Macbeth is indeed a bit too complex to be categorised as a villain or a hero. The supernatural sisterhood of the three witches strike the key-note of the play at the very outset--'Fair is foul, and foul is fair'. This paradoxical formula summarises the Macbeth-world and also the character of the protagonist: Macbeth is both fair and foul, both villainous and heroic. Macbeth earns enviable admiration in winning the battle against the rebel Macdonwald & the invading Norwegian king. He is acclaimed as 'valour's minion' & 'Bellona's bridegroom'.
So they will "hover" in the fog, and in the dust and dirt of battle, waiting for the chance to do evil. Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair" is a paradox, a statement that appears to be contadictory but actually expresses the truth. The witches are foul, but they give fair advice. Macbeth seems like a hero, but he is a plotter and dastard. It is quite interesting to note that the words of the witches will have an echo in Macbeth’s “So foul and fair a day I have not seen”.
To what extent is Macbeth responsible for his downfall. Macbeth, despite the influences of the witches and Lady Macbeth is ultimately responsible for his downfall. In Williams Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, our protagonist Macbeth is a hero who destroys himself by his own evil and selfish ambitions. At the beginning of the play, our protagonist is pictured as an honourable, noble hero who has bravely led victory in battle. As the play continues, with the foreseeing witches and the deceptive lady Macbeth, he quickly turns from a courageous strong hearted man, to a tyrant king who is willing to commit the unthinkable to withhold his royal status.
She frames the Chamberlains for Duncan’s murder and constantly calls on darkness to mask her crimes. She also deceives herself into believing that she could participate in regicide and yet avoid the moral and psychological backlash, and by the end of the play she has become a victim of her own duplicity. Macbeth, the tragic hero, practices deception to achieve his goals, but increasing discards the need for deceit and instead chooses brute force and violence to protect his position. Ultimately, he too fails because of the trickery of the Witches and his desperate determination to delude himself. The Witches appearance in Act 1, Scene 1, sets the tone for the rest of the play.
As such Macbeth is morally vulnerable to them. The ways in which Shakespeare’s language gives us the imagery that the witches are so evil is when it quotes the oxymoron: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” This quote is important because it introduces the idea of deception which will be picked up in the imagery further through the play. Macbeth from the beggining of Act 1, scene 2, is always associated with blood. At first this is a positive view of imagery as it quotes: “Bellona’s bridegroom.” We get the impression that Macbeth is a “Noble hero,” other quotes such as: “ For brave Macbeth, he deserves that name” or “ O, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman,” show us that Macbeth is presented as a man that is one in a million. Further through the play however the image of blood is used to soak “ Devilish Macbeth,” a quote such as: “Untitl’d tyrant, bloody-sceptr’d” show this.
Hamlet – Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural to enhance and shape the tragic world of Elsinore The supernatural is something of a keystone in directing the tragic events of the play; Shakespeare employs its over shadowing presence as a device to explore the terrifying world of the unseen, the untouchable and the unknowable. In Act 1 Scene 1, uncertainty and insecurity are crucial elements in the building of tension and the foreshadowing of disaster. The play even begins with a question: “Who’s there?” Bernardo’s terror of what he cannot see or touch, even in the most mundane sense, is deeply significant in this private environment (the battlements) where fears and uncertainties fester and grow without the need to present a picture of poise in the face of the comforting known; Shakespeare’s juxtapositioning of the inherently public court in the following scene serves to emphasise this and undermine the illusion of order presented in the court. The opening scene progresses until the source of the tension becomes evident: a “thing”, a “dreaded sight”, an “apparition”, an “illusion”, an “erring spirit”; Shakespeare’s use of tautology and refusal to call it ‘Ghost’ shapes our understanding of the supernatural: that we do not understand it and its definition is embedded in the perception of each character on stage. Shakespeare’s elusive language also relates to the issue of the morality of this ghost: J.A.
Hamlet feels heartbroken when his mother, Gertrude marries the new King, Claudius. Hamlet is also seen as a tragic hero because he faces and accepts death with honor. However, it is not just Hamlet that could be seen as a tragic hero, Ophelia and Gertrude can also be seen as tragic heroes. Aristotle defined tragedy as 'the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself'. A tragic hero will effectively gain our fear and pity if he is a good mixture of good and evil.
Essentially, they are both great mean who have a position in society but each has a fatal flaw. Macbeth’s fatal flaw is ambition and Jekyll’s fatal flaw is professional vanity. Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s sense of evil through soliloquy and imagery, and Stephenson presents Jekyll’s evil through different types of narrative non-linear, third person, first person narrative and imagery. At the start of the play the tragic hero Macbeth is portrayed as loyal to the King and a brave solider. Macbeth is portrayed as a "good being" because he fought for his country and for his king.
Madness is a vital plot element in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both young Hamlet and his love Ophelia appear mad throughout the play’s duration, but only Ophelia has a genuine affliction of insanity. Although stricken with grief by his father’s death and the clamorous events that follow, Hamlet does not become truly mad because he is still able to distinguish right form wrong and maneuver logically in his plan to avenge his murdered father. Shakespeare surreptitiously places revelations of Hamlet’s sanity throughout the play. Though his planned maneuver to murder his uncle Claudius, the contrast between his feigned madness and Ophelia’s true madness, and his ability change behavior around different characters that possess his trust, Hamlet’s true, rational condition emerges from beneath his veil of insanity.
“When you durst to do it, then you were a man,” (Macbeth, Act One Scene 7) When you reason things out by yourself you have a habit of knowing what is right and what is wrong, a conscience. But with the external influence from the witches, Macbeth thinks that the witches’ prophecies are his actual fate and feels that he must do all to fulfill it. One can wonder if Macbeth ever had a chance of doing what was right after he met with the witches. Macbeth had caused his own destruction and