Macbeth As A Tragedy In William Shakespeare's Macbeth

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Macbeth is a tragedy, written by William Shakespeare during the 1500’s, when Elizabethan dramas blossomed. By saying it is a tragedy, it means that it is a play that begins, or contains, a protagonist that starts off high in stature in the beginning, but in the end, winds up a low life, and most of the time dead. This play takes place in England during the eleventh century. Macbeth and his friend, Banquo, run into these three witches that prophesize their future. Macbeth is promised Thane of Glamis (which he already is), Thane of Cawdor (which he becomes right after the interview with the hags), and that he will be King of Scotland. Banquo is told he will be greater than and happier than Macbeth, and will not be king himself, but he will have …show more content…
Macbeth learns this lesson in both the first and second acts very well. In act one, Macbeth write to Lady Macbeth, telling her of the three witches, and she then takes over as the one who’s word trumps all other’s. When he returns home, ahead of the rest of the group, they (mostly his wife) start to devise a plan on how to take care of King Duncan, in order for Macbeth to be king, which means killing him. Macbeth, “If it were done when tis done, then ‘twere well it were done quickly. If the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch, with his surcease, success; that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all – here…” (Mac, 1:7, 1-5). He is considering on making the move and murdering the King of Scotland. He says if it goes good, then all will go smoothly and he will become king, except his son, Malcom, is next in line to be King. Macbeth will have to overcome this step to become powerful. But after the king is killed, Malcom and his brother, Donalbain flee to separate countries, Malcom to England and Donalbain to Ireland. After all of this, Macbeth becomes king. So here, the witches predicted Macbeth’s future, and he did what he had to do in order to become king, and that had to do with killing the king …show more content…
In Macbeth 1:7, Lady Macbeth, asks her husband if what he had said to her was false, and that he wasn’t thinking clearly when he said it, like he was drunk. She says that he would like to do it, but he is too afraid of getting his hands dirty with the blood and all. He then retaliates, saying there is no better man for the job, and that no man could do it better. She asks him what beast forced him to behold this enterprise to her. She also says that he is the best man for the job, and if she is lying, then she will take their child by the legs, swing him around and bash his brains open. Macbeth, “Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale at what it did so freely?” (Mac, 1:7, 35-38). These were the tree important question s that Lady Macbeth had asked her husband after realizing that he wasn’t really into killing the king. But after her persistence and making him feel degraded and unmanly, he caves in and finally offs the king. This is what happens when we fall under pressure. We wind up doing things that we know are stupid and will regret in the

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