| Part oneMacbeth is the last of the four tragedies written by Shakespeare and it is also " the most frightening one" said by Bradley. It is just in the frightening atmosphere that Shakespeare depicted Macbeth, who was once a powerful hero, was reduced to a tyrant bringing calamity to the country and the people, which reflected individual ambition and power and lust will destroy human nature and which also show us the nature of anti-humanity caused by extreme individualism.However, as a careerist, why could Macbeth be the protagonist of the tragedy and inspire pity and terror in the audience? This is a difficult question Shakespeare was confronted with. It is also a theoretical problem that the researchers of all times were confronted with. According to this thesis, the reason that Macbeth can be main character of tragedy is not only because of the explanation of Bradley, but also because of his wife's instigation and incitement, the witch and the influence of the prophecy and the dark, bloody and evil atmosphere that envelop the whole play. Admittedly, Macbeth is different from the tragedy of the old Greece, for his doom is his own fault. The evils made him go further on the road of offence. The existing evils more or less relieve the audience's feelings of his being destroyed. This thesis is going to deal with the aesthetic problem and discuss the character of Macbeth and his wife, the effects of witch and the prophecy on the tragedy, and the dark, bloody and evil atmosphere that envelop the play. In the discussion, we will refer to the advantages of the analysis of human's characters and imagery to grasp the ideological connotation and the aesthetic features of the tragedy.Part twoThe fact that a celebrated hero, down to a fierce tyrant, was an artistic summary of all kinds of adventurers, carreists of Renaissance by Shakespeare. However, the characters of Macbeth are extremely complex. Though he was down to a tyrant who brought calamity to the country and the people, he still was different from those inborn bastards and mean villains. His tremendous talents and outstanding spirit manifest his road to offence as a hero who coveted the throne. Moreover, while Shakespeare was exploring his guilt, he also portrayed that he was in great torment.Just as Bradley indicated that Macbeth had an imagination like a poet, which was one of the characteristics of Macbeth. However, we must realize that his imagination is always gloomy, terrible, bloody, vicious and indifferent to those good things of life. Therefore, his imagination can't subdue his increasing ambition and his uncontrollable evil acts. In this sense, his imagination is his worst point in his character, by means of which, he relieved himself of self-condemnation. Shakespeare depicted the vanishing human nature on the one hand, and the tragic struggle of the corrupting human nature on the other hand. Meanwhile, Shakespeare went further into the extreme individualism which brought calamity to the country and the people and which also meant the psychological death of Macbeth .As long as before his death, he had lost his belief in life , and died psychologically . The understanding of his doom strengthened the tragedy of his condition.Part threeMacbeth's wife is the most ruthless and frightening woman under the pen of Shakespeare. She is the typical careerist and adventurer of Renaissance like Macbeth. However, she is different from Macbeth. She is more resolute, more arbitrary and more regardless of conscientiousness and emotions. But her character is not unchanged, but evolving with the plot.From the day when she knew the witch's prophecy, she was burning with fanatical ambition and didn't consider the danger and consequence of killing. She turned things upside down and her words were flooded with sophistry and error .She was hard-hearted and vicious and her instigation and incitement resulted in Macbeth's offence. However, she is a tragedy character, which lies in her willpower to do evils and frail as a woman, the conflict of t...
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