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Macbeth Tragic Flaw Essay

1006 Words5 Pages

A tragic flaw is defined as a character flaw that ultimately leads to the character’s downfall. One of the most iconic examples of how a tragic flaw leads to a character's downfall is in the drama, Macbeth. Macbeth is a drama written by William Shakespeare that follows the actions and consequences of the protagonist, Macbeth after he kills the king. After Macbeth kills the king, his whole world spirals and he finds himself unable to control his lust for power. He then does everything that he deems necessary to remain in control of the kingdom. However, the question of what ultimately leads to Macbeth channeling his tragic flaw is one that is highly debated. Some people believe that Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, is responsible for Macbeth’s …show more content…

She excuses his strange behavior to everyone else by saying “My lord is often thus and hath been from his youth ”(Shakespeare 3.4. 56-57.) and then further reassures them by saying “this fit is momentary; upon a thought he will be well again.”(Shakespeare 3.4.58-59.) This act of excusing Macbeth’s behavior leads him to go mad with grief. When Macbeth learns later in the play that Lady Macbeth has committed suicide, he finally decides that he can no longer live with the remorse that is inside of him. He accepts MacDuff’s challenge to a fight, one he knows is not in his favor, and ultimately sacrifices himself for the greater good of the kingdom. This act of self-sacrifice is the climax of the play and is what shows that Macbeth is accepting the responsibility for his …show more content…

Without Lady Macbeth and her scheming that lead to the first murder being committed, none of the rest of the play would have ever happened. Lady Macbeth’s constant encouraging and nagging on Macbeth is what causes him to go through with an assassination plan that he never wanted to go through in the first place. After the first murder is committed, Macbeth finds himself unable to stop in his lust for power. After murdering his best friend, Banquo, Macbeth starts to feel guilty and expresses his guilt to a room full of people at a dinner party, this expression is quickly thwarted by Lady Macbeth’s excuses that Macbeth has been like this ever since childhood. Without the actions of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s tragic flaw never would have seen the light of day, and the story of Macbeth would never have been

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Examples Of Tragic Flaws In Romeo And Juliet

674 Words | 3 Pages

Characters with tragic flaws are characters that decide their fate based on a decision they made during their life. Shakespeare loved to use characters with tragic flaws in his drama, Romeo, and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is about 2 lovers of different families that hate each other fall in love and their love leads to their death. Romeo and Juliet has so many characters with tragic flaws, but the ones that stick out the most are Romeo, a impulsive lover and his love tragedy, Tybalt, a hostile swordsman, and his hate for another family causes his death, and Mercutio, a cheerful friend of Romeo and his overprotective flaw. Romeo’s tragic flaw is his love life, which leads his carless death.

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Macbeth Greed And Ambition Quotes

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697 Words | 3 Pages

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824 Words | 4 Pages

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1878 Words | 8 Pages

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454 Words | 2 Pages

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621 Words | 3 Pages

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953 Words | 4 Pages

Often times, people go through rises and downfalls in their lives that they themselves are responsible for. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, both main characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, himself, are responsible for the downfall of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed. However, Shakespeare accomplishes in showing that Macbeth is more responsible for his own downfall than Lady Macbeth because he listens to the witches and follows his ambition rather than his conscience. To begin, Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed by insulting him when he changes his mind.

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Lady Macbeth plans to invite king Duncan over for dinner, but really she is convincing Macbeth to murder him. She influences him to kill Duncan because he is the only one standing in the way of Macbeth becoming king. Lady Macbeth plans the killing but convinces Macbeth to do the dirty deed. Lastly, Lady Macbeth is one of the causes of Macbeth’s failure because she repeatedly questions Macbeth’s manhood until she persuades him to make a bad choice. “When you durst do it then you were a man” (1.7.53-58).

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1049 Words | 5 Pages

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1036 Words | 5 Pages

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1064 Words | 5 Pages

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593 Words | 3 Pages

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