Macbeth As A Tragic Hero

Amongst all of Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is the most inconsistent and fragmented. Like the mental state of the protagonist, the tragic structure of the play is in disarray from the very onset. According to Aristotle, all tragedies must follow a certain set of characteristics, and the most important of these is the presence of a tragic hero. This tragic hero must possess a tragic flaw, or hamartia, which is a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour from the hero. He must also draw sympathy of his plight from the audience. Macbeth, although the protagonist, is not a tragic hero because he does not possess this hamartia. This significant absence of a flaw leads to his actions being without

First thing to remember is that Macbeth creates his fate by taking actions into his own hands, he creates the fate that was told to him by the witches. Once the witches reveal the prophecies, Macbeth becomes eager to change his destiny. Macbeth expresses his trait of being overly ambitious "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on th'other. . ." (Shakespeare, 1. 7. 25-28) Here, the audience can identify Macbeth's tragic flaw. Macbeth is a character with an overwhelming amount of

In William shakespeare’s Macbeth,Macbeth is a classic example of a tragic hero in shakesperean work.Macbeth display the major characteristics of a tragic hero throughout the play until his tragic end.The play potrays Macbeth as a lost cause by showing how he fell from being a honest and just man who fought for whats right, to a cruel,superstitious,ambicious dictator.In william shakespreares Macbeth,Macbeth is a tragic hero because he compromises his honor and negates his moral values in order to obtain power which results with lots of tragic events such as character deaths leading to his tragic end.

in all purity. This is mainly due to the fact that he was willing to

The definition of a tragic hero, as stated on dictionary.com, is a literary character that makes an error in judgment that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. It has been argued for years whether Macbeth from Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, can truly be considered a tragic hero or whether he is solely a villainous tyrant. Although there are some valid arguments for the Macbeth is pure evil viewpoint, by looking at Macbeth in a holistic way you can see the tragic, the heroic, and the tragic hero within him. Macbeth is a tragic hero in every sense of the definition.

A tragic hero is a great or virtuous character who is destined for a downfall. The ultimate fate of the tragic hero in a play is death. Most tragic characters are faced with their weakness, which brings about their demise. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth is portrayed as the tragic hero. He compromises his honor and ignores his moral responsibility in order to gain power and status. The witches prophecies, the influence of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s dangerous ambition lead to his tragic end.

A tragic hero is a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat (). In the play Macbeth, the main character is Macbeth who is a Thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. Macbeth is known to King Duncan and everyone else as courageous and a delightful man, but his dark side is brought about by ambition. In the end, Macbeth dies a noble death, but is he a tragic hero or an evil villain who died. “There’s daggers in men’s smiles; the near in blood, the nearer bloody” (2.3.134-135). This shows how every man can either be good or bad. Macbeth is a tragic hero in the play Macbeth because he has high social status, a tragic flaw, and faces his or her downfall with courage and dignity. In a moment, Macbeth’s character of noble birth will support his position as a tragic hero.

Macbeth is a perfect example of Aristotle’s tragic hero. His flaws such as greed, violence, lust for power, and paranoia are ultimately what leads to our hero’s downfall. He starts out as a respected honorable warrior who lets himself become corrupted. The dramatic changes in Macbeth’s can be seen by the readers during his rise to power.

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the main character goes from being a virtuous war hero at the beginning of the story to a malevolent tyrant towards the end. This defines Macbeth as a tragic hero throughout the play. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. Not only does he fit the definition of a tragic hero, but he also exhibits many important characteristics that shape this description. These characteristics include being an individual of high noble birth and incorporating many admirable “heroic” qualities.

A tragic hero can be described as a character who starts as an individual of noble stature, who then endures a downfall in fault of their flaws leading to self-destruction. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth can be given the title of a tragic hero. Macbeth is a man of greatness is seen as a royal in Scotland. He is considered very courageous, honored, dignified holds a recognized name. He fights well for the country and brings pride to those around him. Though being a man of greatness, the personal flaws of Macbeth such as impatience, ambition and the manipulation of others, makes him a tragic hero.

The story of Macbeth is a very powerful and noteworthy example of a classic tragedy. Throughout the play, the protagonist is taken through a series of events which all play a key part in the story. From his noble beginning, to his rise higher, and to his downfall,this play holds many aspects of a classic tragedy. This is because it follows many guidelines, such as the ones set by Aristotle. In addition to this, it maintains more general ones, such as having the required tragic hero.

{{Transition needed here.}}Macbeth is generally a good person, but ambition is his main flaw. His ambition is so strong, he often acts like he has no choice but to do whatever is necessary to reach his goal. In Act 1, Scene 3, he states,

Throughout a variety of Shakespeare’s tragedies, the audience is presented with a protagonist who appears to be a “tragic hero” in the overall play. In other words, this character is one who has made an error in his judgement, providing that this error eventually leads to their own ruin or destruction. Within Macbeth, Macbeth the character is regarded as a tragic hero, but with the distinct and evident explanation of his evil and the succession of his acts of violence, it may not be as clear cut as to whether he is a tragic hero or not. Though Macbeth does commit an error that leads to his eventual destruction, he knows that his judgement is evil and he is aware of the nature of the deed that he wishes to commit in order to reach his ambitions. His knowledge of the nature of his thoughts and actions first appears after an incident he experiences with his imagination and in fact, imagination plays a big role in the motivating identity for his will to commit regicide. Imagination begins by acting as a self-contradicting identity by providing a form of motivation, but also contributing to some hesitation towards the murderous act. As the play progresses though, it becomes solely a motivating identity towards the evil that contributed to the deterioration of Macbeth, and it is this resulting torment that becomes evidence of what evil does onto Macbeth’s mind and heart.

Many of William Shakespeare’s works portray the role of a tragic hero. The characteristics of a tragic hero are normally a person of noble status who is generally good but changes in character cause a tragic flaw. The tragic hero’s lack of judgment leads to his own destruction which usually results in death and causes the reader to feel fear and pity for them. There are three major factors that contribute to the changes in Macbeth’s character that defines a Shakespearean tragic hero. These factors include the prophecies of the witches’, Lady Macbeth’s influence and manipulation towards Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambition for greatness which all lead to his ultimate downfall resulting in his death.

William Shakespeare wrote many plays and poems, but one of his famous plays were Macbeth; during the Elizabethan Age, Shakespeare prevailed through this age by producing extraordinary pieces of literary work that are still being taught today. Shakespeare originally wrote Macbeth to be a tragedy; Macbeth was a once noble man; which became more brutal with each kill he made. It started with his wife, Lady Macbeth, deigning him into murdering King Duncan; however, she did not know that her actions would lead him to turning into a cold-blooded murderer. As for Macbeth, he stereotypically is the tragic hero that will always lead him to an unhappy and miserable end. Even though Macbeth, he displays characteristics of a tragic hero; however, Lady Macbeth does not share the traits and cannot be a tragic heroine.