Macbeth as a tragedy Essay Example

Macbeth as a tragedy Essay Example Macbeth as a tragedy Paper Macbeth as a tragedy Paper personal motivations should be related complexly to cause-and- effect series and actions should make pity and fear to the audience. Characters in tragedy should have the following qualities: 1. Good or Fine Aristotle relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class: Even a woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to be n inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. 2. Fitness of character (True to type); e. g. valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a woman. 3. True to life (Realistic) 4. Consistency (True to themselves) Once a characters personality and motivations are established, these should continue throughout the play. 5. Necessary or Probable Characters must be logically constructed according to the law of probability or necessity that governs the actions of the play. 6. True to life and yet more beautiful (Idealized, Ennobled) Macbeth is a loyal and honest Scottish general and the thane of Glamis. MACBETH The service and the loyalty I owe In doing it pays itself. Your highness part Is to receive our duties, and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should, by doing everything Safe toward your love and honor. (1, 4, 25-30) He was led to sinful thoughts by the prophecies of the witches. Later, he also was thane of Cawdor as same as the prediction by the witches. Macbeth is a very brave and powerful but he did not have much morality. His ambition drove him to slay King Duncan because he wants to fulfill his desire to the throne. First time of his murder, he was not confident to kill the king and he was guilty and very confused to do so. We can see since scene I-II, Macbeth was dominated by his wife. After his first crime, he increased his cruel, he still killed everyone he thought his obstacles. He governed with a tyrant and violence. He became his own boss and started doing his business without consulting with his wife. After his wife death, he was totally alone and nopeless. I nls empnaslzea tne tragic 0T Macoetn slnce ne could not stop nls ambition. He could have enough morality to stop himself to keep on murdering nnocent peoples. In the end of the play, he seemed to be relieved as he could be back as a warrior and went out to fght with the Malcoms troop. Even though, he realized that the prophecies of the witches seemed to be true but he still had not surrender. Macbeth never seems to intend suicide: Why should I play the Roman fool, he asks, and die / On mine own sword? (5. 10. 1-2). He thought that killing himself is ridiculous and decided to go fighting. This make the play full circle as the story opens with the scene of Macbeths victory in the battlefield and ends with his death in war. Lady Macbeth: Macbeths wife. She was a strongly ambitious woman who desired power and position. LADY MACBETH Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o th milk of human kindness To have thee crowned withal. (1, 5,) Early scene of the play, she seemed to have more power and stronger than her husband; Macbeth. She forced him to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed began, she became increasingly obsessed with the blood on her hands which no one else can see and always sleep walking because she fell into her guilty and madness. Finally, she committed suicide because of her conscience. Lady Macbeth is the key of the relation between power and gender: her husband implies that she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body. At one point, she wished that she were not a woman so that she could kill King Duncan by herself whereas Macbeth hesitated to do. So she stimulated Macbeth about insulting his manhood until he decided to do because of prove himself. Shakespeare has illustrated in the play that women could be as ambitious and cruel as men. The Three Witches appeared in the opening scene, they made Macbeth fell into murderous way by elling him to be Thane of Cawdor and later the King. FIRST WITCH All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glams! SECOND WITCH All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! THIRD WITCH All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1 Their prophecies pushed him to slay Duncan, ordered death to Banquo and Fleance, Lady Macduff and her son as well. The play does not tell us about their true identity; as we know that their appearance look like females but they have beard. Moreover, they are resembled to Fates in Mythology weave the fabric of human lives and then cut the threads to end them. We might question that the witches Just see human beings as their toy and wanted to destroy it by telling their future or it already had determined as destiny. For example; if there was no prophecies from the witches, does Macbeth still murdered King Duncan. And, yet the play does not give us an answer and we can say that this is a smart of Shakespeare. He makes the character of the witches out of numan perceptlon as tney represent In evil type. King Duncan, Klng 0T Scotland. H model of a righteous, warmhearted, provident ruler. He was betrayed by the original Thane of Cawdor in the early of the play. Then he appointed Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor with all of his trust but finally he died because of too much relied on Macbeth. From hence to Inverness, And bind us further to you. (1, 4, 44) Banquo: the noble generally and loyal friend of Macbeth. Banquo was a witness when Macbeth knew his prophecies from the witches. He also got the prediction from the witches as he would be a King of the Scottish. Banquo had ambitious thought as same as Macbeth but he did not allow his ambition beyond the morality. Although Banquo wanted to process the throne with his sinful thoughts but he did not take an action. Unlike Macbeth, he could not control his morality and passionate with power. His ambition led him to be a betrayer, murder and finally doom in his ends. Banquds character was opposite of Macbeth since the way he acted did not lead him to his downfall. Banquo also appeared as a ghost in late scenes. Macbeth always saw Banquds ghost as he was so guilty to order the death to him. Banquo has differed from Macbeth as his reactions towards the prophecies by the witches. Although he may think about possibility of the prophecies but he was able to control himself and did not start doing wicked things. Fleance: Son of Banquo. He went along with his father; Banquo and could escape when Macbeth ordered murders to kill them. By the end of the play, it did not state about him more such as where he had gone or what he had been doing. It might assume that he would come to Scotland and became the ruler following to the prophecies of the witches. Macduff: A Scottish nobleman. He was a big part of helping Malcolm restored his position as king. He was apparently hostile to Macbeth since Macbeth ordered death to his family. Fortunately, he could escape but his wife and son were killed cruelly so he was willing to get revenge Macbeth. Besides, he was in the prophecies by the witches; only man whom Macbeth must avoid. The fact was revealed in final scene that Macduff was not born regularly; he was born by caesarian section. So he was able to kill Macbeth according to the prophecies. Malcolm: the son of King Duncan. After his father died, he escaped to England where he wished to form his army to restore his throne, kingdom from Macbeth. His position represented as weak and insecure of his own power. We could infer that without helping from Macduff he might not get back the crown. Donalbain: the son of King Duncan Malcolms younger brother. After his father died, he fled to Ireland. Siward: Leader of the English army. He led about powerful ten thousand soldiers to beat Macbeth at the end of the play. He lost his son, Young Siward to Macbeth. Young Siward: The son of Siward, he died from fighting with Macbeth. He represented the belief that nobody who born from the woman could overcome Macbeth. Lady Macduff: Macduffs wife. The scene in her castle illustrated her character which is very contrast to Lady Macbeth. Lady Macduff seemed to not have much role in her family; unlike Lady Macbeth, she could convince and control her husband. Hecate: The goddess of magic. Her character was obscure of the underworld. She could command the three witches to tell Macbeth about his future in afterwards. Lennox, Ross, Menteith, Angus and Caithness: Noblemen of Scotland fighting Macbeth. Porter: The drunken doorman of Macbeths castle. concluslon According to Aristotles theory, Macbeth plot has appropriate length and the state of main character changes from bad fortune to good and reverse again. The plot has a unity; every action involve to each other reasonably and chronologically since the opening, conflict, climax and solution. Macbeth has a complex plot; every event took lace continuously and when they got into turning point, there were changes in sorts of Peripety and Discovery. The plot is completely in itself because only one of the obvious conflicts is the ambition. Besides, the changes and the decision of the main character can arouse audience to be fear and pity. In order for a character to be a tragic hero, the character must not be a saint nor a villain, he should have some virtues, have a tragic flaw, and have hubris. Macbeth meets all of these requirements, and can therefore be called a tragic hero. Work Cited _,Aristotle: Poetics. Aristotle: Poetics. N. p. , n. d. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. Barbara F. McManus. Outline of Aristotles Theory of Tragedy. Outline of Aristotles Theory of Tragedy. N. p. , Nov. 1999. Web. 28 Sep. 2013. McManus, Barbara F. Outline of Aristotles Shakespeare, William, and Stephen Orgel. Macbeth. New York: Penguin, 2000. Print. Peck, John, and Martin Coyle. A Brief History of English Literature. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2002. 62-68. Print. _,The Internet Classics Archive I Poetics by Aristotle. The Internet Cla ssics Archive I Poetics by Aristotle. N. p. , 2009. web. 29 sep. 2013. _,Quizlet. Greek Tragedy Terminology Flashcards. N. p. , 2013. web. 30 sep. 2013.