Macbeth

Parminder Singh

Ms. Adrian

British Literature, hour 5

5 April, 2008

Macbeth the Tragedy

There have been many disputes over the fact of why Macbeth is a tragedy. Why should he have sympathy from others when he had killed innocent people? In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, it is considered a tragedy because of the fact that he was easily persuaded by women to think and do dark deeds when he was on a honorable and respectful path. .

After the encounter with the witches and having them say “All hail, Macbeth! Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!”(I. III. 48-49) Macbeth just laughs until “He bade me. From him, call thee Thane of Cawdor:”(I. III. 105) After this prophecy is fulfilled the three ugly witches have done their job on corrupting Macbeth‘s mind. The tragedy of this play starts when Macbeth is steered away from the right path of life. The three witches put ideas into his head that make him over-confident and use his ambitiousness as a way for him to lose his mind.

The three witches are not the only ones to make Macbeth see his future. Lady Macbeth sees the opportunity to become a queen and wants to take it. She knows that Macbeth is a loyal person to his king and country. Since Macbeth is insecure about his manhood, all Lady Macbeth had to say is “When you durst do it, then you were a man:/ And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.”(I. VII. 45-51) She aids him and makes him believe that he will succeed in killing King Duncan. His over-whelming ambition and lust for power is all that is needed for him to be influenced so easily by his wife.

After the first murder it is easier for Macbeth to arrange for the murder of his best friend, Banquo. After this all he is doing is wadding through blood because of the murders he has committed. The tragedy of this so far is the fact that his wife only used him just so she could become queen and the fact that the witches told him the prophecies to make him...