The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 11th grade February 2008

download word file, 2 pages 0.0

Downloaded 1746 times

Evil plays a great role in Shakespeare?s Macbeth. Such evil as ambition, disrupting nature, and murder are what made Macbeth a tragedy. Though Macbeth?s death is what might make the play a tragedy, there are other reasons as to why this play came to a tragic end.

Macbeth's downfall is caused by his ambition. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth seems to be a brave, noble, and loyal thane. For his desire to become king, he is willing to turn his back on what he knows to be right. Lady Macbeth, because of her ambition for her husband, uses all her strength and intelligence for evil purposes.

The evil that has led Macbeth to kill Duncan is another factor that makes Macbeth a tragedy. Lady Macbeth continually questions Macbeth?s manhood and calls him a coward when he tries to back away from murdering Duncan. After that, all Macbeth wants is a clear path while he?s king. He kills anyone he feels is in his way. By the end of the play, both characters are destroyed from within. Lady Macbeth goes insane and commits suicide and Macbeth feels that life is meaningless, and the character he was once at the beginning is no longer there.

The witches? predictions also contribute to the tragedy since they caused chaos among time and the natural order. Their predictions are what led Macbeth to think that he would be King. Knowing that he would be king, he rushes into things, disrupts the natural order of the world. In nature, everything happens in its own time. When Macbeth takes the crown by murder, he upsets the natural order of his life-and the order of Scotland. Without the rightful, God-given king on the throne, all society is disordered. Even nature becomes upset: it's dark during the day; horses eat each other; owls kill falcons. These omens were signs that nature was not pleased with Macbeth?s acts.

Ambition makes Macbeth turn against his beliefs. He?s so anxious to be king that he feels he can?t wait for the throne to come to him so he goes to it and ignores the order of time. He goes on a killing spree so that no one else could claim the throne. In short, Macbeth?s ambition to be king led him to murder Duncan causing disorder since he didn?t let nature take its own course, making Macbeth a tragedy.