Gist of the story

Macbeth is an article about Shakespeare’s play, based on the article of historical Scottish king. It was first performed by a troop in 1606. The story signifies about physical and psychological effects of ambition focused in politics of the powerful signatures in the society who thrive to seek power of for their own sake. The play clearly signifies the playwright’s relationship with his sovereign. A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives prophecy one day from the trio of witches that the person will become the king of Scotland. His wife poured him ambition about his possibility of becoming the king of Scotland and suddenly he became greedy for the thrown, later he decided to murder the King Duncan. He was the then king of Scotland. After he murdered King Duncan, he thought that he will succeed King Duncan and would become the king of Scotland. Later Macbeth was wracked in guilty and paranoia. He was forced to commit more number of murders in order to protect himself from suspicion. After his madness of crime, he then became a tyrannical ruler. This turned into bloodbath and civil war, which took Lady Macbeth and Macbeth into madness and death. While Macbeth was aware of the part of prophecy, he was feeling uneasy with the particular situation. He decided to invite Banquo to a Royal Banquet, which was the climax of the story where he came to know that Banquo and his son Fleance was about to riding out of the palace that night. Macbeth understood his position that he might be in danger position, went to kill two of them due to suspicion of fear.

He sent two men to kill them and later on send the third person. Macbeth always feared that his position might become insecure, as long Banquo is alive. Later he became a tragic hero; he later on changed himself and went to do welfare for the people of the nation. However, in the end he ended up as a tragic hero.  

Macbeth as a tragedy

Macbeth is tragic hero because he mistakenly performed a grave error of judgment as well as his ambition caused him to murder King Duncan. This scenario leads to chaos, destruction, greed, hatred and eventually his own death. According to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, the role of the tragic hero shall begin with the paly of high status individual, which will incline his fall from grace carry an impact. He believed that the value of tragic hero happens when the aim is to provide high emotion to audience. It is easier to prove as showing something happen terrible to the king or a great person in the society. In the case of Macbeth, the play begins where he is a wealthy person and has higher status as a Scottish noble man. He distinguished himself and earned the throne of the king in Scotland. He earned the king’s favor in due reason to his bravery and skills of a warrior. Macbeth killed his ambition by killing Duncan to get the power of the thrown. He was a noble man and could have avoided his fate by changing up his mind, which he thought many a times. He was pressurized by his wife and the three witches to kill Duncan and get his power of the thrown by becoming the king of Scotland. Hence, his fate was unavoidable.

Theme of Macbeth

i) The corrupting power of unchecked ambition

The main theme of Macbeth paly was the destruction occurred when ambition goes ignored by moral constraints. Macbeth was a brave Scottish general who do not practice evil deeds, whereas he is focused on noble causes. However, he committed crime while he killed Duncan to take the charge of the kingdom. During the end of the play, he is in a worst condition. He was in a kind of frantic and boastful madness. The greed of power and ambition caused him to undergo crime, which he did not commit ever in his life.

ii) Relationship between cruelty and masculinity

Macbeth and lady Macbeth as allowing the political delivering into chaos describes manhood. In this play, there is a dwell in gender issues. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning about his masculinity and excelled that she feels ashamed for his husband because he do not have guts to kill Duncan and take over the kingdom. This is how both of them equate masculinity into cruelty by rendering aggression.

iii) Difference between Kingship and Tyranny

Duncan is referred as the King whereas Macbeth is known as Tyranny. The difference between two types of rulers depicted in the play, Duncan had loyalty, reproachable qualities and had the personality of judging people. However, the personality of Macbeth is somewhat different. He has thirst for personal power and thrives for violence. He was different ago; Macbeth was considered as a noble person and had a separate personality earlier. Duncan was loyal to the interest of the common people, comfort and affection. He used to reward offers, prices and benefits to the common people. Macbeth did not provide any justice to the common people. He always thrived of his benefits and success.

Moral of Macbeth

Moral of Macbeth focuses on finding the intent of Shakespeare’s play. It is also important to analyze what wrongs did Macbeth did in the entire story. The unrestrained ambition and thrust of power made him commit the crime by killing the king of his nation. Hence, his ambition proved to be a great flop. The concept of fate proved to be another idea where it is relevant in the story. The first prophecy proved true, where he attempted to undertake his fate in his own hand. He decided to take the fate in his own hands and made sure that he will fulfill the next prophecy. If he had let it decide by the nature then Macbeth would become the king.