Protagonist’s Destruction How much damage can a person’s tragic flaw cause? In the play, tragic flaws play a huge role and are a driving force in the plot. Tragic flaws as they sound can cause huge amounts of damage depending on the flaw and in Macbeth, the flaws he uses lead to several characters’ demises. In the play, the main character Macbeth has many tragic flaws, and each one plays a part in his downfall. He receives a prophecy that causes him to become power hungry and increases the danger of his tragic flaw. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition to express the theme of the corrupting power of ambition when Macbeth kills Duncan and Macduff’s family. Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition causes him to kill Duncan which connects to the theme of the corrupting power of ambition because that action is the first step to his destruction. Macbeth is unsure about killing Duncan, but when his wife creates a plan, he says, “ I am settled, …show more content…
When Macbeth hears that Macduff has fled to England, he says, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to th’edge’oth’ sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him his line,” (Shakespeare 4.1.150-153). Earlier, Macbeth receives a prophecy claiming that he should beware of Macduff. However, after he hears about Macduff fleeing and hearing the prophecy, he declares that he will go into Macduff’s home and kill everyone to secure his place in power. This ambitious move by Macbeth comes back to hurt him later in the play. By killing Macduff’s family, it causes Macduff to become angry and seek revenge. When Macduff returns to England, it is he who kills Macbeth out of anger due to the death of his family. In the end, Macbeth’s corruption of ambition causes him to make a risky move that costs him his life and brings his
Before Macbeth meets with Macduff, he thinks of ways to handle Macduff so he would no longer be a problem. Macduff was considered to be a problem because he left the kingdom in order to assist an opposing force. Macbeth states “Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate.” (Act IV scn i, ln 82-84) He wants to make sure Macduff will not be a problem; he wants to keep Macduff out of his way. In this scene Macbeth is attempting to discover ways to inforce his superiority through the phrase “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babies, and all unfortunate souls.” (Act IV scn i, ln 150-152) He hired men to kill Macduff’s family, so he will be depressed and will grieve; he wants to keep Macduff out of the way of him still being King. The main reason he did this, however, was to exert his leadership over Macduff and send a message. This paragraph explains how Macbeth was disloyal to Macduff and how he did anything to keep Macduff out of his way, but things did not turn out as he
While Macduff is in England, Macbeth learns of the abandonment of Macduff's family and resolves to have them murdered. When Macduff learns of the murder of his family, he is motivated by Malcolm to get revenge. It is this that pushes Macduff to the edge and forces him to go after Macbeth himself. The power of Malcolm's taunting that he must take it like a man and his own love for his family makes him hate Macbeth to the fullest extent, and eventually he succeeds in killing him.
They enter the castle in scene seven and Macduff seeks out Macbeth, ignoring all other beings there. "Let me find him, Fortune! And more I beg not" (5.7). They finally meet and Macbeth tells him to leave, as he already has so much of his blood. Macduff says that he has no words for him and that he will let his sword be his voice. Macduff then tells Macbeth that his prophecy does not protect from him, as he had to be removed from his mother by C-section and thusly is not “Woman-born”. He then fights Macbeth to the death. He reappears in scene nine with Macbeth’s head and announces that Malcolm is now the king of Scotland.
The tragic downfall of Macbeth was not determined by one single cause. It was rather caused by a combination of three dark forces: supernatural, external, and internal. Supernatural forces are represented by the three witches and dark powers behind them. Lady Macbeth is an outer force that pushes Macbeth towards the bloody deeds. Macbeth's own ambition acts as deciding power in brining him to his downfall.
Ambition may also be pride, which is condemned in the Bible: “the pride of man shall bring him low” and “pride goeth before destruction, and a high mind before the fall.”. This shows how Macbeth is continuing to think about God as he feels his ambitions may be too high and his downfall, which agrees with the Bible. Killing Duncan will mean reaching his ambition and gaining pride, which could be the cause of his downfall. This is also a proleptic marker that killing Duncan will lead to Macbeth’s end.
Macduff’s burning desire for revenge towards Macbeth was encouraged by many forces. As it is known, Macbeth murders Duncan which causes Malcolm to flee to England because he fears for his life. Following Duncan’s death, Macduff was the first to discover Duncan dead, and it can be inferred that he was so angry and mortified that it sparks apprehensiveness towards Macbeth’s acquiring the throne. As he realizes that he does not agree with Macbeth’s reign, he decides to leave his family behind in Fife to go to England to find Malcolm, the true heir to the throne. His plan is to conspire with Malcolm to build an army against Macbeth. Macduff was so loyal to Scotland and the true ruler that he was willing to abandon his family in the process of freeing Scotland from tyranny. As he meets with Malcolm, Ross delivers the news that
Macduff's ambition in this play was to be loyal to his country by taking out Macbeth. Too much of his time is spent plotting against Macbeth, which throws off Macduff’s values. He abandons his family and left for England to find Malcolm so he could wage war against Macbeth. Later, Macbeth hears that the recent absence of Macduff at the banquet and at Duncan’s funeral was because he had fled to England, to find Malcolm. So Macbeth reacts to this by sending murderers to kill Macduff's family. Once Macduff finds out that his family is dead, he starts to exhibit some emotion. At this time he is about to wage war on Macbeth with Malcolm; Malcolm say's to Macduff "Dispute it like a man"(4.3.259). Macduff then replies,
The play was set in a time in which there was Kings that ruled certain areas and many people wanted to be kings. In some cases people wanted to be a king so much that they would eventually kill someone for that title. The play of Macbeth is an example of how someone wants something so bad that they will do anything to get the thing that they want. Some of the things that Macbeth does is not what people would do in today's world but actually happened in that time. In Macbeth there were many different acts of betrayal including the Thane of Cawdor of Scotland betrays Scotland and fights on Norway's side, Macbeth betraying the King, and also Macbeth betraying his friend Banquo.
Towards the end of the play, once Macbeth’s wife has died and the battle is drawing closer, Macbeth shows the desire for some good that may have been. He wishes for a normal life in which he would have lived to an honorable age, but he recognizes that he has deprived himself of this. Even when Macbeth hears that the prophecy of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane has been fulfilled, he rejects this idea and fights on until he realizes that Macduff wasn’t born in a natural birth but instead was "untimely ripped"(V.viii.19-20) from his mother’s womb. When Macbeth hears of this, he realizes what dastardly deeds he has done and how he has underestimated the power of the witches. He fights on, knowing it is only a matter of time before he is slain.
Shakespeare is one of the most influential and famous playwrights of modern times. A major reason his work is loved by so many is because of his insightfulness into the human mind, and one of Shakespeare’s greatest works demonstrating this is Macbeth. This famous play is about nobleman and military man Macbeth and how his tragic choices lead to his inevitable demise. The first and most trying choice that Macbeth has to make is whether or not to kill Duncan, the king of Scotland. Macbeth has to make this decision while being pulled in different directions by two conflicting forces. The force pulling him away from murder is his loyalty and humanity towards Duncan. The other force pulling him towards murder is his loyalty towards Lady Macbeth
Macbeth's tragic flaw in character was the paradoxical pairing of his ambition with his passivity. Throughout the play we see many examples of Macbeth's conflict between his ambition to attain the crown and his passive attitude towards the actions that are required to obtain it. Macbeth's ambition is first
Macbeth’s ambitious ways takes over his whole inner self throughout his time of first wanting to be king. Macbeth was thought to be a great leader and war hero before he was king. Macbeth was hatched an idea by three suspicious witches in whom he had never come in contact with before. They told him that he would one day become King of Scotland. After the witches disappeared, he got to think a lot about what they told him and pondered the words they spoke. Macbeth sends a letter to his wife about his feelings of what he had heard. When Macbeth returned back to his castle his wife wanted to lead him down a dark path and feed his ambition. Macbeth decides he wants to go after the crown after consulting his wife. "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on th'other...." (Act I, scene vii) This shows that Macbeth’s only reason to kill Duncan is for his ambition. Macbeth ends up killing Duncan. The way Macbeth killed Duncan made it a great crime scene. Macbeth still
Macduff heard about the death of his entire castle and became committed to revenge. “But gentle heavens, cut short al intermission: front to front bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape, heaven forgive him too!” (Shakespeare IV.iii.66) Macbeth received a second set of prophecies that gave him a very large and false confidence. “What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know all mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: `fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman shall e’er have upon thee.’ Then fly, false thanes, and mingle with the
Desperate, Macduff “ is gone to pray the holy (English)king upon his aid”. Not only is Macduff putting his own life in danger, but he is also leaving his wife and kids very vulnerable. Macduff, however being the patriotic man, chooses to do what is his best for his country and follow his conscience in extension. Although his wife and kids do perished under Macbeth’s reign, Macduff is ultimately awarded by the new title he earns from Malcolm when Macbeth is finally overthrown. This might not cover the loss of his family, but Shakespeare is implying that he and his family will be reunited in heaven. Macduff did in fact follow his conscience in making decisions that are hard costing even the lives of his family, but he is able to continue to lead a peaceful life and be reunited with his family once in heaven while Lady Macbeth, most likely, soul is forever tormented by the scorching flames.
On page 121, Macbeth declares he will kill everyone in Macduff’s household by saying, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise,/Seize upon Fife, give to th’edge o’th’ sword/His wife, his babies, and all unfortunate souls/That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;/This deed I'll do before this purpose cool./But no more sights!- Where are these gentlemen?/Come, bring me where they are.” (4.1.150-156) In this quote, Macbeth is telling the reader/audience he is going to send someone to kill Macduff’s household in order to bring him back to Scotland. Macbeth has no hesitation about committing this murder, unlike the other two. He is doing this so he won’t seem weak and so he’ll have a better chance at remaining in power.