Firstly, a flaw is having a fundamental weakness or imperfection and in this essay I will compare how character flaws are presented in,’A Christmas Carol’ and ’Macbeth’.

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1606 and is about how Macbeth continues to gain power by inhumane means which inevitably leads to his downfall.

My first impressions of Macbeth are of a highly significant noble, fierce and powerful warrior. Who would sacrifice all to defend his homeland. This is demonstrated through the conversation of Ross and King Duncan, when Macbeth comes back from Norway with a single handed victory, this shows us that there is an aggressive side to Macbeth but he has no intention to use it inadvertently.  

I believe that Macbeth’s flaws are, Ambition because he is driven to kill king duncan to become king and he’ll do anything to become King and keep the crown. Gullibility is another flaw because Macbeth is easily manipulated by the witches into believing that he is due to become king. Inevitably, his ambition drives him to his death.

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is very highly regarded, as he is described as a ‘valiant cousin’ and a ‘worthy man’ by King Duncan as well as ‘brave’ by captain therefore at the start he is not a flawed character. Throughout the play we can see that Macbeth continues to gain power as Ross is told by King Duncan to commend Macbeth with the late Thane of Cawdor’s title, ‘And with his former title greet Macbeth’. I believe that Macbeth is first introduced into the play in this way for the audience to have respect for him as a character and so we can easily contrast how Macbeth’s flaws had changed.  

A Christmas Carol is a novel written by Charles Dickens about an old greedy, stingy man named,’Ebenezer Scrooge’, who has no intention of doing good for anyone except himself. The novel is about how he is visited by supernatural apparitions and his journey to rehealing to become a normal man.

My first impressions of Scrooge are of a selfish,stingy troublesome man. At the start of the novel we can see that he is rejected by nearly all of society and all those who know of him dare to cross paths. This is demonstrated on page 8 where,’even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him and when they saw him coming on would tug their owners into doorways and up courts’. As we read on, we can see that he likes his treatment in society.’But what did Scrooge care  It was the very thing he liked’ At this point we can say that Scrooge is very flawed. Later on Scrooge is visited by some charity workers who ask for his donation for the poor Scrooge replies, ‘I wish to be left alone,’ this shows us that Scrooge is very self centered and wishes for only his own well being. As the charity workers are still in his presence,Scrooge says, ‘I can’t afford to make idle people merry’. This response from Scrooge demonstrates a very negative and mean spirited attitude with his use of the adjective ‘idle’.This creates an image of him as a judgmental character who makes extensive generalisations about the poor.

 

I believe that Dickens introduces Scrooge into the novel in this way to bring attention to the main character and also so we can contrast Scrooge for the start to the end and how he had changed.

At this point in both ‘Macbeth’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’ we can see that Macbeth does not have flaws,but Scrooge is highly flawed. The audience begins to see Macbeth’s character flaws when he hears the witches prediction,’All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor’’ Macbeth is currently the Thane of Glamis and not the Thane of Cawdor. The witches then continue to say ‘All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter’ therefore they predict that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor then he will be the king. We can see that Macbeth is giving in to the temptations of the predictions as he says,’Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more’. I believe that at this point Macbeth’s main flaw is gullibility. This is because he is easily deceived in to making decisions based on the prediction of the witches. At the time witches were believed to be demons and in the bible it said,’”Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. This meant that you should not let a witch to live.

The reader begins to notice Scrooge’s flaw on page 2 as he is described as,’a squeezing,wrenching,grasping,scraping,clutching covetous old sinner’. We know from this quote and so far that Scrooge is unpopular in society. Scrooge’s character flaw is that he is a miser and vicious financial operator.

As we continue to read through the novel,just before Scrooge is visited by Marley’s ghost, Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened’. This is an example of pathetic fallacy where the weather shows character emotions. At the first sight of Marley’s ghost,’ Mercy, why do you trouble me’.This demonstrates that Scrooge isn’t truly how he is portrayed and he does have weaknesses an in this case it is fear.                                                                                                
The presentation of flaws depends on words, spoken by other characters or the narrator and actions during the scene. We hear of Macbeth’s ambition and then we see him commit crimes. In Scrooge’s case we hear that he is a miser and then we see him mistreat his faithful clerk.Scrooge ends the novel a reformed character and a happy man,Macbeth ends the play and unreformed character and dies in battle.