Predisposition In Macbeth

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Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a Scottish tragedy of Macbeth’s bloody rise to power. Like all tragedies pieced together from Aristotle’s poetics, Macbeth is a great man by position, who is neither highly virtuous nor depraved. He engages in a struggle with destiny, and through error or frailty, is thus the cause of his own downfall. Aspects of tragedy are explored through Macbeth’s fatal flaw: Ambition. The predisposition in his character reasons him to make error in his actions; Macbeth harnesses ambition as a driving force to commit evil and heinous deeds. Furthermore, the rejection of the forces of nature allows the forced tyrannical and political insufficiency to reign over Scotland. Macbeth’s character flaw issued from the supernatural…show more content…
The supernatural element contributes to the action and provokes or tempts destruction to the hero’s conscience. The mystical illusion of the floating dagger, “I have thee not, and yet I see thee still art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art though but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?", the floating dagger demonstrates his extreme paranoia and dread of disintegration. The apparition of Banquo’s ghost appears at the feast "Avalint! And quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Thou hast no speculation in those eyes, which thou dost glare with," the hyperbolic imagery of Banquo’s ghost symbolises imminent retribution. The alliterative words, “fair is foul, and foul is fair”, coupled with the ominous stage direction ‘thunder and lightning’; the witches are associated with forces opposed to concord of nature. The pathetic fallacy, ‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’, the turmoil and denial of nature parallels with Macbeth’s first words, ultimately links Macbeth to evil. The repetition of ‘cannot’ “this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good”, emphasises Macbeth’s doubt and human awareness; that mere beginnings of the chaos will ensue. The paradox, “the instrument of darkness tells us truths, wins us with honest trifles, to betray in deepest consequence”. The ambiguous nature of the witches prophecies reflect on Macbeth’s power of choice, the forces of evil are always ready to ensnare man; but they have their limitations. This foreshadows the inevitable downfall of Macbeth due to his ambitious choices as the active catalyst that refuses the forces of nature and unleashes
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