Question

Which is the best example of a tragic impulse from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth?

A. Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking because of her guilt over the murders.

B. Macbeth is overconfident about victory because of the witches’ prophecies.

C. Macbeth shows courage when he refuses to surrender to Macduff.

D. Macbeth realizes the witches’ prophecies were false when he sees Birnam Wood advancing.

Answer 1

Macbeth shows courage when he refuses to surrender to Macduff.

Answer 2

The answer is:

C. Macbeth shows courage when he refuses to surrender to Macduff.

A tragic impulse is what we call when a character is acting in a self destructive way. In this case Macbeth knew that by not surrendering he was sealing his fate and was about to be killed.