Essay: Explore Hamartia in Frankenstein and Macbeth: Tragic Flaws Leading to Downfalls

Hamartia, by defintion, is a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero. The story of Frankenstein takes place in 18th century Europe, including Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. The talented scientist, Victor Frankenstein, works to do the undoable. In attempting to maybe ‘better mankind’ or even prove himself as an advanced scientist, Frankenstein created what many considered to be ‘a monster’. The story of Macbeth takes place in 11th century Scotland, with few scenes developing in England. Macbeth is a Scottish War General, who is convinced by three witches that he will soon became the King. Based on the novels Frankenstein by Marry Shelley and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the authors both repeatedly portray the same message: excessive ambition can be one’s hamartia, a tragic flaw that could be the means to one’s own end.
When mystically contacted by the three witches, Macbeth was told that he was the one destined to become the King. Initially, he remained loyal to those above him, but became more convinced regarding the truthfulness of their prophecy when he became a war hero and earned the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’. Macbeth’s first instincts were not to use his ambition, and the prophecy meant nothing to him. Still, all it took to release his desire for more power was persistent convincing from his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth had the ambition, but lacked the guts to act out what needed to be done for him to fulfil the prophecy, but, his wife was totally willing. Lady Macbeth says, “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is to full o’ th’ milk of human kindness.” She fears Macbeth’s unwillingness to betray King Duncan, but works to convince him to do so.
The beginning of Macbeth’s over ambitiousness leading to his downfall sprung from his impulsive decision to follow what his wife told him to do; killing Duncan. Macbeth and his wife invite King Duncan along with others to their home, where they plan to go through with there intentions. Still, when Macbeth is nearing his time to kill Duncan, he is reluctant and thinks of reasons not to do it. Macbeth is only convinced when Lady Macbeth questions his manhood, saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man.” Ambitious to fulfil the prophecy and prove himself to his wife, Macbeth follows through in the killing of Duncan. He then went on sort of spree of killing, inlcuding the death of Banquo, a friend of his. This shows how Macbeth seems to have lost himself, and now is willing to do whatever it takes to fulfil the witches predicitions.
As time passed, Macbeth became overly confident, and over ambitious, thus leading to his tragic downfall. It no longer was Lady Macbeth feeding his ambition, he was on his own and his willingness to hurt others to gain power even seemed to scare her, who convinced him to commit the killing of Duncan. Macbeth was even haunted by the ghost of Banquo because of all he has done, and his ambition seemed to start showing backlash. Macduff had joined son of Duncan, Malcolm, and they planned to work to take down Macbeth, who now seemed to hold much power. Macbeth gets news of this, and as a result, orders the execution of Macduff’s family. This is the epitome of his over ambition; he will stop at nothing to send a message and maintain his throne. Afterwards, Macbeth’s downfall becomes apparent when his wife kills herself in fear of the man he has become, and Macduff claims that he was not “born of woman” therefore can defeat Macbeth. He then beheads Macbeth… ultimately being the end. Still, it is obvious that Macbeth himself was the cause of all this tragedy, and resultimg from his over ambition was the deaths of himself and his beloved wife, Lady Macbeth.
Victor Frankenstein, a protagonist of the story, is a far advanced scientist who is working to create life. Once he dicosvers what human life derives from, and discovers how to create life with his own hands, he initially is ashamed of what he has done. Resulting from his over ambition, was a work ethic that became harmful to Victor, he bacame traumatized from his creation, and even became very sickly. This was just a little bit of a ‘downfall’ resulting from Victor’s unnatural ambition in ‘playing God’. Victor not only began seeing repurcussions against himself, but those he cared for paid for the monster he created. Victor pushed his work too hard, too quickly, and abandoned it when it was done showing his carelessness. As a result, the monster grew hateful and spiteful of Victor; eventually killing his brother William and becoming a menice to Frankenstein, threatening those he cares for. While about to murder William, Frankenstein said, “You belong then to my enemy to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge” (Shelley, 150). It seems as though this death is the fault of the monster, but Frankenstein was the one who created him, and his overambition along with arrogance turned into a human made monster that was mean towards him, working to his downfall.
Another example of over ambition, although in a total different sense, is in the hands of the monster. He spends time hidden, living in a hovel next to a cottage. He craves human acceptance, and believes that he may be able to convince the cottagers that he is a human, just like them. One day, when the three seeing members of the cottage leave the house, he attempts to first convince the blind man, De Lacey, that he is human. Unfortunately for him, the three return quickly, and he immediatly is thrown out of the house resulting from him ‘disgusting’ exterior appearance. The monster was over ambition because he was achieving acceptance, and this backfired quickly. The repurcussions was that it released a dark side of the monster, ultimately would lead to his, and many other peoples demises. He even ends up killing Frankenstein’s wife, Elizabeth, out of vengence for Victor; his over ambition has now actually turned him into the monster people claim him to be, which cotinues to build to his downfall.
Victor Frankentstein began as a scientist who only wanted to change the world; but when he discovered the secret to life, he realized, he could do much more. He now had the ability to ‘play God’. Frankenstein became obsessed with his work, and overly ambitious in completing it. He succeeded in his creation, but in the end his arrogance, inconsideration of the creation, and most of all his obsession turning into a negative ambition became his harmartia. His work ethic was a fatal flaw, that got those around him killed. Victor Frankensteins downfall was dying all alone, knowing that the monster he created was responsible for the people he loved deaths. Frankenstein’s over ambition was directly related to his desire to be accepted into a society, and as a result, he became the monster that people thought of him as. He began as a lonely creation, but gained knowledge and tried to earn acceptance too quickly; his over ambition in earning this acceptance got him shunned by society so as a result his anger turned him against society, ultimately leading him to an unhappy life where he eventually declared that he would soon kill himself.
Ultimately, throughout the novels Frankenstein by Marry Shelley and Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a common theme is portrayed. Ambition, in moderation, allows one to grow as a person, leading to success; but excessive ambition can be one’s hamartia, a tragic flaw that could lead to one’s downfall, and even those around them. In this case, Macbeth is a reknown war General, who is a loyal man to King Duncan. He works to serve him and Scotland, and his ambition brings much success; but when he is told a prophecy that predicts him as King, everything changes. Macbeth becomes obssessed with this prediciton, and his over ambition in making it come true lead him to harm many, and ultimately result in his death after his wife, Lady Macbeth, commits suicide in fear of who he has become. In the case of Frankenstein, he is an ambitious scientist who wants to change mankind with a new, ‘beautiful’, creation. Once he discovers the secret to doing so, his over ambition leads to an obsession that also ultimately leads to his demise, along with those he cares for. Had these men had taken a step back, and carefully thought out their plans and potential repurcussions instead of becoming consumed by the thought of the power or fame it would bring them, they may have saved many peoples lives, including their own.