To what extent does Macbeth deserve the audience’s sympathy or disgust? How does Shakespeare utilise devices to explore this idea?
What if one's preeminent asset, the very trait that elevated them to greatness, also harboured within it the seeds of their undoing? Would one feel a surge of compassion for having achieved something remarkable? Or repugnance for it leading to their eventual downfall? In his magnum-opus Macbeth, Shakespeare employs the dramatic elements of Greek tragedy to his own creation to evoke a cacophony of contrasting emotions from his audience. The play chronicles the gradual descent of the protagonist, Macbeth, into the abyss of power-corruption and utilises tragic flaw/ hamartia as a potent narrative device to imbue each consequence with profound significance. Shakespeare's utilisation of anagnorisis, the epiphanic moment of recognition, and catharsis, purging of emotions, adds a layer of depth to the audience's involvement in the tragedy. By showcasing Macbeth's anagnorisis, such as his acknowledgement of the fulfillment of the witches' prophecy, and the cathartic finale where his collapse and ultimate downfall instil a sense of emotional
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In Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth is consumed by guilt and haunted by the visions of the people he has killed, including Banquo and Lady Macduff. He exclaims, "I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" (3.4.136-138). The metaphorical image of being "in blood" suggests that Macbeth has become deeply tainted and corrupted by his actions, and the phrase "tedious as go o'er" utilises a simile to compare the difficulty of returning to the past with the effort of walking through a tedious and challenging path, contributing to the power of Macbeth's realisation and intensifies the audience's sympathy for his tragic