Is Macbeth a moral play?

                                 Morality play is a dramatized allegory , and the time span of a morality play is one human life. The usual subject of it, is about saving the human soul. The central figure is man in the sense of humanity in general. Morality play contains the forces of good and evil that are engaged in a struggle for the soul of an individual. It spoke  to medieval mans anxiety about being prepared for death or dying well.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays seem to have ,through accidentally, a moral significance. This plays appear to preach a moral lesson , evil suffers and good triumphs . The story in MACBETH runs through the narration of evil deeds of the inevitable retribution that follows those evil deeds.

But many critics say that Shakespeare diverges from the morality tradition in Macbeth .He is not giving any moral lesson in here but  emphasis sympathetically the human fragilities which often tend to lead man to tragic circumstances. The initial stages of the play set Macbeth up as a brave and noble character.

The exposition upon Macbeth’s  valor and the king’s presentation of the thane ship of chowder to Macbeth heighten the audience’s awareness of his truly noble character. This sets the stage that is established in every great tragedy. A brave and noble character is introduced who should,  through some fault of character or error of judgment, fall from his noble state into disgrace. So Macbeth is, both by expectation and by means of expositions, set up as a classical tragedy. Great tragedies often end on  a note of optimism by showing the victory of good along with the defeat of the evil. The victory of Malcom’s army over Macbeth’s forces is a product of such optimism. With Malcom’s victory Scotland is restored to it’s original and the good and virtuous are assured of their rewards.

But while a tragic hero suffers from a flaw within himself, a personal and self oriented error which is purely the fault of his character. Macbeth is the victim of an external force and the force is his fate.

Macbeth and his wife may indeed be taken as symbols of evil and the rest as those of goodness. For example, Duncan is the representation of virtue and innocence. Although his ambition and superstition banquo is the symbol of honesty and self restraint. Banquo’s ghost signifies thethe ultimate superiority of virtue over vice. His son Fleance who escaped from the killers is also the goodness. Macbeth ,the evil cannot get rid of Fleance. Macduff is like the Shakespeare’s idea of ideal king.

The morality play ends with the damnation of the main character. Shakespeare makes him pay darely for all the crimes he has committed. Macbeth loses respect, suffers the agony of his beloved wife’s death, becomes a nervous wreck and faces the pain of self damnation.

Among all the shakespeare’s tragedies Macbeth creates the most ambiguous emotive reaction. It is Macbeth’s character and his morality in conjunction with play’s emphasis on fate that cause the dichotomy between Macbeth as a tragedy and as a morality play. The internal battle between good and evil over the fate of the soul, is the central theme of most of the morality plays. But Macbeth is different and its success implied into Shakespeare’s true to life portrayal of human character . every individual has both good and bad elements and one often approaches a tragic end because of the flaw of the character. Ambition or overwhelming blind love for someone cannot help to intervene redemption. So Macbeth is not a morality play but a moral which illustrated in some gradual tragic actions.