Shakespeare may have written Macbeth two hundred years ago with a fine tipped feather pen to make a living. However, his intentions have been drastically blown out of the realm of classic drama. Critics come up with new wonders all the time questioning the true tragedy of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Was it a Tragedy or not? Who’s to answer the question except Shakespeare himself who due to the human life expectancy of eighty years cannot clarify it. We can only base our opinion on the great Aristotle’s definition of Tragedy.
He basically said that you must feel pity for the hero to make his death tragic in this context of Tragedy. I can completely understand where some people could see Macbeth as a tragedy and argue the exact opposite of me. Macbeth started out as a pretty nice guy and seemed to have everyone on his side. He had a great wife who loved him very much and a beautiful home, what more could a guy ask for. He was brave, strong and handsome. He was also part of the one of strongest nations in that part of the world at that time.
His taunting ambition and gullibility had a terrible effect on his action. His loving wife, whom he trusted and cared for very much had something to do with the murder of too. His wife had a heavy hand on his thoughts and could manipulate him with ungodly ease. She tested Macbeth manhood and determination by questioning his integrity, and as all men know that is almost impossible to negate.
Then there was the witches, whose ability to fool with the minds of men almost killed the king themselves. Macbeth was gullible and those witches took advantage of that weakness quite well. They told him exactly what was needed to drive him right into action. The combination of the witches, Lady Macbeth and his blinding ambition was obviously enough to make him kill not only his majesty but also his friend. Those are all good points and like I said I understand why some people could feel bad for him and call the play a tragedy. Well I don’t.
How could I feel bad for someone who completely dictated his fate? I could care less how gullible or ambitious he was and quite frankly I think his death was a relief. At least since he died he couldn’t commit any more bloodshed or crush any more people’s lives. Everyone has evil thoughts occupying their minds and attributions hinting in there direction. However, we all don’t go killing our friends and savagely murdering innocent women and children. Macbeth went and killed Macduff’s family because he wanted to get revenge for Macduff ditching him, I’m sorry I just can’t find it in my heart to feel sorry for someone who does that. His evil deeds far surpassed that of simple misdemeanor and he got what he deserved.
I maybe could have felt some remorse for him if he had stopped after his first killing, but he just got worse and worse till there was nothing left except sheer evil. He had been a brave warrior and killing another human was not something new to him. Killing a friend is a totally different thing and to me is not only morally wrong but it is the api demy of complete terror. Macbeth was a great play that showed the dark side of human nature.
To me it lacks the full qualifications of a true tragedy and Macbeth is far from a tragic hero. There will always be the clash of opinion, but hey, that is what makes criticism so fun.