Macbeth Tragedy Analysis

Tragedy is defined as an event that results in massive suffering, destruction and distress for all parties that are both directly and indirectly involved. When reviewing the story of Macbeth, many readers label the story as a tragedy, however because Macbeth is composed of a plethora of elements it cannot be simply defined by the word tragedy. The question at hand is, why should Macbeth’s death should be pitied when he himself has committed unspeakable acts. This is where Aristotle’s theory of tragedy comes into play. It aides in proving that Macbeth is in fact a tragedy. Aristotle’s theory of tragedy is composed of three specific elements anagnorisis, peripeteia and harmartia, which can all be found in Macbeth. Macbeth who is the heroin of the story suffers from the fatal flaw of both ambition and insecurity, that leads to his downfall, Lady Macbeth feeds at this, and picks away at macbeth’s heroine figure, leading him to commit heinous murders.
An element of the …show more content…
In the beginning she is depicted as a cruel villainess. It is during the demise of her sanity that we begin to see her as human. We recognize that her steely resolve was but a front to bolster her husband’s courage. To the outside world she continues to wear a veil of courage. Yet, when she is alone she is able to grasp the futility of her actions, “Nought’s had, all’s spent, When our desire us got without content.”

We are further able to sympathize when we realize that while her ambitions were cruel, they were unselfish. After all, it is for Macbeth which she seeks the crown. Though she prompts him along through the heinous plots, it is all for him, “It is of him she thinks: she wishes to see her husband on the throne, and to place the scepter within his grasp. Magnificent at first, they become, in the one case, a monster of iniquity, in the other, a pathetic victim of hallucinations who ends by killing