Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

Macbeth was honored and looked highly upon by the soldiers he commanded. He was a brave fighter and trusted by everyone around him. When a soldier is telling the events of the battle he says to King Duncan “For brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name” (4). This showed how much his subordinates trust him on and off the battle field. After the battle Macbeth was promoted to Thane of Cawdor, on top of his current position, Thane of Glamis. King Duncan honored Macbeth for his courage on the battlefield. At this point in the play, Macbeth had no intentions on hurting or turning on his king.

In the play, Macbeth possesses many strengths such as honor, respect, and he was viewed as being courageous. Macbeth was given the title “Thane of Cawdor " because he used his strengths to his advantage and was recognized for them. “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name--Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

A villain by definition is “a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime” (dictionary.com). In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and King Lear, the heroes suffer tragic fates at the hand of the villains; but what makes these villains iconic is that they are in fact, women. Shakespeare went beyond the notion of creating a quintessential male villain and instead toyed with the idea of a woman having the ultimate control over a tragic heroes’ fate. In King Lear the reader is shown not one, but two villainous women, Goneril and Regan; two sisters who betrayed their father and caused mayhem with their bloody decisions. They are shown as a pair or duet because both of them overtook their father and made the decisions together; while in Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the catalyst in Macbeth’s impending disastrous ending because she was the one that planted the ideas of betrayal, murder and gaining more power in his mind, after he was given premonitions

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, the main character exhibits the traits of a tragic hero. Beginning in Act I, as we are introduced to Macbeth, until his death in Act V, this characterization is evident. Macbeth is an Aristotelian tragic hero because he rose to high stature, is extremely ambitious, fell from authority, and experienced a moment of self-acceptance and realization.

First, Macbeth is a tragic hero because he has a tragic flaw. A tragic flaw is a weakness that a tragic hero possesses that causes his or her doom. Macbeth’s greed for power and rights to the throne is what leads him to ruin his own life and meet his fate. Once he was told by the witches he would be king, he began to do anything in his power to make the prophecy true-- including killing the current king, King Duncan. Although he is first eerie about this, his wife convinces him to carry on with it. Lady

According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does Macbeth do this?

Macbeth is nervous and becomes frightened of what they have done while his wife tells him to change because they have blood on their clothes. This shows that Macbeth still has some morals, which are being lessened as his greed increases and there is more blood on his hands. Once Macbeth is crowned king he continues to kill people in order to secure his rule, including his friend Banquo, Lady Macduff, and Lady Macduff's children. Macbeth visited the three witches again to listen to more prophecy about him and an apparition appeared telling him " no one given birth to by a woman shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4 Scene 1). By hearing this, Macbeth believed he was virtually invincible, but in the end Macduff revealed he was brought into the world by caesarean section, not by a natural birth. Macbeth realizes that Macduff would be the one to kill him in the battle between Malcolm and he. Macbeth had entered a cycle of greed, leading to spilling blood, which in turn made him think he had secured his power. This terrible cycle was ultimately the reason for his demise because he couldn't control his greed and killed more and more people to remain the king of Scotland.

In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare tasked himself with the arduous responsibility to “take a ‘noble man’, full of ‘conscience’ and ‘the milk of human kindness’, and make him a ‘dead butcher’ yet keep him an object of pity rather than hatred” (Booth 17). Shakespeare did this effectively, creating Macbeth as a tragic hero. Macbeth is an exceedingly ambitious man, and this ambition is the weakness that begins his downfall and earns him classification as a tragic hero. Also, Macbeth’s blatant disregard for the natural order and his attempt to control fate singlehandedly are certainly the qualities of a tragic hero. In attempting to control his own fate, Macbeth only seals the fate that the three witches had already set for him.

During Duncan’s reign as king, Macbeth was viewed as brave and noble. He fought hard and never feared the enemy, and Duncan rewarded him for all of his courageous actions. After the execution of the thane of Cawdor, the king awarded his titles to Macbeth. Three witches told Macbeth of his new titles before he had received them, however, and also told him he would become king after Duncan. It was this prophecy along with the persuasion of Lady Macbeth that began Macbeth’s killing spree.

In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare makes the protagonist a tragic hero. Macbeth is a perfect example of a tragic hero because he has a character flaw that influences his actions. Macbeth’s character flaw is that he is easily persuaded and he lets his ambition get the best of him. “Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life And live a coward in thine own esteem Letting ‘I dare not’ and ‘I would’, Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage” (Shakespeare, 19). Once he is persuaded to kill by his wife, he lets nothing stand in his way. Once he killed the kill to achieve his goals, he ended up losing everything he was working to achieve when he was killed by Macduff.

"The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare in 1604, portrays women in a variety of strengths. In Elizabethan society, women were considered the ‘weaker sex’ but in many of his plays Shakespeare appears to question this patriarchal society. Shakespeare wrote ‘ Macbeth’ intending to flatter King James I, the ruler in this era. James I had very strong opinions regarding women and, particularly, witches. He saw Women as inferior and expected them to be housewives and mothers. Shakespeare portrays the witches as evil, worthless and completely mad. This fits into the view of witches in Shakespeare’s time that they were poor, elderly women who didn’t fit into society. Macbeth was also written to persuade King James I to reopen the

A Tragic Hero is a common figure in many of Shakespeare’s works. A Tragic Hero is usually a figure of royalty, fame or greatness. This person is predominately good, but falls from prominence due to personality flaws that eventually lead to self-destruction.

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth tells the story of the noble thane, Macbeth, becoming corrupted due to his rise of power. Macbeth, who is the centre character, qualifies as a tragic hero. People are able to identify with Macbeth, see his nobility before corruption, and witness him acquire new knowledge from his dark story.

By Act 1, Scene 4, we can find evidence to suggest that Macbeth is hardened about committing high treason. In this scene, Macbeth is being very good to the King by what he is saying. This shows that he is trying to give the impression to the people around him that he has nothing against the King and would not kill him. They may not suspect him if they thought this.

Macbeth, by William Shakespeare is a famous tragedy of a power craving man, who would do anything to achieve greatness - even kill. Most readers would think that Macbeth is outlined in one specific way that cannot be changed. To many readers, Macbeth can be considered a tragic hero. In some minds, Lady Macbeth can be considered a tragic hero because, she is a strong character with a high social rank that causes her to essentially create her own downfall, and feels guilty for her actions, once her inevitable downfall leads to death, she pity arouses in the readers’ hearts.