In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth
is a
tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral
coward: all
these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play.
At the
beginning of the play, Shakespeare defines Macbeth as a hero
very clearly.
From the courages in defense of Scotland is significant in
the opening
scene. However, he is very ambitious to be king. At the
beginning of the
play, he was loyal to the king. While he did imagine
of murder his mind
rejects it and said, "Why, if fate will have me king,
why, chance may crown
me," - Act I, Sc 3, p.44-45.
Yet increasingly his ambition defeated his
good nature. When Duncan
named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth
decided on the murder of
Duncan. When Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth
controled his ambition
for the time being and did not kill Duncan. The
failing of his decision
was soon reflected by Lady Macbeth who called him a
coward. From then on,
after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered into a
life of evil.
Since he overcomed his good nature, he no longer needed to
be with
his friend Banquo. He wanted to protect his ambition, by killing the
king, and now he killed Banquo, due to the prediction of what the witches
said about Banquo's son becoming the king. Macbeth wanted to ensure that
he would reach his ambition without problems.
Macbeth, who now no
longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth,
started to leave her in
ignorance of his plans. Near the end of the play,
Lady Macbeth sleepwalked
and had a dream about the killing of Duncan and
Banquo. She died because of
all this pressure and her guilt about the
murder. Soul of Macbeth have been
destroyed since Macbeth love Lady
Macbeth very much, as shown in Act I, Sc.
5, p.58, "My Dearest Love."
The power of nemesis is shown clearly at the
end of the play
when Macduff came back to murder Macbeth. Macbeth would
never have
guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for the killing
in
Macduff's household. This nemesis shows an additional force beyond
Macbeth's control. Because of Macbeth's strong beliefs in ambition
and
the witches, when he found out Macduff was not born of woman, and
also found
out the Birnam Wood had been seen moving, he realized that
the third
apparition had deceived him and he understood he was no longer
safe.
Through the development of this tragedy, Macbeth has turned
from a
fine natured person to an evil person. His ambition, strong
belief in the
witches, has brought him to a tragic end of his life,
and caused many people
to lose their lives.