Lady Macbeth's Tragic Flaw Research Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

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Lady Macbeth’s Tragic Flaw
Introduction
Tragic flaw is a literary device that refers to a faulted character that results in the downfall of a hero. It is clearly depicted in Shakespeare’s play titled, “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” In the essay, attention has been directed towards identifying, explaining and evaluating the tragic flaw that led to the downfall of Lady Macbeth, one of the major characters in the play. The paper posits that Lady Macbeth’s tragic flaw is cruelty as she used it to turn her husband from a good person into a killer.
Lady Macbeth’s cruelty made her to convince her husband to kill King Duncan and all the other characters who threatened his kingship. Lady Macbeth used her cruel nature to influence his husband into violence and malevolence. However, it seems likely that her decision to destroy the morality of her husband was the cause of her downfall (Alfar 35). For instance, it is prudent to conclude that her conscience started rebuking her as soon her husband commenced his murderous ordeal. Notably, Lady Macbeth’s death was a direct result of a continued soul search and repeated internal struggles. These struggles resulted in mental instability that later caused her death. As such, it cannot be doubted that cruelty is the main reason that led to death of this major character.
In addition, Lady Macbeth’s downfall can be directly attributed to the fact that her husband is no longer concerned with the wellbeing of his family. This is seen when he states, “she should have died hereafter. /There would have been a time for such a word (Shakespeare 5:2:16). As a matter of fact, he appears to have lost his senses to wars and power. As such, he is less concerned of the welfare and health of his wife. Lady Macbeth posits that it would be moral and acceptable for Macbeth to do anything that makes his power secure. Apparently, Macbeth believed her and fought very hard to keep his enemies off the kingdom. However, his efforts to secure the position of power diverted his attention from the wife. It is probable that the moral Macbeth could have taken the reasonable measures to reinstate the mental health of his wife (Trendell 78). However, the cruel nature of the wife had already diffused into him. Such a condition explains why Lady Macbeth succumbed to mental illness.
Thirdly, Lady Macbeth’s cruelty is directly linked to her inability to reconcile her mental faculties and her day to day life. Much of this argument is based on the fact that her ethical and moral subscriptions seem to be changing as play progresses. On the one hand, she seems hungry for power and is willing to engage in any activity that would land her in the castle. On the other hand, she seems unsure of whether the husband should go to war (Alfar 26). This follows the husbandâ&eu...