because it shows that Macbeth is not a bad person from the beginning This fact is essential for a tragic character A villain cannot be a tragic character Tragic Flaw Hamartia Hamartia is a Greek word that means tragic flaw Tragic flaw means the weakness in a tragic hero s character that leads to his downfall Macbeth s tragic flaw is his ambition his excessive overweening desire for power Three witches tell him he will become the king of Scotland All hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter This prophecy sparks Macbeth s ambition Even though Macbeth hesitates at first his hunger for power grows stronger His wife Lady Macbeth pushes him to act by questioning his bravery Thus he plans to kill King Duncan and take over the throne This tragic flaw leads to his downfall Bad Choices and Reversal of Fate Peripeteia Though others play a role in Macbeth s decisions it is ultimately his own bad choices that bring about his downfall The witches prophecy gives him the idea of becoming king Lady Macbeth manipulates him by calling him weak when he hesitates to kill Duncan However Macbeth is not forced to do anything he makes his own choices After the murder of King Duncan there is no turning back for Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth says What's done cannot be undone To protect his power Macbeth kills Banquo and also orders the murder of Macduff s family His reversal of fate is complete from a respected figure he becomes a ruthless murderer Suffering Nemesis A tragic character suffers a lot because of his tragic flaw Macbeth suffers a lot Each crime makes him more isolated and hated His guilt haunts him His guilt causes nightmares and hallucinations He even loses his loving wife Lady Macbeth who goes mad because of her guilt and dies One trouble comes after another for Macbeth As the witches say Double double toil and trouble Realization Anagnorisis One key trait of a tragic hero is that he realizes his mistakes too late Macbeth knows his actions are wrong from the start But he cannot control his ambition to be the king Later he feels trapped by his crimes At the end Macbeth thinks about the futility of his actions and life itself He says Life's but a walking shadow a poor player It is a tale Told by an idiot full of sound and fury Signifying nothing In the final battle Macbeth is killed by Macduff Pity and Fear Catharsis Catharsis refers to the pity and fear the audience feels seeing the downfall of the tragic hero While Macbeth s death is deserved the audience still feels pity for him Because he was not an evil person at the beginning The audience feels fear seeing how unchecked ambition can destroy a good soul For these reasons Macbeth becomes a classic example of a tragic hero Macbeth starts as a good and noble man but his ambition and wrong choices lead to his downfall Shakespeare uses Macbeth to teach us an important lesson unchecked ambition corrupts the soul and leads to self-destruction