Macbeth - Fatal Flaws Essays - Characters In Macbeth,

Macbeth - Fatal Flaws Anyone who is not a god, is not perfect. Everyone has a weakness or a flaw. Some flaws are more deadly than others. Some are addicted to heroin while others are unable to remember where they put their keys. Every major flaw in this story though, comes back to haunt them. The reason why anybody fails in this story is because of their ?flaw?. Not everyone dies though, that is because their flaw is not fatal. Following will be an explanation of how the major flaws of the characters lead to their downfall. Macbeth will be the first one discussed, since he was the main character. The play's problems start when he kills Duncan. This is done because he has a flaw; he is too determined. He doesn't let anything in his way of the goal, to be king, proven here: The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be 2 which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.(Act I, Scene vii, lines 1-28) If he had not been so determined to be king, then Duncan would never have had to die. Consequently, if Macbeth had not killed Duncan, this story would not have any murders in it at all. Macbeth is driven by greed and violence proven by William Hazlitt: Macbeth himself appears driven along by the violence of his fate like a vessel drifting before a storm: he reels to and fro like a drunken man; he staggers under the weight of his own purposes and the suggestions of others; he stands at bay with his situation; and from the superstitious awe and breathless suspense into which the communications of the Weird Sisters throw him, is hurried on with daring impatience to verify their predictions, and with impious and bloody hand to tear aside the veil which hides the uncertainty of the future. (Hazlitt, pg. 28) 3 Macbeth's fate was more deserving than any others since he killed so many people; Duncan, Banquo, and MacDuff's family. Macbeth never did feel sorry for what he did until his deeds came back to haunt him. If Macbeth would have been patient and had waited, then he probably would have become king and enjoyed it. Lady Macbeth had a very prominent flaw that was her undoing. She was partners with Macbeth in the killing of Duncan. She was willing to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan but she could not do it herself. Proven by Samuel Taylor: Lady Macbeth merely endeavours to reconcile his and her own sinkings of heart by anticipations of the worst and an affected bravado in confronting them. (Taylor, pg. 32) This is the reason she was not as strong as she portrayed. This was why she could not take it and Macbeth could. In the end, it finally got to her so badly that she committed suicide. She could not take the pressure and went insane. Here is an example from the play: Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One: two: why, then ?tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What 4 need we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow'r to accompt? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? (V, i, 34-39) She probably deserved her fate, for she contributed to the bloodshed. Banquo, who at one time was Macbeth's best friend, was killed by Macbeth. Being Macbeth's friend was not his fatal flaw, but it led to it. His fatal flaw was knowing about the murder of Duncan. He could not have done anything about it. If he had told anyone about it, no one would have believed him; and Macbeth still would have killed him. Obviously, if he did what he did (be still), he would have been killed. He really did not deserve this death, he was probably most deserving of staying alive. Duncan, who was King of England, was killed by Macbeth because he stood in the way of the throne. This was not his fatal flaw, but because he was so naive he did not realize that anyone would want to overthrow him as king. For example, he stayed at Macbeth's