A model, top scoring essay answering the question "How is the decline of Macbeth as a tragic hero presented in the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. This essay was written by a 9 grade GCSE English Literature student and shows how to structure an in-depth analysis based essay linking to the context of t...
How is the fall of Macbeth as a tragic hero presented throughout the play of Macbeth by
Shakespeare?
Shakespeare presents the decline of the tragic hero Macbeth by first showing that Macbeth
was an ideal Medieval man because he was an incredibly brave warrior. As the play
progresses Shakespeare then shows how the once powerful warrior is now someone who
lacks control as he begins to hallucinate, seeing a dagger, before murdering Duncan. Lastly,
Shakespeare shows that Macbeth becomes a man of insanity as he cries out in fear of
Banquo’s children becoming Kings of Scotland.
Shakespeare firstly shows us that Macbeth was the ideal medieval man by showing us what
a brave warrior he was, “Like Valour’s minion carv’d out his passage” He does this to show
that Macbeth would have natural become king had it not been for his involvement with
witchcraft, this ultimately emphasises Macbeth’s decline as we see that he missed the
opportunity to become king the right way. The personification of “Valour” meaning bravery
could suggest that Shakespeare is implying that Macbeth is a “minion” of the god of war
himself. This of course presents Macbeth as incredibly brave in battle as we see that he is
not only a servant of Duncan but also is a favourite of a god. Jacobean’s were very religious
so being compared to a god was a big compliment, Shakespeare does this to make
Macbeth’s strengths more easily recognisable to them because Jacobean’s weren’t as brutal
as Medieval men. The verb “Carv’d” suggests that the process of killing people for Macbeth
is easy and something that requires little effort for him or perhaps that he is able to shape
the battle how he would like, this shows he great skills as a warrior and power over others.
All of this is Shakespeare showing that Macbeth was an ideal Medieval man because in
medieval times, the more brutal and savage a man on the battlefield the more they were
respected, so Shakespeare emphasises his fearlessness to show he was a good, ideal
Medieval man. By emphasising this to us Shakespeare shoes us that Macbeth’s decline was
ultimately unexpected as we see he could have easily become king. Perhaps Shakespeare
does this so we question what could have possibly brought a man to such insanity who was
clearly so strong, we come to the realisation that that it was caused by corruption of the
witches who predicted his future so early on in the play. Shakespeare could do this as a form
of flattery to James I, who was extremely afraid of witches, and even passed a law in 1603
saying that anyone could be killed for involvement in supernatural activity.
Shakespeare could show how ideal Macbeth was at the beginning then how he begins to
loose his sanity so we fear witchcraft and what it can do, so Shakespeare reassures James I
of his worries as we see the effect it had on such a perfect man.
As the play progresses Shakespeare begins to show how the once powerful warrior of
Macbeth now begins to lack control of himself as he hallucinates by seeing a dagger before
him, before murdering Duncan. “Come let me clutch thee” The verb “clutch” suggests that
Macbeth is controlled by his fatal flaw ambition, that is drawing him to kill Duncan, this is
because when you “clutch” something you are in control of it. The theme of fatal flaws in
explored in many Shakespearean tragedies, it usually leads to the downfall of a tragic hero
as it causes them, to do something or even become something that they weren’t normally.
This is seen evidently seen with Macbeth and how his fatal flaw of ambition to be king
caused him to kill Duncan and later Banquo, this is something that as a loyal subject he
never previously thought about, or enjoyed thinking about, he described it as a “horrid
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