Tragedy


Macbeth


Tragic Flaw In all tragedies, the tragic hero has a flaw that contributes to his/her downfall. This allows the audience to learn some moral lesson and also understand how a great figure can experience such a dramatic reversal of fortune. Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his excessive ambition. This grows out of his pride in himself as a man. It is his overwhelming desire to be King of Scotland that encourages him to kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth is reluctant to commit the crime, the lure of power is irresistible to him. Both thewitches and LadyMacbeth play on this aspect ofMacbeth’s personality to encourage him


to do evil. The witches promise him greatness while Lady Macbeth directly appeals to his desire to be king: ‘Wouldst thou have that /Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life’ (Act 1, Sc 7).Macbeth recognises this flaw within his character but does little to control it: ‘I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on the other’ (Act 1, Sc 7)


Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to seize the crown by presenting the murder of Duncan as a courageous act. This appeals to Macbeth’s pride in himself as a man: ‘When you durst do it, then youwere aman! /And, to bemore thanwhat youwere, youwould / Be somuchmore theman’ (Act 1, Sc 7). Here the idea of being a man is bound up with the prospect of power. Lady Macbeth criticises his reluctance to murder Duncan as cowardice: ‘Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valour / As thou art in desire?’ (Act 1, Sc 7). Macbeth is encouraged to realise his ambition to be king as it is equated with masculinity and bravery. He becomes morally blinded by his overwhelming ambition to be king. This sets him on a path


towards self-destruction. Shakespeare highlights that this is indeed a character flaw within Macbeth through comparison with Banquo. Banquo is also given a favourable prophecy by the witches but does nothing to bring it about. This is because Banquo lacks the excessive sense of ambition that Macbeth has. As a result, he is suspicious of the witches’ motives: ‘And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence’ (Act 1, Sc 3)


In contrastwith Banquo,Macbeth undergoes amoral descent.His overwhelming guilt, spiritual collapse and eventual death all stem from his tragic flaw.


Tragic Act Macbeth’s tragic flaw leads him to murder Duncan. This tragic act sets him on a path of self- destruction and begins a bloody chain of events: the murder of Banquo, the slaughter of Macduff’s family. It ends in Macbeth’s fight to the death with Macduff. Macbeth himself suspects that his murder of Duncan will be his downfall: ‘we but teach


Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice To our own lips’ (Act 1, Sc 7)


After he commits the crime,Macbeth instinctively recognises howthe consequences of his crimewill only grow. As he tries to wash Duncan’s blood from his hands, he imagines the pool of blood spreading and changing the colour of the ocean:


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