Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

     A Shakespearean tragic hero starts out as a noble person; a great exceptional being who stands out. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw of an exaggerated trait that leads to their downfall and eventually to death. William Shakespeare often made his main characters tragic heroes in his plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the role of the tragic hero is given to the main character: Macbeth. This is because he starts off as a loyal and well liked man in the beginning, but has a tragic flaw of ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall.

         Towards the end of the play, once Macbeth’s wife has died and the battle is drawing closer, Macbeth shows the desire for some good that may have been.  He wishes for a normal life in which he would have lived to an honorable age, but he recognizes that he has deprived himself of this.   Even when Macbeth hears that the prophecy of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane has been fulfilled, he rejects this idea and fights on until he realizes that Macduff wasn’t born in a natural birth but instead was "untimely ripped"(V.viii.19-20) from his mother’s womb.  When Macbeth hears of this, he realizes what dastardly deeds he has done and how he has underestimated the power of the witches. He fights on, knowing it is only a matter of time before he is slain.

In the first act, Macbeth met the witches whose prophecies claimed Macbeth would be made thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. At the same time, they claimed Banquo, who was with Macbeth, would be the father of kings. Shortly after, Macbeth and Banquo were greeted by two noblemen who announced that King Duncan had appointed Macbeth the new thane of Cawdor for his brave actions. Macbeth became consumed with the witches’ premonitions. Their vision for the future coupled with his ambition drove Macbeth to make choices that ultimately destroyed him. With significant influence from Lady Macbeth, he decided to take action and murder King Duncan. As part of their plan, they get the King’s attendants drunk so they’d black out then they could blame them for the murder. Macbeth ends up killing them the next morning when Duncan’s murder is discovered, pretending he is enraged by their crime. When Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, he decides to visit the witches again. More prophecies are cited including that Macbeth must beware of Macduff. When Macbeth learns Macduff fled to England to meet up with Malcolm, King Duncan’s son, he orders Macduff’s wife and children killed to tame his anxieties. This ultimately led to his demise as Macduff sought revenge and ends up killing Macbeth in battle. This choice of blood and battle to feed his ambitions of

Macbeth is a tragic hero, in The Tragedy of Macbeth, as many people refer it as, has a main antagonist Macbeth who is by fault of character flawed and is destined to experience death, suffering, and downfall. And during the beginning of the play there was a supernatural force involved in giving Macbeth the temptation. And many can argue that the 3 witches in the beginning of the play made him do it but that’s not necessarily true they never forced his hand in the murder of King Duncan and the numerous murders he had involvement in. He did this on his own due to the lack of his loyalty, sanity, or whatever trait other people wish to give him. Regardless of what trait he lacks the story and Macbeth do follow in the criteria of a tragic hero.

Is Macbeth a tragic hero? Considering he started off an exceptional man, but as time went on and his power grew, he became more and more evil, yes he is a tragic hero. He was a very loyal, caring, and courageous person, but everything changed after hearing the witches prophecy. Everyone was scared of him, he became extremely paranoid when it came to his throne, knowing that someone might be out to get him. He would begin to avoid everyone or began killing people he saw as a threat.

When Macbeth is told about how he will not be killed by anyone who is born from woman he gets over-confident "Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth. "(5.8.15-16) and seemingly how that's impossible Macbeth starts to think that he is immortal. So at the ending of the story Macbeth and his pride get him killed because instead of leaving like everyone did when the army was coming to Macbeth's castle. Macbeth had alone stayed at the castle to maybe try and fight the entire army or maybe just Macduff this was due to his pride thinking that if he ran away in the position he is now he will be deemed a coward and lose his crown. He is eventually killed by Macduff.

Macbeth: The Foul Hero and Fair Villain Every great Elizabethan Tragedy comes with a true tragic hero. The tragic play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare has a great example of a tragic hero, Macbeth. A tragic hero is someone with heroic qualities, someone that is destined for greatness, but brings about his own downfall by a choice that he made. Macbeth shows that he is a tragic hero since he is overly ambitious which drives to desire to be King, and it leads to his downfall because his ambition has no bounds, so he does not know when or where to stop.

Macduff heard about the death of his entire castle and became committed to revenge. “But gentle heavens, cut short al intermission: front to front bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; within my sword’s length set him; if he ‘scape, heaven forgive him too!” (Shakespeare IV.iii.66) Macbeth received a second set of prophecies that gave him a very large and false confidence. “What’s the boy Malcolm? Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know all mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: `fear not, Macbeth; no man that’s born of woman shall e’er have upon thee.’ Then fly, false thanes, and mingle with the

In my point of view, Macbeth should be considered as one typical tragic hero. As a tragic hero, there are four qualifications which are important to society; possesses a tragic flaw, recognizes his flaw by the end gains the reader’s sympathy and meets his doom with dignity. Macbeth is qualified to all of these four. Firstly, Macbeth is a person important in society. “O valiant cousin!

The flaws of the character causes a huge downfall in their life which puts the character in a terrible situation. The character comes to the realization of their situation and begins to fight to turn around their life. In my opinion, Macbeth’s life is direct example of the definition of a tragic hero.

A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities and must have a fatal flaw. A literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. To answer your question, yes, Macbeth is a tragic hero. He let his ambition to be king take over him, which bought him his destruction.

Macbeth is often referred to as the hero or protagonist of the play. n Shakespeare's play, he would often be called the "tragic hero. " A tragic hero is: "a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction." These were very popular in Shakespear's plays and were in all his tragedies.

A tragic hero is literary character who makes judgement errors that potentially leads to their own destruction. This is evident in the play Macbeth. The main character, Macbeth is shown as a hero of high degree and noble birth, who has a tragic flow called hamartia, and suffers and dies. Macbeth has shown many traits as a tragic hero throughout the play.

When his enemies arrive at Dunsinane castle, he tells Seyton to bring his armor and “I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam Forest come to Dunsinane.”(5.4.73-74) Macbeth soon realizes that he has been tricked by the witches prophecy, by believing what he thought could be the impossible, but was actually happening with the forest appearing to move towards the castle. Like before Macbeth is again tricked by the Witches prophecy “for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” When he is confronted by Macduff he mocks him saying “Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests; I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman born.”(5.8.16-17) Macduff responds with telling Macbeth that he was not born but ripped from his mother stomach. With Macbeth believing every word of the Witches prophecy he takes Macduff word and accepts his death. These apparitions undoubtedly trick Macbeth into believing that he can not be harmed nor defeated, which leads him to make the choice of acting foolishly in the face of his enemies and eventually leads to his death.

One of the characteristics of a tragic hero is hamartia, meaning a fatal flaw, and Macbeth’s fatal flaw is ambition. One time when he shows this trait is when he finds out Malcolm is the new Prince of Cumberland. So far in the story, Macbeth has won two battles, one against Macdonwald and one against the Norwegians. Then, he and Banquo received the witches’ prophecies. Right after, one of them came true when Macbeth became the new Thane of Cawdor giving Macbeth hope that he could also be king. This was where his ambition started. After, Duncan announced that Malcolm was going to be the new Prince of Cumberland. This is a portion of Macbeth’s soliloquy: