Aristotle's Tragic Hero in Shakespeare's Macbeth Essay examples

laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none born of woman / Shall harm Macbeth."

This reveals that Macbeth’s character has a bit more evil in him than we are let on to believe. He also realizes that his ambition is making him get carried away and it is all happening rapidly. “…To prick the sides of my intent/ but only/ vaulting ambition, which develops itself/ and falls on the other.”(I, vii, 26-28) He knows things are going too fast and he wants to procrastinate from the deed a little longer. Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition ultimately leads him to his downfall.

A tragic hero is someone whos fatal flaw, combined with other external factors, bring about ones demise, which is demonstrated by Macbeth in Shakespeares play Macbeth. Macbeth is portrayed as a courageous, brave and noble man who was haunted by superstition and an overpowering ambition. Factors that contributed to the degeneration of Macbeth include the prophecies told to him by the witches, the influence and manipulation of his wife, Lady Macbeth, and finally, Macbeths deep driven intent to become king. Although seen as a daring and valiant hero at the beginning of the play, Macbeths evil desires and long time ambition causes his downfall. Even though Macbeth seems like a malevolent and murderous tyrant towards the end of the play, he

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the main character’s goal is to become the king. Macbeth seeks to gain as much power as he possibly can and this ultimately leads to his demise. He hears the prophecy of the witches and becomes so obsessed with fulfilling the prophecy because it states that he will eventually become king. Having this information, Macbeth goes out of his way to force the prophecy to come true. He becomes so power hungry that he tries to force fate leaving him with an undeniable guilt for his actions, the loss of love from the people who once loved him, and a harsh death in the end.

Macbeth was very ambitious. Over the course of the play, Macbeth's ambition grows. He succeeds in murdering Duncan, being named the new king, and ruling the kingdom. His ambition is what got him to become ruler of the kingdom because his ambition led him to killing king duncan. Macbeth’s ambition led him to kill duncan because he was determined to become king.

Imagine yourself on a tall building looking down with complete satisfaction; at the bottom are a lot of buildings and people that are under the command of you. All of a sudden, you feel a strong gush of wind and start to fall off the building and a face death that no one could have imagined happen. This is Macbeth in the tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Throughout the play, Macbeth expresses all of Aristotle’s tragic hero qualities such as: meeting an honorable tragic death, having a great fall from a high height, and showing the tragic flaw of hubris.

Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, has been able to relate to today’s audience, as it explores a common aspect in life, ambition. As seen in this text, Macbeth has taken ambition to the next level as he creates chaos just to achieve what he desires, power. The 3 mischievous witches inform Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cawdor and indeed does. But his ambition jumps in when he has the thought of killing King Duncan to gain the power of King. ‘If good, why do I yield to that suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,’- A1 S3.

Ancient Greeks believed that a tragic hero must be admirable but flawed, someone the audience can sympathize with, and someone capable of good and evil. The main character must also have a doctrine of free will, in which they are able to redeem themselves, but they continue to fall freely in a downward spiral from a position of superiority. The audience must also be able to see themselves acting in the same way, and the protagonist’s suffering must be greater than their offense. Macbeth is the true tragic hero, because he displays all of the qualities of a tragic hero, and causes himself to fall down from his position as king. Othello is a weak example of a tragic hero, because Iago causes his fall, not his own actions.

A tragic hero is a character who makes poor choices which inevitably leads to their downfall. Throughout his play, Macbeth makes numerous unwise decisions. Aristotle used several traits which are used to define a tragic hero, three of which will be discussed in greater detail in reference to Macbeth. The first of these is anagnorisis, the second hubris, and the last nemesis. While the entirety of the play is a showcase of Macbeth’s foolishness, certain scenes seem to highlight his asininity.

Macbeth’s good nature is increasingly defeated by one of his major flaws-ambition. His ambition and desire to become king leads

Aristotle is known widely for developing his ideas on tragedy. He recorded these ideas in his Poetics in which he comments on the plot, purpose, and effect that a true tragedy must have. The structure of these tragedies has been an example for many writers including Shakespeare himself. Many of Shakespeare’s plays follow Aristotelian ideas of tragedy, for instance Macbeth does a decent job in shadowing Aristotle’s model.

Greek philosopher, Aristotle, produced a list of characteristics that defined a tragic hero. Aristotle said that every tragic hero starts off noble, but unfortunately tragic heroes have one fatal flaw - whether it is misjudgment, greed, or just a mistake. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the audience gets to know the thane of Glamis, better known as Macbeth. Macbeth, as every other human being, dreamt of becoming king, and much to his surprise, the weird sisters predict just what he dreams. During his encounter with the three sisters, they greet him as thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter. Macbeth became the thane of Cawdor, after the present thane committed treason, and Macbeth kills the king to make his not so unusual

   William Shakespeare has written many literary works - from his sonnets to his plays, each has it's own individual characteristics.  One popular characteristic that comes from his plays is the tragic hero.  The audience can always relate to the tragic hero and the many trials he faces.  Macbeth and Hamlet are just two of Shakespeare's plays that involve the tragic hero.  Through their nobility, tragic flaws, and dignity Macbeth and Hamlet prove to be tragic heroes.

Aristotle’s Poetics is often considered the blueprint to a successful tragedy; his outline has been used for hundreds of years. Aristotle defines a tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude… in the form of an action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions” (House 82). Aristotle believed that the most important part of a strong tragedy was the plot, and from that, the other elements such as character, diction, etc. would emerge. Aristotle states, “the principle of tragedy – the soul, if you like – is the plot, and second to that the characters” (Whalley 27). Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet essentially mirror this definition. While it is true

In Macbeth, the tragic hero would definitely be Macbeth himself who had one fateful flaw that determined his future: his unchecked ambition. Due to this one tragic flaw in the makings, Macbeth went from a bright future as king to his demise, which eventually lead to his death. Because of the events that occurred in the latter half of Macbeth’s life, the play evokes pity, albeit a little undeserved, from the audience as Macbeth accepts his doom. Furthermore, the playwright elicits fear from the watchers, which is caused by their fear of committing the same mistake as Macbeth. Aristotle believed that inciting fear and pity from the audience is part of what makes a tragedy, a “tragedy.” To strengthen the impact of the play, dramatic irony is employed, in which the audience can hear monologues spoken by the actors about their actions. This thus changes the audience’s perception of a character’s