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Lost Nobility In Macbeth

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Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who defined an aristotelian tragic hero as a person of noble status who has a tragic flaw (normally hubris) and in result his or her personality suffers a fall from grace, however, they redeem a small measure of their lost nobility through self-awareness. In the drama Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is a noble war hero who is overwhelmed by pride and vaulting ambition for power. After receiving a prophecy from three witches, he murders King Duncan and soon after takes the Scottish throne. Throughout the story Macbeth is proven to become mentally unstable and is fulfilled with excessive amounts of guilt and paranoia. However, he manages to redeem a small amount of his lost nobility in a moment of self-awareness. …show more content…

Hail to thee thane of Glamis! … thane of Cawdor… thou shalt be king hereafter (Witches, Act I, sc III, 50-52)¨. These witches are telling him that he will be thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland. In the beginning of the play Macbeth is already thane of Glamis because it is the name of the area he rules over. Soon after he was told these prophecies King Duncan named him thane of Cawdor. Macbeth, shocked by the truth behind the witches prophecies, manages to make sure that he fulfills the third prophecy of becoming King of Scotland by killing King Duncan. Therefore, Macbeth’s noble background as thane of Glamis and multiple noble statuses ensure his nobility and this is a key aspect of an aristotelian tragic …show more content…

At the end of the play Macbeth begins to realize that he is a tyrant that is going to be remembered in a negative way due to all the things he had done. When Macbeth’s servant comes to alert him that ten thousand english soldiers are marching to Dunsinane, Macbeth reprimands him saying that he has nothing to be afraid of and the servant leaves. Immediately after this Macbeth calls for Seyton and says, “I have lived long enough. My way of life is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, and that which should accompany old age, as honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have…” (V, III, 26-29). This is Macbeth stating that he has realized that he is a bad person and a tyrant that can no longer look forward to the good things in life. Shortly following Macbeth’s realization Macduff kills him. Macbeth fought like a bear and did not back down; his tragic flaw led to his downfall and his moment of self awareness allowed him to redeem some of his lost nobility during his reign as King of

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675 Words | 3 Pages

Shakespeare’s renowned tragic play ‘Macbeth’ was written in the 1500s to entertain and please King James I of England. The story follows a once noble and valiant knight turned tyrannous called Macbeth in his journey as he navigates his way through the dangerous waters of ambition and greed that ultimately result in his death. Macbeth at the start of the play is a self-proclaimed ‘servant of the king’ but when he hears three witches’ prophecy that he is going to be king, his loyalties seem to flip. In his greed, he ends up murdering the current King of Scotland – King Duncan.

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“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day”, the repetition and personification used shows the significance is to show Macbeth 's discontent with life. Life no longer has meaning, now that the love of his life is dead. This also shows he doesn’t realize the contribution she made into making him a heartless killer and that now he is possibly oblivious to it all. Macbeth at the beginning was valued and was genuinely a noble man, where as to this point he has let himself be misguided to become a man of destruction now called a “tyrant, bloodier villain, dead butcher”. Macbeth refuses to take responsibility for all the pain he has caused and he doesn’t want to die without a fight, although this is the finish to all of Macbeths destruction he does not want to kill Macduff “Of all men else I have avoided thee; my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already” this metaphor used is showing how he already has so much blood on his hands, he doesn’t need any more, this can be seen as slight integrity but he still goes on to fight even though its already known of his deeds, “They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, but bear like I must fight the course”.

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The Thane of King Duncan, Macbeth hears a prophecy that he himself will become king later on in the future after King Duncan. This then leads to Macbeth being overcome by greed. Since Macbeth greeds to be king so bad, he murders King Duncan and takes his place of the throne. Macbeth starts to live with so much guilt and fear that he commits even more murders to have his power safe. Macbeth is so confident in the prophecies that his life comes to a downfall and he gets killed by the people he did wrong.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare set in Scotland about a murderous and vehement king who spirals on a path of destruction as he suffers from the consequences of determining his own fate. The predominant theme portrayed throughout the play is honor vs. loyalty. This is represented through the identification, actions, and quotes of numerous characters. To introduce the theme of honor vs. disloyalty, the characters Banquo and Macbeth exemplify traits that are equivalent with the moral of the story.

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(1.3.126-128). To reinforce what Banquo says, Macbeth already knows that he is thane of Glamis. There is a battle going on, and the thane of Cawdor died, but Macbeth has yet to hear wind about it. The witches could have knowledge about this, and just told him what he wants to hear about being king

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Macbeth and Macduff starts to fight and his punishment was that he got his head chopped off. Everyone started to say “here comes newer comfort”(5.8.53). This shows his punishment because he got killed for his actions. He killed multiple people and thought that he would get by with it. Everyone was relieved when they found out the Macbeth was dead.

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887 Words | 4 Pages

After a battle with rebel forces lead by Macdonwald in Act 1, Macbeth and Banquo were on their way to meet Duncan to give him a full report of the battle. However, as they walked, they came upon the witches who greeted only Macbeth until Banquo bade them speak to him. They hailed Macbeth the Thane of Glamis, which he was, Thane of Cawdor, which he did not yet know, and hailed him to be the future King. After the visit from the witches, Ross and Angus ran up to them and hailed him Thane of Cawdor, a title that Duncan gifted him for his part in winning the battle. Once the witches’ prophecy began to come true, Macbeth was smitten by the idea of being King, though he didn’t really want to kill Duncan and his sons for it.

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1631 Words | 7 Pages

Macbeth is a Shakespearean play about a man called Macbeth who becomes evil in a rise to power. The play has many characters who change throughout, in ways more than one. These changes add layers and meaning to the drama and are shown in many ways. A very important character in this play by William Shakespeare is Macbeth, who starts off as Thane of Glamis, and extremely loyal to King Duncan. This character’s first scene of the play is him after killing a traitor to King Duncan.

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760 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth loses his last scrap of morality when he orders the murder of innocents to enrage a rival. Shakespeare’s Macbeth shows that humans will do whatever it takes to achieve and maintain power by charting Macbeth’s descent from noble thane to murderous tyrant. Macbeth’s position of thane is already quite powerful but the need for more power overwhelms his loyalties to others.

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All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter.” (Shakespeare 17). Macbeth becomes startled and confused for he is the thane of Glamis, but not the thane of Cawdor and certainly not the king. The witches disappear and then Ross and Angus enter the scene also hailing Macbeth. They then state that he is the thane of Cawdor.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

Macduff went to England to find Malcolm, King Duncan’s son, who fled Scotland so he would not be killed like his father. Macbeth no longer considers Macduff loyal to him and becomes apprehensive. Macbeth consorts with the murderers again to kill Macduff’s family, “give to the edge o’ the sword his wife, babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (Act 4, Scene 1). When a messenger comes to deliver the news to Macduff, he becomes sad but Malcolm tells him “… Let grief convert to anger…” (Act 4, Scene 3).

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be so, for Banquo’s issue have i filled my mind: For them the gracious Duncan have i murder’d” (III.i.67-69). This is stating that Macbeth killed Duncan because he knew his kids would become kings after him, and Macbeth didn’t like this. Macbeth killed Duncan for his petty ways to get what he wants and to become king. Being angry and killing innocent Duncan are a way of being seen as the villain, which Macbeth had been proven to be. Macduff son thinks out loud to his mom “Young fry of treachery he has

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With every death, Macbeth has become more and more ruthless, he hasn’t even let it set in that he just ordered the murder of another of his friends. After this, Macbeth goes to see the witches demanding information, where he decides to murder Macduff until learning that he has fled to England. The second apparition tells Macbeth that no one borne of a woman can harm him, and Macbeths courage is spiked again, before he decides to murder Macduff's entire family. This is where Macbeth is officially at his worst, killing Macduff's entire family just because he

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760 Words | 4 Pages

This line shows one of Macbeth’s pride and how his false notion on the interpretation of the prophecy lead him to his downfall which is where we can sympathize with

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703 Words | 3 Pages

An Aristotelian tragic hero is a character born of noble birth and, by destiny, has a tragic flaw that inevitably leads to his or her downfall and redeems his or herself by the end of the tragedy. For one to consider a play a tragedy, the character of the play must be noble, and the play typically starts off with happiness and wealth. The play ends with sadness and the hero has a tragic flaw that causes their downfall. In The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth fits the definition of an Aristotelian tragic hero. Macbeth is a tragic hero because he starts by being loyal and trustworthy, develops a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall, and he redeems a small measure of himself before he dies.

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