Macbeth, a Tragedy by William Research Paper

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Macbeth knows what he plans to do is wrong, even though his wife encourages his ambitions. He acknowledges that what he is going to do is so evil that he does not to see the hand that will do the deed. At the same time he diminishes the deed, saying that a wink of the eye will be enough to block the crime from his view, showing that desire for power has overcome his sense of right and wrong:

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." (I.5 50-53)

Macbeth's wife eventually kills King Duncan, and goes mad from the resulting guilt. Meanwhile, Macbeth, although a brilliant general, makes a poor king, especially when compared to Duncan. Eventually he is killed by his former friend MacDuff.

The play Macbeth is a true Shakespearean tragedy because the characters control their fate through the choices they make. Lady Macbeth did not have to go mad. She chose to kill the king and paid a high price for her action.

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Macbeth wanted the crown enough to kill Duncan himself if his wife had not done it, and their plot caused his downfall from celebrated hero to traitor. Macbeth is a good example of a Shakespearean tragic hero because he did start out as a hero, acclaimed by the king he had murdered as a brave and loyal soldier. If Macbeth could have been satisfied with those considerable achievements there would have been no tragedy and no tragic hero. Instead, his actions caused not only his own downfall but chaos for all involved.

SOURCES

Bradley, A.C. "Shakespearean Tragedy," in GLOBAL CAMPUS: Distance Learning at Columbus State. Accessed via the Internet 8/25/06. http://global.cscc.edu/engl/264/TragedyLex.htm

Cahn, Victor L. Shakespeare the Playwright: A Companion to the Complete Tragedies, Histories, Comedies, and Romances. Oxford: Praeger, 1996.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Accessed via the Internet 8/25/06. http://www.william-shakespeare.info/script-text-macbeth.htm.....

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