What is Macbeths greatest character flaw?

In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

The term tragic hero results from the Greek term hero which means a character who not only faces hardship and misfortune but one who also demonstrates and exhibits bravery in the face of danger. Unfortunately, in the end, the tragic hero also faces a bitter downfall. Sometimes, if not always, the tragic hero is a character that can conjure sad emotions like pity, anxiety, or distress. William Shakespeare chooses his lead character, Macbeth, to represent the tragic hero in his play Macbeth. Macbeth suffers from being the tragic hero of the play where he has numerous flaws but most noticeably his uncontrolled ambition and desire for power which leads to his tragic defeat. “Aristotle stated that a tragic hero must be of certain qualities: a…show more content…
Thus he lashes out at everyone, alienates his wife, loses her to her madness and despair and ultimately finds himself utterly alone having lost everything yet he is unable or unwilling to surrender or admit defeat and so instead he fights to the bitter end.” (Evelyn O’Connor, Macbeth’s Soliloquies). The tragic hero’s hardship is not always wholly deserved. The punishment does often exceed the crime. Some argue that Macbeth does not entirely deserve to die as a result of his actions. Macbeth is a play of tragedy. If one did not feel any type of sympathy for Macbeth, then the play would fail as a tragedy. For instance, an example of where the reader may have budding and impending feeling to sense some misfortune and pity for Macbeth appears in his dialogue directly before Macbeth decides whether or not he should go through with killing King Duncan. In his monologue, Macbeth struggles and worries where he pronounces, "First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed." (I.vii.13-14). Macbeth is the lost and fallen hero who is brave and audacious at the beginning yet loses his way throughout the

The play The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is about a humble Lord named Macbeth, who loses himself throughout his rise to power. In the beginning of Act 1 Macbeth happened across three witches who tricked him into thinking he will become king after the death of King Duncan. Soon after Macbeth hears the witches’ prophecy he learns that Duncan named his son Malcolm to be his successor. This drives Macbeth mad with greed and envy as he tells Lady Macbeth his future of being king. Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to devise a rigorous plan to assassinate the king. Macbeth murders the king and with the fear that their own lives might be in danger Duncan’s sons evacuate the country which left Macbeth to be the new king. Throughout Macbeths rule his guilt eats away at him which to paranoia. Macbeth is a tragic hero unlike Beowulf the perfect hero Macbeth has flaws about his personality that cause his own downfall. Macbeth demonstrates multiple traits that have led to his downfall, but none is more important than his ability to be persuaded otherwise known as gullibility. The most important tragic flaw that led to Macbeth’s downfall is that he was incredibly gullible. For example, when Macbeth came across three strange, unusual witches, they told him that he was to become king after the death of King Duncan. This labels him as gullible because Macbeth knew nothing about the three witches and had never seen them before but believed them anyway. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” (1. 3. 47-50). This line from the play demonstrates the witches informing Macbeth that he will be king. After the witches vanished Banquo helped convince Macbeth that he will be king. The witches mislead Macbeth and took advantage... ... middle of paper ... ...me king he did not have the desire and could not achieve this goal without others because he is simple minded. Therefore ambition is not Macbeth’s major flaw because he cannot think for himself and he had to be controlled to gain the achievement of being king. In conclusion Macbeth had many flaws the caused his downfall. His gullibility and naive nature was the main reason he was defeated by Macduff at the end of the play. Macbeth’s ambition only played a small part in his passage to become king if it was not for others he still would have been a lord and Malcolm would have been the new king but because Macbeth was simple minded and gullible it was easy to deceive him into causing his own downfall. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Prentice Hall Literature Missouri. Ed.

Grant Wiggins. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2010. 322-415. Print.

The Character Flaws of Macbeth Since The Tragedy of Macbeth was written there has been speculation about the cause of Macbeth's downfall. Readers ponder whether Macbeth's fall was caused by a flaw in his character, Lady Macbeth, or an outside force of evil. Although the witches set a certain mood and Lady Macbeth exerts a certain influence on him, Macbeth's downfall is caused by his own character.

Macbeth's tragic flaw in character was the paradoxical pairing of his ambition with his passivity. Throughout the play we see many examples of Macbeth's conflict between his ambition to attain the crown and his passive attitude towards the actions that are required to obtain it. Macbeth's ambition is first illustrated in his susceptibility to the idea of becoming king, introduced by the witch's prophecies. When the witches greet Macbeth by saying, "All hail, Macbeth! That shall be king hereafter" ( I, iii, 50)

Banquo observes that Macbeth seems "rapt" (I, iii, 58) and Macbeth says, "Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more?say from whence you owe this strange intelligence??.Speak, I charge you" (71-79). As scholar A. C Bradley observes, "The words of the witches are fatal to [Macbeth] only because there is in him something which leaps into light at the sound of them" ( 289). However, this ambitious attitude soon changes to passivity when he realizes the grave actions that are required of him. The contrast between Macbeth's ambition and his passivity-caused by reluctance to do evil-is depicted clearly by his actions and thoughts that occur before he murders Duncan. Macbeth focuses on "the deterrent, not the incentives"; he is plagued by the "spectral bloody dagger" rather than the though...

Stoll, Elmer Edgar. "Source and Motive in Macbeth and Othello." Ed. Leonard F. Dean. Oxford University Press: New York, 1961, 282-93.