Compare Macbeth And Romeo And Juliet

Shakespeare was born in the 16 century, he was the greatest writer in history, he wrote several of plays like hamlet, the tempest etc. In this ESSAY, I will be comparing and analysing the ways that William Shakespeare presents and develops the heroes’ flaws in ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’. These two plays are two of the most famous tragedies written by William Shakespeare; the reason why these plays are called tragedies is because the main characters who are great persons at the start, change their destiny when one of their most strong flaws show their face and for them to their irremediable downfall. At first glance the characters of Macbeth and Romeo would seem to have a little in common; Macbeth, a brave and loyal soldier that would …show more content…
Shakespeare uses of iambic pentameter reveals the troubled nature of Macbeth’s ambition. The verse that he speaks shows an irregular iambic pentameter; an irregular rhythm structure, ‘If it were done when tis done speech’. The iambic pentameter switches between being perfect and imperfect which reveals that Macbeth is not in control of his emotions. The speech shows that Macbeth is not in control of his emotions. The speech also shows Macbeth ruthlessness nature is at odds with his conscience. The fact that it is his thirst for supremacy that wins shows that his flaw will lead him to his own extinction. Furthermore Shakespeare uses the structure of the play itself to illustrate the protagonist’s flaw. At the beginning of the play, we hear that Macbeth decapitates the traitorous MacDonald and has, “fix’d his head upon their battlements”. At the end of the play Macbeth himself is a traitor and is beheaded, this shows a clear irony. This, through the parallel structure, Shakespeare shows how Macbeth’s ambition has resulted to his tragic end. In contrast, it is through the structure of Romeo’s speeches that Shakespeare empathises Romeo’s melodramatic nature flaw. Romeo experiences various Key emotional moments, the first moment is when he sees Juliet for the first time and another one is when he is telling his friend to let him enter to see Juliet’s corpse. In both …show more content…
Arguably, Macbeth’s major flaw is his thirst for supremacy. When Macbeth meets the witches at the start of the play after he executed MacDonald they confess to him and Banquo the prophecy, Macbeth’s first cloudy thought was, “Why do I yield to that that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature.” This determinates that in the instant that Macbeth thinks about taking the life of King Duncan even knowing and being conscious about the horrid consequences that it will bring meaning that his ambition is natural. Macbeth’s treasonous may have been led by his language for example ‘Horrid image’, by saying this he is demonstrating that he knows that his precarious thoughts are not the right thing to do and reveals that he is nervous about his own thought by saying, “Make my seated heart knock at my ribs.”. The use of the metaphoric expression of the heart ‘knocking at his ribs’ gives the impression that he is assuming that it is something that will happen. Shakespeare uses the medieval era as the setting of the play to explore the inevitable effect of Macbeth’s behaviour as far as a Jacobean audience would be concerned of the consequences of committing regicide. Contemporary audiences in Shakespeare’s times believed in the right of kings that means that kings