Macbeth: Truly TragicMacbeth is the embodiment of what the literary world considers a "tragic hero." His admirable qualities are supplanted by greed and hatred when three witches trick him. The three witches enter with the first scene of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, a tragic story about one man's quest for power that leads to his ultimate defeat. The story revolves around our tragic hero, Macbeth, and how an admirable and noble man, so well established in society, can fall so gravely. Throughout the play, he is driven by an obsession with becoming king of Scotland, and in doing so, commits acts of treachery and betrayal to achieve this goal. However, Macbeth is not the only character involved in this sordid affair. His wife, the manipulative Lady Macbeth, three prophetic witches, and members of the Scottish aristocracy all play central roles in the drama. Lady Macbeth, the powerful woman behind the Macbeths, plots, schemes, and propels her husband into a nightmare of lies and guilt. The witches, or weird sisters (shouldn't the term “weird sisters” be in quotes and cited?) embody the supernatural element of this tragedy. With their flawed predictions and calculated duplicity, they created chaos in Macbeth's mind as they toyed with his sense of security. (Pay attention to the corresponding tenses. "Created" is the past tense and "toy" is the present tense.) The Scottish aristocracy includes King Duncan, the two princes - Malcolm and Donalbain, and various other thanes and nobles, including the friend of Macbeth, Banquo. They all serve as barriers to Macbeth, and whoever his friend or foe is, he chooses to fall or overcome these obstacles. However, too great an obstacle is his nemesis: Macduff. Once Macbeth's false sense of security is shattered, a powerful stroke of Macduff's sword frees Macbeth from a tangle of desire, design, and deception. (What is your thesis? That Macbeth is the epitome of the tragic hero? Make sure you stick to your subject and don't get distracted.) Macbeth has, as his wife says, the milk of goodness human, the kind of affection that many people have for others when their self-interest is not rampant. He has great regard for Duncan and Banquo, defaming the latter only once (III.i.74 ff.). He differs from Duncan in that the king's charity is of a quality which works to transform human society into family and which causes Duncan's spirit to persist throughout the play after his death..