Macbeth As A Tragic Hero Essays - Characters In Macbeth,

Macbeth as a Tragic Hero In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we discover that Macbeth is a tragic hero. Macbeth is very ambitious, courageous, and a moral coward: all these things lead to his tragic death at the end of the play. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare defines Macbeth as a hero very clearly. From the courages in defense of Scotland is significant in the opening scene. However, he is very ambitious to be king. At the beginning of the play, he was loyal to the king. While he did imagine of murder his mind rejects it and said, "Why, if fate will have me king, why, chance may crown me," - Act I, Sc 3, p.44-45. Yet increasingly his ambition defeated his good nature. When Duncan named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth decided on the murder of Duncan. When Duncan arrived at Inverness, Macbeth controled his ambition for the time being and did not kill Duncan. The failing of his decision was soon reflected by Lady Macbeth who called him a coward. From then on, after the murder of Dun can, Macbeth entered into a life of evil. Since he overcomed his good nature, he no longer needed to be with his friend Banquo. He wanted to protect his ambition, by killing the king, and now he killed Banquo, due to the prediction of what the witches said about Banquo's son becoming the king. Macbeth wanted to ensure that he would reach his ambition without problems. Macbeth, who now no longer needed any encouragement from Lady Macbeth, started to leave her in ignorance of his plans. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth sleepwalked and had a dream about the killing of Duncan and Banquo. She died because of all this pressure and her guilt about the murder. Soul of Macbeth have been destroyed since Macbeth love Lady Macbeth very much, as shown in Act I, Sc. 5, p.58, "My Dearest Love." The power of nemesis is shown clearly at the end of the play when Macduff came back to murder Macbeth. Macbeth would never have guessed that Macduff would come back for revenge for the killing in Macd uff's household. This nemesis shows an additional force beyond Macbeth's control. Because of Macbeth's strong beliefs in ambition and the witches, when he found out Macduff was not born of woman, and also found out the Birnam Wood had been seen moving, he realized that the third apparition had deceived him and he understood he was no longer safe. Through the development of this tragedy, Macbeth has turned from a fine natured person to an evil person. His ambition, strong belief in the witches, has brought him to a tragic end of his life, and caused many people to lose their lives.

The Ideal Government through the View of Political Essays

The Ideal Government through the View of Political Essays The Ideal Government through the View of Political Philosophers Taylor McCauslin Jonathon Kreger November 25, 2015 Columbus State Community College Abstract The objective herein is to examine the ideal government through the view of three political philosophers, namely James Harrington, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Aquinas. In their analysis of the most important elements for an ideal government, all three philosophers agree that issues related to the economy, tax, demographic representatives, the use of formalized rules, bureaucracy, and hierarchical authority are crucial in attaining their goal. While there are some similarities between the descriptions of an ideal government by the three philosophers, there are also glaring differences. While James Harrington argues that an ideal government is a small democracy, for example, Thomas Aquinas champions for a just monarchy. John Stuart Mill however, asserts that an ideal government is that which successfully attains two major goals: the enhancement of mental qualities and qualities of the personality within a nation's citizens. Key Words: Economy, Tax, Demographic Representatives, Formalized Rules, Bureaucracy, Hierarchical Authority James Harrington (1611-1677) James Harrington, in Oceana, a republican utopia, described what he thought was the ideal government (Harrington, 1656). In his descriptions, Harrington suggested that an ideal government is a small scale democracy which undertakes property owning. Harrington (1656) argued that such a government would not only be stable but also just. In such a government no person would be allowed to own or possess information worth more than 2,000 (Hopfl, 2004). Moreover, in regards to economy, referring to all processes of trade and consumption of products by the inhabitants of a distinct locality, Harrington's ideal government ascertained that only individuals who own property would be allowed to participate in government issues. In a similar manner to Aristotle, Harrington was convinced that the ideal government must be characterized by agricultural democracy (Hopfl, 2004). Harrington's views on tax and taxation were that the Agrarian law should be used to ensure that no person or group becomes too wealthy such that it interferes with the political balance of a state (Hopfl, 2004). Tax refers to the levies or tolls that are imposed by government on its citizens. Harrington was of the view that political issues such as tyranny and the oppression of one group by another arise when a single group possess all property. Wealth in such a state is determined by land ownership (Hopfl, 2004). In regards to demographic representation and bureaucracy, Harrington argued that an ideal government should be typified with religious tolerance, rotation of office and the use of secret ballot to select representatives (Harrington, 1656). While demographic representation is the tendency by selected individuals to stand for the interests and wishes of a larger group in a government, bureaucracy is a form of government where almost all decisions are made by government officers rather than elected representatives. This would eliminate too much variation in decision as we so often see today. However, there may not be as much interest in relation to the people in this form of government. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) Mill describes an ideal government as that which successfully attains two major goals: enhancing the virtue and intelligence of citizens and the promotion of good qualities for the attainment of common interests in the long run (Lipkes, 1999). Mill was of the view that government is not only aimed at enhancing and producing the highest level of pleasure for its citizens but also to ensure that citizens are continuously educated in order for them to pursue higher level mental pleasures rather than lower ones. In order to achieve this objective, Mill argued that government should be guided by formalized rules. Formalized rules are legal regulations or decrees that govern the behavior of all individuals under their authority. Mill also argued that a good government is that which encourages and supports active participation by all voters. Mill described the worst type of government as that which compels its electorates to remain passively obedient and conform to the wishes of the ruling elite. Though this was probably because he was affiliated with Utilitarianism, Mill argued that an ideal government is that which could bring about maximal aggregate utility (Letwin, 1965). This clearly represents his wishes to attain contentedness within the people. Mill however agreed that the process of development by humans occurs in different phases and that different forms of government are suitable for different peoples and diverse stages of advancement which ultimately meant that he felt as though people should be put into different environments based on which their personality and skills would thrive the best in. While savages are