Macbeth Essay

This essay earned a 89/100. it was a lot of work considering the lines from macbeth for textual support.

Would you kill someone if it brought you power, and the ability to rule a country? Macbeth, one of the king’s generals wanted the power. Macbeth does many things throughout till he ends up in a crazed mess in the end. He goes from a thoughtful person who knew right from wrong, to a courageous ruler whose arrogance got the best of him. Throughout the play, Macbeth proves himself of a tragic hero. To prove that he is a tragic hero, he shows a supreme pride, and capacity for suffering. He also has a sense of commitment and vigorous protest, which eventually has an impact on him and other characters. Here are some facts that have been cited, to prove that he is a tragic hero.

Macbeth shows a supreme pride, because he knows that Banquo is an obstacle in his way of ruling. So, in order to maintain his place as king, he must kill him. Macbeth states that it is his duty to kill him, but not let anyone see his crime, for it will all be over when Banquo is dead. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is step / On which I must fall down or else o’er leap, / For in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires: / The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be / Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see”(Macbeth 1.4.48-53). Macbeth also shows a supreme pride when he is thinking about the proposal of Duncan’s murder. He thinks about how nothing bad can happen and he can only move forward as king. Macbeth thinks about his ambition and how it can lead to a downfall. “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition which o’er leaps itself / And falls on th’other”(1.7.25-25).

Macbeth’s capacity for suffering also leads him to be a tragic hero. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth has a personal moment of truth and thinks about what he is going to do. He imagines the dagger in his hand and thinks about the nightmares he will be invaded with. Macbeth is so obsessed with murder; he begins seeing things, and must be quiet and not wake anyone, for he would give himself away. If Macbeth does not hurry and do the deed of killing Duncan, he would only live longer. “There’s no such thing. / It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world / Nature seems dead, wicked dreams abuse / The curtained sleep; witchcraft celebrates”(2.1.47-52). Macbeth shows a very strong capacity for suffering after he has murdered Duncan. The guilt Macbeth feels makes him paranoid, and every sound he hears, makes him think about what he has done. This mentally drains him to where he believes that people know that he is a murderer. He feels that no matter how many times he washes his hands, the blood of Duncan will never come off them. Macbeth is very afraid to go back and see the beastly murder he has committed. “Whence is that knocking? / How is’t with me, when every noise appalls me? / What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes! / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red”(2.2.57-63).

When Macbeth reviews in his mind about the murder he committed, he has a sense of commitment. By this time, Macbeth is calm, neutral, loyal, and furious. He feels he had the right to kill Duncan, and makes excuses to why he needed to do it. He felt that there was a darkness and kind of love and hunger that made him a murderer. “There the murderers / Steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers / Unmannerly breeched with gore. Who would refrain / That had a heart to love, and in that heart / Courage to make’s love’s known”(2.3.108-112)? He also shows a sense of commitment when he talks about Banquo’s offspring. Macbeth says he killed Duncan for them. He mentions how he surrendered his soul to make them kings, rather than himself. “For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; / For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; / Put rancors in the vessel of my peace. / Only for them, and mine eternal jewel / Given to the common enemy of man. / To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings! / Rather than so come,