Persuasive Essay: Macbeth

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William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous one. Due to the prophecies of the three witches, he is easily temped into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne. In the play, Macbeth is considered a tragic hero. He was of high standing, came from a noble background, and possessed a flaw in his character that brought him to his own downfall. Macbeth represents a tragic hero for many reasons: early in the play he was established as being of great social stature, he suffered from a tragic flaw, vaulting ambition, he experienced suffering, and due to his own actions, this suffering lead him to his degeneration as a character, resulting in his downfall. Firstly, Macbeth is considered a tragic hero because early in the play he was established as being of great social stature and came from a noble background. At the beginning of Act 1, Macbeth was described as a hero: “And fortune, on his demand quarrel smiling,/ Show’d like a rebels whore: but all’s too weak;/ For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel” (I,ii,16-19). In these lines, a soldier is praising the bravery of Macbeth and is describing his victory to King Duncan. From this description, he was a courageous, strong nobleman who was a leader of King Duncan’s army. He performed heroically in battle in defense of his king’s land and managed to defeat the enemy. He was already Thane of Glamis and took reign as the Thane of Cawdor. King Duncan sees Macbeth as a loyal soldier and is grateful for his actions, he trusts him immensely. “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!” (1.11.26). In these lines King Duncan is expressing how happy he is with Macbeth. He sees him as a great soldier, which shows that Macbeth in the beginning of the play was indeed a
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