Macbeth's tragic flaw is what drives both his actions and those of Lady Macbeth. His ambition would not have been an issue, though, had the Three Witches not given him the first prophecy. When he first hears the prophecy, he is reluctant to believe it until he hears that he would become the Thane of Cawdor. Soon after meeting the Witches, Macbeth finds out the king has in fact given him the title of the Thane of Cawdor, confirming the Witches can see into he future. At this point, Macbeth's tragic flaw, which is the trait that will define him for the rest of the play, is on a path that cannot be altered as he subconsciously wonders how he will achieve the future the Witches show him.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth: Boundless Ambition
Macbeth is not content to sit idly by and wait for the prophecy to take place. With the urging of Lady Macbeth, he sets several plans in motion to secure his position as king. First he gets some chamberlains drunk so he can enter the king's chambers and murder him, then plants bloody daggers on some guards and kills them before they can fully protest their innocence. Finally, he hires assassins to kill Banquo and his son; and when Macbeth's ravings at Banquo's ghost push the nobles to question his sanity and the circ*mstances of his ascension, he ransacks Macduff's castle and kills his wife and son.
Lady Macbeth does not participate in the murders and is thus blind to the destructive nature of her own ambition. However, as the reality of their actions dawns on her, she and Macbeth both begin to feel the full weight of their sins and can see no way out.
Regret in Macbeth
Lady Macbeth exhibits physical and psychological signs of guilt. Famously, she hallucinates blood on her hands and tries to wash it off to no avail, uttering the famous line "Out, damned spot, out, I say." Since the blood is in her mind, however, she can never get rid of it. Macbeth suffers hallucinations as he sees Banquo's ghost at the feast shortly after killing him. He raves at an empty chair as far as the other nobles are concerned.
By the time of the final battle with Macduff's forces, Lady Macbeth has killed herself out of desperation and grief. Macbeth is on the verge of defeat, but has hope, since the Witches' prophecies regard factors such as the moving forest and that he cannot be killed by a man born of woman. However, Macduff reveals he was not born naturally, but had to be cut out of his mother's womb. The fight ends with Macbeth decapitated and Macduff as the next king.
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Why would we consider Macbeth a tragic hero? Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous examples of a tragic hero, though there is debate as to whether he is a "hero" in the traditional sense. At the start of the play, he has his ambition, but he is also a respected and loyal soldier working for King Duncan. He ascends to power via multiple murders and instigates a war, actions that are certainly villainous. Macbeth, though, fits with Aristotle's definition and experiences guilt, meaning he understands his actions are wrong and made without proper thought. He never gets the chance to redeem himself, either.
However, if we could consider Macbeth as a tragic hero, why not consider Lady Macbeth a tragic hero, too? Her character is often depicted as a dangerous temptress, and unlike Macbeth, she understands what they must do for Macbeth to become king. She experiences guilt later, but she starts off understanding her actions far more than Macbeth and never waivers. Macbeth, on the other hand, actually had doubts about what needed to be done.
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Like many of Shakespeare's plays, Macbeth has various quotes that have become iconic and shorthand for the themes of guilt and ambition.
- "Thou wouldst be great/ Art not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it." Lady Macbeth spells out Macbeth's ambition, but she frames it as a good thing and says Macbeth simply needs the will to carry on through with it. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero cannot know their flaw is in fact a flaw, and Lady Macbeth plants this idea in Macbeth's head.
- "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/ The multitudinous seas incarnadine." Macbeth has one of the first inklings of guilt after murdering Duncan. He is referring to both the physical blood on his hands and the metaphorical blood, which is the knowledge of what he has done. The fact that he wants to wash it off means he understands that what he did is wrong, but he feels it was necessary.
- "To bed, to bed. There's knocking at the gate. Come,/ come, come, come, give me your hand. What's done/ cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed." Lady Macbeth's final lines in the play subtly show her guilt and foreshadow her fate. She understands what she and Macbeth did and has come to terms with it, accepting that there is nothing more to do but accept her final judgement.
- "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" Lady Macbeth's famous line shows how her guilt is overcoming her. In the same scene, she also complains that she could not have known how much blood Duncan had, which shows that while she understood the actions that needed to be taken, she may not have fully understood the consequences or how difficult it would be to clean up physically and metaphorically.
- "To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus." Shortly after being made king, Macbeth utters these lines. While he has achieved his goal, he is no closer to being at peace. In fact, his ambition has left him paranoid, and he still does not understand that his ambition is becoming his undoing.
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William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a classic tragedy which follows the titular Macbeth on a quest to become king. Macbeth's tragic story begins when the Three Witches predict he will become King of Scotland. Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth urges him to act on the prophecy, but she is a tragic figure herself because she is blind to the destructive power other ambition. In the end, Macbeth becomes King but sets in motion events that lead to his death.
According to Aristotle, a tragic character must have a tragic flaw but must also be ignorant of that flaw. Macbeth sees his ambition as a positive quality The audience may have some sympathy for him, since he does experience regret over the murders.
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Video Transcript
Tragic Flaw
Today's news headlines scream 'Tragic Bus Accident' when a bus drives off the road, and several people are killed. Accidents are terrible, but, according to Aristotle, a philosopher in Ancient Greece, they're not tragic. For Aristotle and the English playwright William Shakespeare, true tragedy is personal and self-inflicted. In Section VI of his Poetics, Aristotle states that a tragic figure must have a character flaw that leads to his or her downfall. According to Aristotle, there are three main conditions that lead to a tragic end:
- A personality flaw
- Ignorance of the flaw
- Consequences suffered because of the flaw
In William Shakespeare's play, Lord Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are both tragic because they listen to bad advice and act on it. Their ambition, honor, and, ultimately, their guilt, lead directly to their deaths. They're people of conscience and honor who act immorally. This is their tragic flaw. It's only at the end of the play that they realize they brought the tragedy upon themselves.
Ambition
Lord and Lady Macbeth's ambition is like a worm that slowly eats away at their moral compass. In Act I, Scene 3, Macbeth and fellow general Banquo meet three witches, who plant this worm in Macbeth's mind. The Witches greet Macbeth with the title, Thane of Cawdor and claim he will be the King of Scotland: 'All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!' To Macbeth, both titles seem beyond his grasp. How would your respond if you met a stranger on the street who told you that you'd eventually become vice president and then president of the United States. Macbeth is skeptical of the three Witches' predictions and demands more information, but they vanish into thin air. While Macbeth and Banquo are discussing the strange women, a messenger arrives hailing Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor, proving one of their predictions true and planting a worm in Macbeth's mind.
Macbeth's thoughts immediately turn to murder. 'My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/Shakes so my single state of man that function/Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is/But what is not.' Macbeth, however, is not convinced that he needs to commit murder to fulfill his ambitions, nor is he morally ready to do so. He became Thane of Cawdor without any effort on his part, so perhaps he'll become king too with no effort. As Macbeth says, 'If chance will have me king, why, chance/May crown me/Without my stir.' But when King Duncan of Scotland names his own son Malcolm as heir, murder now seems the only solution. Still, Macbeth hesitates. Regicide is a great betrayal. However, Macbeth's wife continues to feed the worm and together they plot the king's death.
Honor
Macbeth and his wife are blinded by ambition. Again, according to Aristotle, the tragic figure must be neither completely virtuous nor evil. At the start of the play, Macbeth is not a bad person. He's a war hero, and the king rewards him for his valor. Macbeth's decision to kill his king does not come easily to him. As he tells his wife, 'We will proceed no further in this business:/He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought/Golden opinions from all sorts of people,/Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,/Not cast aside so soon.' Ambition wins out over honor. As the Macbeths are honorable people, the end result is guilt. Their guilt makes them tragic. Honor is the tragic flaw that causes the guilt.
Guilt
People lacking a sense of honor usually do not suffer from guilt. Guilt eventually wreaks havoc on the Macbeths and serves to unhinge Lady Macbeth. In Act III, Scene 4, Macbeth finds himself haunted by the ghost of the murdered Banquo. In Act V, Scene 1, the famous mad scene, Lady Macbeth tries to rub imaginary blood off her hands. Macbeth, however, does not descend into madness like his wife. His honor forces him to defend himself and plot additional murders.
According to Aristotle, the hero's flaw is not obvious to him or her. Ambition so consumes the Macbeths that they do not see the guilt that will result from their dark deeds. As Macbeth says in Act III, Scene 3, 'To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.' The Macbeths are oblivious to the moral toll of their actions. Just before his last battle, Macbeth says, 'And that which should accompany old age,/As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,/I must not look to have, but, in their stead,/Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,/Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.' Macbeth puts ambition before honor, and in the end, it leads to deep guilt.
Lesson Summary
According to the ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, true tragedy is personal and self-inflicted. For a tragic end to occur, three conditions must be present. The character or person must:
- Have a personality flaw
- Be ignorant of the flaw
- Suffer consequences because of the flaw
In William Shakespeare's play, Lord and Lady Macbeth are tragic figures. They are basically honorable people who are ignorant of the tragic flaws, or defects of character, that ultimately result in their deaths. Ambition spurs Macbeth to murder the King of Scotland, while honor leads to his guilt over the act. It is this honor and guilt that causes Lord Macbeth to kill again and Lady Macbeth to go mad.
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