It is proved in Macbeth that central characters are mainly of noble birth making their fall greater. The character of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is in all ways a perfect example of a tragic hero, his greatness and bravery in battle for his country ultimately leads him to be a great thane. He is related to the King ‘O valiant cousin’, and has taken the title of Thane Of Glamis after his father died. As he is related to the king he is part of a blood lane chosen by God to represent him.
At the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as a brave man whose performance in Scotland’s battle is celebrated. This is clearly evident courage in defence of Scotland in the opening scene. The captain describes Macbeth’s actions as “Cannons overcharg’d with double cracks…Doubly redoubled stokes upon the foe”, with such positive feedback Duncan cannot help but be joyous towards Macbeth.
It is common to a Shakespearean tragedy for the hero to have a tragic flaw, for example:
- King Lear was driven by pride
- Hamlet by revenge
- Julius Caesar by greed
- Othello by jealously
And Macbeth is no difference, he is driven by ambition.
Macbeth is loyal to the king and proves this by winning the battle for Duncan and his country, however Macbeth’s ambition to become King is too strong and his morals start to slip and every word spoken from the witches his morals become non-existent. On returning from the battle Macbeth and Banquo encounter three witches who tell them of their future, Macbeth is told “hail Macbeth…Thane of Glamis…hail Macbeth…Thane of Cawdor…hail Macbeth…King thereafter.” This means he may become thane of Cawdor and King, with all the praises he receives and learning of his new title, Macbeth’s ambition to become a powerful King cannot help but increase.
As in most Shakespearean tragedies the central character identifies himself with audience through soliloquies. Throughout the book Macbeth has many soliloquies, some examples are:
- “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,” Act 1, Scene 3 line 127- 141
- “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well
It were done quickly” Act 1, Scene 7, line 1-28
- “The prince of Cumberland: that is a step” Act 1, Scene 4, line 48-53
When Macbeth sees that his rising in power is associated to the witches’ prophecies, his morals become non-existent for he is easily persuaded into what he wants to hear. For a moment Macbeth’s takes over, however when Macbeth thinks about killing Duncan, the king, his morality takes over proving to the audience that he does still have morals and has taken no notice of the witches. However this changes dramatically during the play as the audience start to feel a sense of waste and are disgusted by Macbeth’s essays.
The central character is mainly of noble birth, like Macbeth is Thane of Glamis, making the fall from grace (decasibus) greater. Ambition is the flaw that makes Macbeth fall as well as his wife’s thoughts about becoming King. Even when Macbeth hears that Malcolm will be the success to the throne his moral decision is clouded by his ambition “ The prince of Cumberland: that is a step-On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, for in my way it lies.” Wanting to become King and believing the witches, he will not let anything get in the way of his future. Once Macbeth arrives home his plans change once again, knowing her husband is known for going back on his decision, Lady Macbeth decides to be the push he needs to go through with his plan of killing Duncan. Deciding to kill Duncan is the start of Macbeth’s decasibus as he is hurting innocents in the process to satisfy his ambition. After Duncan is killed Macbeth feels a sense of waste in himself and guilt as he releases what he has done. As Macbeth murders more and more people he hurts
