since Shakespeare was an Englishman it's really not likelihood that it would be a Greek tragedy but the style is in Greek form. Likewise Macbeth is ambitious but is a procrastinator. Greek tragedy is also showed through fate which is in the entire play and what it is based on. Macbeth would be known as a tragic hero also stating that it's also a Shakespearean tragedy as well. He was also known as a tragic flanking it even more true that it's both Greek and a Shakespearean tragedies. An example of a Shakespearean tragedy is Shen Macbeth says("and thou opposed being of no women born yet I will try the last").
Item 3:
The tragic hero in this play is definitely Macbeth for sure. He is good in battles, served his country well, he fights with himself in battles in wether to kill Duncan . One example is when sergeant says(" brave Macbeth well deserved "). He must also regret his decline into wickedness. It drives him crazy an example is when he says this to lady Macbeth ("full of scorpions in my mind my deer wife").
1.Two themes in the poem Macbeth are the corruption of power and the relationship between masculinity and cruelty. The first theme, the corruption of power, shows throughout the whole story. It first shows through King Duncan when he executes the King of Cowador. I believe he does this in order to have more people who agree with him charge. It then shows through Macbeth for the rest of the play. Macbeth becomes kings and abuses his power greatly. He kills anyone who has suspicion of how he became king. He kills women and children, anyone who could expose him. A real life example of this would be the leader of North Korea. He has a lot of power, however it is all corrupt. He has complete control over his people. He cuts them off of modern day necessities such as technology. The only person who has any rights would be himself. Similar to how Macbeth had treated people. The next theme from Macbeth was the relationship between masculinity and cruelty. The relationship between these two concepts would be power. The common thought behind a masculine person would be that they have power over others. What I mean by this is that they are able to control or support others. In the play of Macbeth it is used as control. The person in Macbeth who shows masculinity is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth has complete control over Macbeth. She convinces him to commit a murder on the king he does not want to do. This leads to the relationship with cruelty. Macbeth rules Scotland out of cruelty. Macbeth ruled Scotland with an iron fist. He did not care about anything unless it were to benefit him and his fate.
ReplyDelete2.One example of how Macbeth is a Greek tragedy is because it is based in one location. Greek tragedies are known for taking place in one location. The location in Macbeth is Scotland. Almost all of the play takes place in this country. However it does have its brief moment in England. Another example of how Macbeth is a Greek tragedy is how it is based off of historical events. Macbeth is based off of a man named Mac Bethad mac Findlaich. Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy because of the use of supernatural. Shakespeare uses the supernatural through the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth what his future will look like. Another example is how he uses fate in his story. The witches tell Macbeth what his future will look like. He is told that he will become king and later on that he can not be killed by anyone born from a women. Macbeth tries to change his fate but he does not accomplish it.
ReplyDeleteThe tragic hero cycle starts with a person of status. Macbeth is a man of status through his battles. He reached fame and popularity through war. Due to his actions he was awarded the Thane of Cowdar. Macbeth has a lot of power, however he desires more. No matter how much power he has he would never be satisfied. His tragic flaw of ambition would not allow him to be satisfied with power. The next part of the tragic hero cycle would be his crisis. The crisis in Macbeth would be him killing Duncan. The death of Duncan leads to many problems for Macbeth psychologically and socially. The next step is the reversal of fortune. Macbeth begins to imagine things in his head while alone and with others. This makes others suspicious of him which leads to the reversal of fortune. People begin to distrust him. He is no longer looked at as king but as a tyrant. This leads to an army coming to kill Macbeth. Macbeth gets his self discovery whenever he sees that Lady Macbeth had died. He realizes that there is no turning back from what he has done. He also has his catharsis when he sees his wife dead. Now that he has seen all the damage he has caused he feels guilty about it. He claims to have been a failure because of what he has done with his country. The last part of the tragic hero cycle is the tragic ending. In Macbeth's case the tragic ending is his death. Macbeth is killed by Macduff who was the son of King Duncan. Macduff kills Macbeth by stabbing him and then cutting his head off. I hope you enjoyed my explanation of Macbeth… Thank you for your time.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Zach, for your eloquent reply.
DeleteDante Atkinson
ReplyDeleteLiterary Genres
Mr. Moio
Pd. 3
12/22/14
Item 1: I believe one theme in Macbeth is that power can overwhelm you and twist your mind. Macbeth went from a man of noble status who was respected, to a man driven by his own insanity. There have been times in the play where Macbeth would hallucinate, for instance the dagger monologue. Macbeth pictured a dagger right in front of him, pleading him to grab it and use it to kill his own king, Duncan. He was literally losing his mind, not using common sense, ignoring all logic with extreme trust in prophecies. He believed unless a prophecy told him so he was invincible and could not be stopped. He also proceeded to do evil and tyrant-like things, such as hanging anyone that disobeyed his will and he even killed the family of a man named Macduff just because he did not follow his rule. Macbeth was a man driven by madness and power, always wanting more and thinking he was untouchable. This of course was not the case since Macduff killed Macbeth, ending his reign and tyranny.
I believe another theme is how femininity and masculinity played a role in this story. Throughout the story, there are different examples of how these two traits were viewed. To begin with, the witches that told Macbeth his prophecy had beards. This shows masculinity. The witches were women, of course but the beards showed a more hideous and dark view. Another is the sheer character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was a women that radiated with evil and sinister thoughts, who also believed that the only things keeping her from her evil power was her feminine body. She believed that if she had the body of a man, she would be able to carry out her acts. This shows how she believed that women were viewed less-powerfully than men. She also proceeded to challenge and insult the manhood of Macbeth for hesitating to kill Duncan. She believed that a real man would fall through with the task without batting an eye. Of course, Macbeth was skeptical of what he was told to do, but Lady Macbeth didn't care.
Item 2: I believe Macbeth is both a Greek and Shakespearian tragedy for a number of reasons. In Shakespearian tragedy, off-stage deaths sometimes occur. In Macbeth, we see a few off-stage deaths. Macbeth and Duncan both die off-stage. Macbeth also uses Shakespearian language, including the vocabulary. Macbeth is a Greek tragedy for the sake of seeing self-regret in characters after their wrong-doings. This is when a character realises the negative effects of their actions and is in regret. We see this is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth lost her mind from the evil she provoked and even committed suicide from mental torture.
Item 3: I believe the tragic hero of Macbeth is Macbeth. Macbeth was a man of noble status and was well-respected. He then heard of his prophecy and proceeded to lose his mind with the thoughts of power. He then commited awful acts and thought of himself as invincible and that no-one could stop his rule. He then came to the realisation that he is not invincible and that his actions would come back to haunt him. This is his self-discovery and it ended in trajedy with his death. Macbeth showed the process of the tragic hero in Macbeth.
1.One theme in Macbeth is that ambition is good but you should reflect and check on yourself at points along the way. Macbeth and his wife both did not do this and it didn't do this. They ended up doing unthinkable things that ended up being there demise. They killed Duncan to achieve their goals. Then they killed families and friends to keep the throne. They didn't check their actions and it ended badly.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme is that gender roles can be flipped and altered. In Macbeth, lady Macbeth took more of a man role. She challenged Macbeth to be more manly and pressured him into madness. Macbeth switched from a feminine role to a manly one.
2.Macbeth has components from both Greek tragedy and Shakespearean tragedy. It is like a Greek tragedy because the story involves an evolution of justice. Macbeth commits murder multiple times and ends up paying the price for it in the end. It also focuses on the psychological and ethical attributed of the characters. This is where the gender roles come into play. It is like a Shakespearean tragedy because it involves fate. The witches tell proficies and it ends up playing out. There is also suspense. In Greek tragedies th plot is more predictable. I'm Macbeth it kindof twisted and turned throughout the play.
3.Lady Macbeth is the tragic hero. She goes through all the stages of the tragic hero cycle from starting as a person of noble status to a tragic ending. The only reason Macbeth isn't is because he never really had a self discovery. Lady Macbeth kindof saw how everything was going to shit and realized the wrong she did.
Part One:
ReplyDeleteThroughout Macbeth, Macbeth is an instrument of fate. This fate that has predetermined his destiny brings to life an important theme within the play. Fate can often times interfere with or influence a person’s decision. It is true that within the play, fate was toying with Macbeth’s destiny; however, at several moments Macbeth made decisions of his own. Though these were his own actions they were often times influenced by the rules of fate. For example, when Macbeth makes the decision to kill Duncan and then Banquo, these were his own actions, but they were influenced by his predetermined fate. The witches had already told him that he would become the King of Scotland, and he knew the only way for that to happen would be if Duncan was dead, so he made the decision to kill him. The witches also told Macbeth that Banquo’s sons would take the throne after him, so in order to destroy that chance, he had Banquo and his sons killed. These were Macbeth’s decisions, but he made them under the influence of what the witches had told him. This theme still shows relevance in today’s society. Sadly, but often, people are diagnosed with fatal diseases and given a certain amount of time left to live. When doctors give them their death sentence, the patients find out their fate. Once these patients find out their predetermined fate, it begins to influence much of their decision-making. They often become bucket list achievers and try to do everything they possibly can think of before they end up dying. Though they made the decisions to do everything they possibly could on their own, they were influenced by the death sentence they were given.
2. Another theme that shows within the play is that men and women don’t always act the way they are expected to. There is a strong contrast between masculinity and femininity within the play. Men are expected to act strong and fearless, while women are expected to be sensitive and shy; however, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth challenge those stereotypes. Lady Macbeth points out Macbeth’s feminine qualities several times throughout the play. She does this for the first time in Act I when she says “It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness”. She challenges Macbeth’s masculinity with this line and says he is too kind to be a man. She also challenges herself in Act I when she asks the spirits to unsex her. She wants to be filled with evil like men are. A theme like this is extremely relevant in today’s times. Men and women are still faced with the same stereotypes. Society expects them to act “manly” and “womanly”, but there are people who challenge these frames within society. Lesbians and gays challenge this all the time. Sometimes they try to act like the opposite gender instead of the men and women they are supposed to be.
Part Two:
ReplyDeleteMacbeth shares characteristics of both a Greek tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy. The play focuses on human flaws and private guilt, two concepts often expressed within Greek tragedies. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both quite unethical. Their ambition gets the best of them and this is very apparent within the play. They commit countless murders just to make sure Macbeth stays king, a clear flaw in their human character. As the play progresses readers begin to see scenes of private guilt within both characters. Macbeth begins to see illusions, like when he witnessed a knife in his hand, but it isn't even real. This is an expression of the guilt he feels, just like when he sees Banquo's ghost. Lady Macbeth shows signs of guilt as well, mostly toward the end, when she shows signs of insanity by speaking words that make no sense and washing her hands constantly. The play is also a Shakespearan tragedy. It includes pieces of the supernatural and pathetic fallacy. The witches are the supernatural element of the play. They create withcraft and magic to control Macbeth's fate. Pathetic fallacy also exists within the play. One sign of it is within Act II right after Duncan is murdered. It is proclaimed that "the night has been unruly". Wind blows down chimneys, strange screams of death are heard, and the owl hoots in the middle of the night. These are all strange happenings within nature that occurred right after a terrible event. Shakespeare wrote the play to express characteristics of both a Greek tragedy and a Shakesperean tragedy.
Part Three:
ReplyDeleteBoth Lady Macbeth and Macbeth could be defended as the tragic hero in the play, but Lady Macbeth follows the tragic hero cycle a lot more closely. She is introduced as a noble character because she is Macbeth's wife. As the play goes on, her tragic flaw shines through. She is too ambitious just like her husband. This flaw leads to crisis because her ambition leads to her to evil actions and several murders. Her guilt from these actions begins to wear on her emotionally and eventually she suffers a reversal of fortune. Her and Macbeth's royalty begins to fall to shambles. She comes to realize all of her wrongdoings in Act V when she says "My way of life is fall'n into the sere, the yellow leaf, and that which should accompany old age". This is her self discovery. As she discovers her issues, she begins to go insane, constantly haunted by Duncan's murder. She pours out all her guilt and eventually kills herself, creating her tragic ending. Lady Macbeth is the perfect definition of a tragic hero.
Theme1) The first theme that I found in Macbeth is “The bad activities that you commit will come back to haunt you in the future.” This theme is perfect in the tragedy and in today’s world. In Macbeth, this theme was shown when Macbeth killed Duncan for the role to be a leader. Macbeth was not happy with just being the Thane of Cawdor, so he planned to throw a party for Duncan. Although after the party Macbeth went into the room and killed Duncan. The next morning everyone was upset and Macbeth would soon get to be the king of Scotland. He was the king for a while and was not good at the role. Then Macduff decided that he should kill and behead Macbeth because he is not a good leader. Soon after the new king is Malcolm and he will be a much better king for Scotland. This same theme applies in today’s world as well. An example of this is a guy and girl are in a relationship and the guy cheats on the girl with someone else. Then he gets caught by this girlfriend and she stops talking to him. Soon after the girl he was going to, found out he used her to cheat on his old girlfriend. Then both girls stop talking to him and he has no girls to talk to. The theme that what you do to other people will come back to haunt you, which is relevant today and hundreds of years age.
ReplyDeleteTheme 2) The second main theme from Macbeth is that was “Ambition will drive someone to be corrupt.” Macbeth showed a great example of this when he was the throne of Cawdor. His old friend Duncan was pronounced the King and Macbeth wanted that role. Macbeth had a plan to kill Duncan to capture the King title that he wanted. He threw a party for Duncan and once everyone fell asleep Macbeth went into Duncan’s room and killed him. Macbeth had the ambition to kill an old friend to capture the King of Scotland title. In today’s world people do very similar things to get what they want. People will kill loved ones and even close friends to get the person’s money and property when they die. This shows people will worry about themselves before they worry about friends or family. The theme that ambition will drive people to do anything to get what they want will never die in society. This theme was a great example to Macbeth and to today’s society.
2) Two examples from Greek tragedy are the exodus and hamartia. The exodus is when Macbeth got killed and beheaded, because he was not trustworthy and betrayed people. Macbeth was not a great King so he was forcefully replaced and that was how the play ended. The hamartia is when Macbeth started to kill person after person to be King of Scotland and to keep the secret that he was killing people. He killed Duncan to be the King, but people found out so they killed and beheaded him in the end. The two examples for Shakespearean tragedy are the good and evil. In his plays he would separate the good from the evil. Characters that were evil would kill and do nasty thing to get what they wanted. The Greek and Shakespearean tragedies are similar because they both explain what people do right and wrong in the society. They explain when people kill for wealth and popularity.
ReplyDelete3) In Macbeth, I believe that the tragic hero is Macbeth for many factors. Some of the factors that include that Macbeth is a tragic hero are because he was a of high status as the king, he had a critical discovery that changed the whole way that the story was going to go, and he died at the end of the play. All these examples show why Macbeth was a tragic hero in the story. The first example was that he had high status in the play. Macbeth was first announced as the throne of Cawdor which he was very excited about. Then he got the title of the King after he killed Duncan to get it. The second example is the change when Duncan got King and Macbeth did not know what he did wrong to not get the title. Macbeth kills Duncan to add a plot change and to give himself the King of Scotland title. The third example is that a tragic hero always dies at the end of the play which also happened here. Macbeth was killed and beheaded by Macduff, so that Malcolm would become the next King. These three examples show why Macbeth was a tragic hero.
Item 1:
ReplyDeleteThe first theme in Macbeth is that ambition can take over moral values. Throughout Macbeth, Macbeth has much ambition after hearing he can have the throne. The first example is act 1 scene 5 when Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth’s letter, thinks about his character and invokes the forces of evil. The next example is in act 3 scene 1 when Macbeth determines to kill Banquo in order to prevent his children succeeding Scotland’s throne. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were never evil before the ambition that came upon both of them due to the prophecy. The second theme in Macbeth is that we control our own destiny. Anything that happens to us we have the free will to act a certain way. The way you act will determine what will happen. The first example is act 2 scene 1 when Macbeth talks to Banquo about their encounter with with the Wyrd sisters and sees a visionary dagger and makes his decision to kill Duncan. Macbeth has no reason to kill Duncan, but because of his vision he is deciding to act this way. The second example of this theme is act 6 scene 1 when Macbeth visits the witches who offer him further prophecies. He did not have to go to see the witches to see more prophecies, but because he does, he gets more nervous about not keeping the throne and decides to act the way he does.
Item 2:
ReplyDeleteMacbeth is a Greek tragedy because the hero has a tragic flaw. In this quote it shows his flaws. "The prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." (55-60) It shows that he has greed and jealousy. Macbeth is also a Shakespearean tragedy. This is shown through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth dying in the end. Lady Macbeth was the first one to die and Macbeth was killed by Malcom. The prophecy said that Macbeth could not be killed by anyone who was born from a women. Macduff stated “tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.” Which means that he was cut from his mother’s womb before she could bear him naturally. This meant that Macduff could kill Macbeth, and he did. Shakespearean tragedies end with a fatal conclusion and that is how Macbeth ended.
Item 3:
ReplyDeleteThe tragic hero in Macbeth is, Macbeth. Macbeth was a noble character because he was a hero in the army who had fought. He then gets a tragic flaw in act 2. His flaw is ambition. His ambition is what causes the reversal. The reversal includes him listening to his wife and killing Duncan. The discovery of the character includes him having a visionary of the dagger and having to kill Banquo. After killing Banquo he saw visions of the ghost of Banquo haunting him. The haunting and visions of Banquo were the suffering in the cycle. Macbeth did not fully receive catharsis and restoration, but he did in a way. He was killed by Macduff and said he was not going to fight him.
Item 3The tragedy of the universe is perpetuated by the daunting, malignant force that works to contrive against it. These forces operate in the images of villains that seek to revel in their after image, standing tall upon the bodies they've reamed and slain. The MacBeths are guilty of devoting themselves to the unclean task of achieving authority under the pretense of fate, as if it would remove their consequences. Such characters are subject to the Tragic Hero cycle, and although it is confined here to literary boundaries, it stands for so much more in the context of the real world.
ReplyDeleteI would like to examine Lady MacBeth under the light of the literary scope, in order to pry apart her motives and characteristics that are so prominently displayed in the play. In terms of the cycle, Lady MacBeth is a wealthy partner to a well-recognized MacBeth, lifting her to a high status and nobility. Despite her best judgement, Lady MacBeth suffers a bountiful flaw in that her ambitions cloud and infect her trials, encouraging her cold, serpent-like nature throughout the play. Although she later falls apart due to her actions, her constant rush to accomplish the plan regardless of the blood trails it left behind show this flaw blatantly. As the scent of power was in the air, she could not help but seek it as she best fit her character. She is unable to control her flaw because ambitions cloud her judgement. Every deviation that she strays from her sanity draws her ever closer to fate, her composure plummeting upon each evil tendency. For as motivated by fate that MacBeth, and consequently Lady MacBeth, were, it is that very force with the capacity to motivate the fate of those around her. It is a domino effect, linking chain that cannot help but string the characters along with it. The tension increases as it drags along, as well. Take the sons of the murdered king, for example, who fled immediately after he was murdered by MacBeth. As they were aware of what they were capable of, they fled to make a difference on the route that MacBeth was headed. At the end of Act 5, Lady MacBeth finally collapses under the weight of all that she has done. All at once, she loses her mind at the realization of what she has done. The reversal is devastating, causing her to lose her sanity and eventually die. She pours out her emotions, wondering and questioning herself and learning that perhaps it was not right, such as in the line, "Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him." Lady MacBeth is prophetic here, recalling her sins and regretting every action, degrading further in submission. Following her realization of the damage she cause, she sustains an offstage, one that may have deserved her despicable character. She is a tragic model of a conflicted hero, who along with her husband served only to her own ambitions, not yielding to the consequences inevitably wrought by her actions - and she paid the deserved price
Item 2: The play Macbeth is in fact both a Greek Tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy. A Greek tragedy, for example, usually focuses on the psychological and ethical attributes of characters. In Macbeth, Shakespeare absolutely focuses on both Macbeth’s mental state and even Lady Macbeth’s. In Act 2, Scene 1, Macbeth hallucinates a dagger in front of him showing that his mental state has begun to fade and crumble more than likely caused by the stress and pressures placed upon him by himself and his wife to murder Duncan. We see the mental stability of characters brought up again toward the end of the play when Lady Macbeth rises from her sleep and begins to sleepwalk and confesses all the wrong she has done- including the murder of Duncan (Act 5, Scene 1). Greek tragedies also contain a chain of private guilt and punishment which can be found within Macbeth if you look closely. During Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s mental breakdowns, one could say that these breaks are caused by the characters own guilt and remorse for what they have done. These characters can basically hide their true feelings when they are either awake or just in a well enough mind at certain moments. Macbeth’s guilt from Banquo’s murder causes him to see Banquo’s ghost and this ultimately results in Macbeth’s loss of sanity(Act 4, Scene 1). He losses touch with reality at this point from his own grief and drives himself insane. Although Lady Macbeth can almost completely hide her guilt, it clearly takes a toll on her- as I said before- when she is seen trying to scrub the blood that is not actually there off her hands in her sleep (Act 5, Scene 1). Clearly these two characters both have mental breaks and guilt that eats at them until their deaths. This play can also be proved as a Shakespearean tragedy based on the fact that it possesses qualities such as the supernatural and pathetic fallacy. The supernatural within Macbeth is the witches that appear several times throughout the play such as in Act 1, Scene 1 when they basically introduce the play and what will be occurring throughout the play. The witches are very important in this play because they are responsible for telling Macbeth that he will be king in Act 1, Scene 3. This prediction of the future is what sends Macbeth into a killing spree to become king. The pathetic fallacy within the play relates to the weather during certain portions of the play, including during Act 2, Scene 4 when Ross comments on how awful the weather is which directly follows the discovery of the death of Duncan- bad weather and tragic events go hand in hand. Another instance when pathetic fallacy comes into play is when thunder is occurring while Macbeth is with the witches and the witches warn him about Macduff, to which he responds that he is going to kill him too (Act 4, Scene 1). Based on this textual evidence, that is how I know that Macbeth is both a Greek tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy.
ReplyDeleteItem 3: The tragic hero in Macbeth I believe is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth completes the entire tragic hero cycle. Lady Macbeth is a person of status, she is Macbeth’s wife, she also possesses a tragic flaw which for her is a lust for power. Her lust for power drives her to the crisis of the play which is the murder of Duncan, a murder that she plans and has completed by her husband, Macbeth- a man who will do anything to prove his manhood to his wife and others. Without her instruction to murder Duncan, the murder and thus the rest of the tragic play may not have ever happened. The crisis causes a tragic chain of events including Duncan’s death, the loss of her and her husband’s own sanity, the death of Banquo, and tension among her family and the rest of the noblemen around them. Her reversal of fortune is very evident, in Act 1 she is a noblewoman, in Act 3 she is queen, then in Act 3 Scene 2 she begins to realize that her husband’s hallucinations and psychosis is increasing and causing more and more issues for her and their status which begins to cause stress and panic within her own mind as she feels her power slipping. Her self-discovery and catharsis occur at the same time when she is sleepwalking/talking in Act 5, Scene 1 when she admits to being responsible for the death of others and is panicking while trying to wash her hands clean of blood. She is almost trying to forgive her own actions by washing away the blood. In this scene she wails in an attempt to receive the sympathy and forgiveness of the audience. The last stage of the cycle is a tragic ending which for Lady Macbeth is an offstage death in Act 5. Based on the evidence presented in the text and the direct connection to the cycle, I can definitely say that Lady Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play because without her, the plays tragic events may not have ever occurred.
ReplyDeleteItem 3: The tragic hero in Macbeth I believe is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth completes the entire tragic hero cycle. Lady Macbeth is a person of status, she is Macbeth’s wife, she also possesses a tragic flaw which for her is a lust for power. Her lust for power drives her to the crisis of the play which is the murder of Duncan, a murder that she plans and has completed by her husband, Macbeth- a man who will do anything to prove his manhood to his wife and others. Without her instruction to murder Duncan, the murder and thus the rest of the tragic play may not have ever happened. The crisis causes a tragic chain of events including Duncan’s death, the loss of her and her husband’s own sanity, the death of Banquo, and tension among her family and the rest of the noblemen around them. Her reversal of fortune is very evident, in Act 1 she is a noblewoman, in Act 3 she is queen, then in Act 3 Scene 2 she begins to realize that her husband’s hallucinations and psychosis is increasing and causing more and more issues for her and their status which begins to cause stress and panic within her own mind as she feels her power slipping. Her self-discovery and catharsis occur at the same time when she is sleepwalking/talking in Act 5, Scene 1 when she admits to being responsible for the death of others and is panicking while trying to wash her hands clean of blood. She is almost trying to forgive her own actions by washing away the blood. In this scene she wails in an attempt to receive the sympathy and forgiveness of the audience. The last stage of the cycle is a tragic ending which for Lady Macbeth is an offstage death in Act 5. Based on the evidence presented in the text and the direct connection to the cycle, I can definitely say that Lady Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play because without her, the plays tragic events may not have ever occurred.
ReplyDeleteItem 1: One of the two themes in Macbeth is that power can take over anyone and turn them from royalty to cruelty. In Macbeth, the Wyrd sisters tell him that he is going to be king. His wife, Lady Macbeth, then coaxes him into committing several murders to make his way to the throne. “I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat… false face must hide what the false heart doth know.” This quote explains that Macbeth wants to commit the murder and is very confident in doing so, thus feeling no remorse. “Whiles I threat, he lives. Words to the heat of the deeds too cold breath gives.” Macbeth is here telling the audience that the longer he waits, the longer Duncan will live, and his evil thoughts of power take over, and he kills him. Throughout the play, Macbeth commits other murders as well to become king. His lust for power will reign his mental state and he will therefore do anything it takes to be king and not feel threatened.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme in Macbeth is that there are certain characteristics that define a true king from a tyrant. Macbeth - who wants to be king - is in reality, a tyrant. A tyrant is considered a ruler of horrible and oppressive character. In Greek terms, it would be an authoritarian sovereign without reference to character. Recklessly killing whoever poses a threat to him in relationship to the throne will make Macbeth a tyrant, leaving Duncan to be the real king. “I think our country sinks beneath the yoke,” Malcolm says explaining that Scotland is sinking into Macbeth’s oppression. “Boundless intemperance in nature is a tyranny.” Macduff is saying here that most kings will fall under a lust for endless greed and therefore will become a tyrant, just like Macbeth. Malcolm is convinced that he, himself should and would be a noble king, and would not fall unto those luring sins that would make him anything other than a true king.
Item 2: Two elements of Greek tragedy would be that a man is considered helpless in his struggle against an uncontrollable power, and that destiny and fate will take its course on the tragic hero. This could very much explain Macbeth, seeing that the witches told him what was going to happen, and that they foresaw everything and controlled his life, and kept him alive. In Greek tragedy, the Wyrd sisters would be his fate (wyrd, a Greek term for fate), and controlled his life and caused him to do such terrible things such as murder. You could not blame Macbeth’s actions because of such fate, and that it was not his fault that he committed so many crimes. The best way to explain Macbeth as a Greek tragedy would be to relate him to Oedipus. In Shakespearean tragedy, tragic error is not always controlled by fate. The entire flaw is dependent on the responsibility of the hero in bringing about his own doom. This could be explained by the anger of everyone towards Macbeth for murdering several people. In Greek tragedy, people would forgive such flaws. No one in the story forgives Macbeth, but would rather want to kill him, and get him out of the throne.
Item 3: Macbeth is the tragic hero in the story Macbeth. He is a hero because he is of high social status and was very well known for defending his king’s land in battle. He is honored and respected for his courage in battle which puts him in line for the throne. Knowing from the witches that he is going to be king, he then commits several murders to reach his goal, being his tragic flaw. He then goes through a crisis, which is him having hallucinations and guilt from committing these murders. His wife, Lady Macbeth, eventually kills herself which is a dilemma for Macbeth and is essentially part of his reversal of fortune. His self discovery while he is facing Macduff then leads to his outpouring of emotions to the audience. He fights Macduff and eventually surrenders and dies. Macbeth goes through each event in the tragic hero cycle that makes him a tragic hero.
The first theme would have to be is fate. Examples of fate show up in almost all of the acts but particularly in act one scene three : Macbeth and Banquo encounter the three witches at which point they lay out Macbeths future. It is also present in act 2 scene 1: Macbeth and Banquo begin to speak and Macbeth makes his decision to kill Duncan. Another theme is appearance and reality. This second theme is in act 1 scene 4: Duncan reflects on the traitorous Thane of Cawdor and ironically rewards Macbeth with this title. Shakespeare's play is English therefor it is not able th be a Greek tragedy. It is like a Greek tragedy in the sense that Macbeth has many of the qualities of a tragic Hero. Macbeth is ultimately destroyed because of his desire for power and position, because of his chance meeting with the witches.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth is indeed a tragic hero. A tragic hero must be of noble birth or high stature. This describes Macbeth to a tee. He has a tragic flaw, which in the play is his desire for power and his weak nature that makes it easy to be pushed around by his wife and the witches, his downfall is that he has ample opportunity to spare Duncan's life, but he chooses power instead. His outcome was not completely reasonable, I say this because he would not have taken this path if the witches and his wife did not push him towards it, he just was not that type of man.
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ReplyDeleteTheme 1: Unchecked ambition can lead a person to make unethical decisions that they would not have otherwise made unless taken by this driving force. Ambition has driven people to murder men and women, children, and for them to also lose all that they know in order to achieve a goal. In “Macbeth” after hearing the prophecy about Macbeth becoming king, Lady Macbeth only has this idea in her sights. She is willing to have Macbeth’s friends murdered and encourages Macbeth to do such things as well. In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth first becomes aware of his future and right off the bat says that she has a plan to kill Duncan. She and Macbeth later kill almost all of Macbeth’s friends and even their families. He then loses everything he has which ultimately leads to his death because of the amount of hatred built up against his dictating ways. It’s great to have goals and ambition to accomplish those goals, however, a person should not allow that ambition to control their lives. I dance at a very competitive dance studio where most girls and boys move on to be professional dancers. Last year, one of the seniors wanted to go into the professional world, and she started only focusing on dance. This was a perfectly healthy goal, until she started sacrificing her school work, friends, and body in the process. Her grades dropped severely, she became negative to others and lost almost all of her friends, and beat up her body so badly she ended up severely injuring her foot and was out for half of the season. She had a goal set in her sites and forfeited all other good things in her life to accomplish it. Her ambition went unchecked until she lost all other good things in her life and realized she needed to make a change. Even though this tragedy was written long ago, unchecked ambition has not lost significance in today’s society.
Theme 2: The emotional guilt involved in intentions of evil cannot be overlooked even if a person has accomplished greatness. Accomplishments do not mean nearly as much when they are not earned. Macbeth was a war hero and received several titles including the Thane of Scotland. However, those titles were all revoked and he was seen as a satanical dictator who destroyed Scotland with his ruling. He killed so many beloved people and mirrored Stalin in his actions. He was no longer seen as such a noble character and his hatred grew among his people as he kept acting throughout the play. In Act 5, Scene 6 Young Siward calls Macbeth an abhorred tyrant and says he is worse than Satan. Shortly after in Scene 7, Macduff openly says he wishes to be the one to kill Macbeth for what he has done to his family. At the end of all the drama, no one is concerned with how much he accomplished because he didn’t go about accomplishing such things in the right way. This is similar to the Penn State Jerry Sandusky scandal. After getting word that Sandusky molested several young children, any titles won during that time period by Penn State were revoked because it was felt that these titles were not won appropriately. No one cared that this was one of the greatest football programs of all time because of how wrong the actions were that happened over that time period by Sandusky. From these examples, it is learned that it’s not necessarily what a person accomplishes that is important, but by what means they do so. It is best to stay humble and hopeful when achieving greatness.
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ReplyDelete-There are different elements incorporated in both Greek and Shakespearean Tragedy that lead to their classification in such a category. Macbeth integrates qualities of both types of plays which makes the play stand out among others of that time. In a Greek Tragedy, it is common to direct focus on the psychological and ethical attributes of characters. It points of the frailty of humans. They are challenged and put in situations to test their morality, leaving the reader to make judgements of that character. When Macbeth hears the prophecy from the witches he is either going to fulfill the prophecy and kill his friend, the king, or let go of the power he so desires. When he makes the decision to kill Duncan and anyone who stands in line for the throne, we are left to decide if what Macbeth did was right or wrong.
-This tragedy also involves a private chain of guilt and punishment with Macbeth and is quite obvious as the plot unravels. Macbeth goes back and forth, wrestling with every decision he has made up to this point and it is obvious in Act 2, Scene 2, when Macbeth says the blood of Duncan which he must clean off of his hands would turn the entire ocean red. He feels so bad about it that he uses this metaphor to show his deep emotional feeling toward his deed.
-Shakespeare loved to utilize contrast in tragedies. He blew up several ideas at each other and leaves them for the reader to sort out themselves. He contrasts Macbeth and Lady Macbeth a great deal in several scenes throughout the play, mostly when concerning masculinity or guilt. The first line of the tragedy is, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair…” spoken by the witches. This line in itself is a contrast and is later spoken by Macbeth.
-Another element of Shakespearean Tragedy that is very common in Macbeth is the supernatural in which he uses all throughout the play. The witches come throughout several times, delivering prophecies that drive characters ambitions. In Act 3, Scene 4, Banquo’s ghost comes back, taunting Macbeth and adding to his insanity. Macbeth sees this ghost and starts screaming in the middle of dinner. The witches are also a supernatural element in the sense that they foresee the future and predict events that have not yet happened.
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ReplyDeleteMacbeth is a very obvious tragic hero in the play and his cycle is easily defending, giving credit to the fact that the tragedy is based upon his tragic chain of events. Macbeth starts as a noble character. He’s respected for his accomplishments in battle, and is a thane of Scotland. He killed the enemy in the first scene of the play and is rewarded for his actions. However, after the witches deliver the prophecy that Macbeth will become king and his wife is aware of this, we receive a preview of the tragic flaw of unchecked ambition that will lead Macbeth to his death. The desire to be king ultimately becomes out of control in regards to his life. His ambitions drive him to compromise his morals and ethics to achieve that goal. After this event, Macbeth’s life goes haywire, slowly and then all at once. Macbeth cannot be king until Duncan and his sons are out of the picture, which is his crisis. There are several people standing in line to defend the throne. The only way to succeed in kingship in the eyes of Macbeth and his “lady” is by death. The tragic chain of events now begins. Macbeth kills Duncan and suspicions arise in his home. Duncan’s sons flee in fear that they may be the next targets. Macbeth kills the guards who were supposed to be framed and ensure that Macbeth did not get caught. He kills several people including all of Macduff’s family. He also kills Banquo who was originally supposed to be his ally, and does not succeed in killing his son who is in line for the throne. At his induction dinner, Macbeth starts to go crazy when Banquo’s ghost is seen at the dinner table. At this point, Macbeth has zero people on his side. His wife goes insane and everyone he thought was loyal to him has now betrayed him. His war titles were taken from him and he cannot be king because Macduff persuaded Duncan’s oldest son to come back and take the throne. Macbeth realizes that he has lost everything but continues to fight for his kingship even though he knows it is no longer possible. He tells Macduff to just end his life because he realizes he has lost everything and committed great acts of evil (Macbeth’s catharsis). Macduff then kills Macbeth in his tragic ending.
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Macbeth has goals to become the King after witches foretold to him a prophecy, which is fine, who wouldn't want to be king, but he has corrupt ambitions. To become king, he kills Duncan, who is his friend, While he is the thane of two places already, ruling the whole nation would be cool, but being thane should be enough for most people, but for this story, bend your mind and be greedy. So he kills Duncan, and then starts to think about his acts, he killed his friend to be a king, and he almost can’t handle it, but his wife can, she goes and corrects his mess up. They try to blame the death on the drunken guards, but after Macbeth kills then, luckily his children flee the country, instead of just fleeing Macbeths court, and returning to their even bigger castle, and stating that their father had been murdered and avoiding this whole conundrum, but then there is no theme of Corruption, other than Macbeth’s wife toying with his love for her to please her and turn her into a queen by making himself king. But, back to it, Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth ending killing a bunch of friends to try to maintain in power, but it does not work as this needs a resolution, and Macbeth, who seems to be good at fighting and now corruption, could not kill the only person he actually needed to kill.
Theme 2
In Macbeth, he and Banquo are told a set of prophecies, they are told it is their fate to make these prophecies a reality, I’m sure if they had just waited, the prophecies would have eventually happened. Duncan and his family would have had something tragic happen to them in a carriage or something, so then Macbeth is king, then either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth would be fertile so Banquo’s son would be king, all the from the request of the former king, but this is a tragedy, that needs to take place quickly, so greed and murder are causes for the prophecies to become reality. They are controlling their future, the acts they are performing are making others come true, which is not always bad, if you want to be an astronaut, do good in school, if you want to be a king, kill your friend.
Item 2
This particular play is both Shakespearean and Greek forms of tragedy.
It is Greek in the sense that it focuses on physical and mental appearances of the character, it makes that character test what he believes is right and wrong, making the reader, or back then the viewer, make a judgement on that character. The murder of Duncan.
While a Shakespearan tragedy uses elements of contrast and supernatural. Macbeth is portrayed as feminine while lady Macbeth is Masculine, also witches.
Item 3
I believe Lady Macbeth is the Tragic Hero, she is the cycle of tragedy. She started out with power, married to a man that was thane of one territory then promoted to another, Her lust for power is her flaw, she corrupts her husband into killing, she then loses her grasp on becomes insane. She goes from cleaning blood off her hands saying a little water will get this off easy to all the water in all the oceans cannot cleanse these hands. Her status of power being lost because she and her husband can’t keep it together, then her death. Lady Macbeth is the tragic hero in Macbeth.