Essay/Term paper: Macbeth: macbeth's ambition, courage, and moral cowardness leads to his death

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Macbeth

Macbeth: Macbeth's Ambition, Courage, and Moral Cowardness Leads To His Death


In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth is a
tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral coward: all
these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play.

At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare defines Macbeth as a hero very
clearly. From the courages in defense of Scotland is significant in the
opening scene. However, he is very ambitious to be king. At the beginning of
the play, he was loyal to the king. While he did imagine of murder his mind
rejects it and said, "Why, if fate will have me king, why, chance may crown me,"
- Act I, Sc 3, p.44-45.

Yet increasingly his ambition defeated his good nature. When Duncan named
Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth decided on the murder of Duncan. When
Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth controled his ambition for the time being
and did not kill Duncan. The failing of his decision was soon reflected by Lady
Macbeth who called him a coward. From then on, after the murder of Duncan,
Macbeth entered into a life of evil.

Since he overcomed his good nature, he no longer needed to be with his
friend Banquo. He wanted to protect his ambition, by killing the king, and now
he killed Banquo, due to the prediction of what the witches said about Banquo's
son becoming the king. Macbeth wanted to ensure that he would reach his
ambition without problems.

Macbeth, who now no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth,
started to leave her in ignorance of his plans. Near the end of the play, Lady
Macbeth sleepwalked and had a dream about the killing of Duncan and Banquo. She
died because of all this pressure and her guilt about the murder. Soul of
Macbeth have been destroyed since Macbeth love Lady Macbeth very much, as shown
in Act I, Sc. 5, p.58, "My Dearest Love."

The power of nemesis is shown clearly at the end of the play when Macduff
came back to murder Macbeth. Macbeth would never have guessed that Macduff
would come back for revenge for the killing in Macduff's household. This
nemesis shows an additional force beyond Macbeth's control. Because of
Macbeth's strong beliefs in ambition and the witches, when he found out Macduff
was not born of woman, and also found out the Birnam Wood had been seen moving,
he realized that the third apparition had deceived him and he understood he was
no longer safe.

Through the development of this tragedy, Macbeth has turned from a fine
natured person to an evil person. His ambition, strong belief in the witches,
has brought him to a tragic end of his life, and caused many people to lose
their lives.