Victoria Bell
Dolly Smith
English IV—5st period
13 December 2012
Macbeth Research Paper William Shakespeare in The Tragedy of Macbeth written in the 17th century dramatizes the tragic hero and Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition, which ultimately results in his downfall. Shakespeare wrote this play to show how too much ambition can have adverse consequences on the human condition. This tragedy follows the true story of a historical Macbeth, an eleventh century king of Scotland who usurped the throne after killing his predecessor. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, ambition is Macbeth’s tragic flaw that permeates the dramatic structure. The tragic flaw serves to develop him as a character over the course of the play. Macbeth begins the play as a very strong and well respected and honored man and develops into a very evil person and ends the play meeting his death with courage and bravery. His ambition causes these developments. Shakespeare used Macbeth’s tragic flaw and his development over the course of the play to portray the theme of too much ambition can cause someone to do awful things they wouldn’t do otherwise. Initially, Shakespeare portrays Shakespeare the tragic hero as a very noble and honorable man. It is clear how honorable Macbeth is seen as when the captain says “brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name”. This quote makes it very evident that at the beginning of the play Macbeth is a very like honorable man. At this point of the play Macbeth is a very well liked man. He is also in very good grace with the king; he calls him “honorable Macbeth”. The king was very keen on him and thought very highly of him. Having the king think very highly of someone was a very difficult thing in this time. “After the battle to defeat the traitors of Scotland Macbeth is hailed a brave and honorable man.” After defeating the traitor Macbeth is very well liked and this is what makes his downfall so bad. It was very easy for Macbeth to get away with the