Shakespeare's Macbeth: a Reaction

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SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH Page 1 Shakespeare’s Macbeth: A Reaction Chelsea Evans ENG 125: Introduction to Literature Andrea Pfaff August 6, 2012 SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH Page 2 Shakespeare’s Macbeth: A Reaction The human race is a very complicated thing. Humans can be elated, angry, saddened, confused and even terrified. It is something each of us feels on a daily basis. Shakespeare’s talent was watching the humanity in the everyday and extorting those emotions in his work. He had a feel for the complexity of human tragedy and Macbeth was not an exception. Shakespeare used his subtle talents to create a world with round characters with tragic flaws and most of all, excessive tragedy. A round character is defined as “a character whose personality is many-faceted and whose behavior is dynamic and often unpredictable” (Clugston 2010). This means that the main characters in this play, Macbeth for example, have many layers to it. These layers are often defined as strengths and weaknesses, range of emotions, and/or likes or dislikes. This makes a character believable for the audience masses. A character (for the most part) is human, and there are no humans who are great at everything. For example, Macbeth was given the title of Thane of Cawdor, for his achievements on the battlefield. A tragic flaw is defined as “a weakness or error in judgment that brings about a tragic hero's downfall” (Clugston 2010). Ambition was Macbeth’s tragic flaw. An idea was planted inside Macbeth’s mind by the three witches’ prophecy that he would be King. This was what drove Macbeth to madness, in a sense, stopping at nothing, not even murder, to achieve this goal. He is tempted to evil by the

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