Macbeth - From your studies of "Macbeth" show to what extent you think Shakespeare followed and built upon the classical tradition of dramatic tragedy.

In this essay I will be comparing the Shakespearian tragedy "Macbeth" to an example of Greek tragedy, "Oedipus Rex". The fall of Macbeth is very different from that of Oedipus. Macbeth's downfall is due to his own personal decisions but in Oedipus' case his downfall was due to nothing but fate and the will of the gods and so it was unavoidable as such. These downfalls are both different forms of tragic aspects. Macbeth causes …

…because of the different belief system; we have one good, caring, all-powerful God and they have many gods who don't really care about the humans that much. I think that Shakespeare hasn't tried to apply catharsis to his tragedy as much as the Ancient Greeks did to their tragedies because he doesn't make the characters as universal as the Greeks but he gives them individualism by removing the masks and giving each character a personality.