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

Doomed from the start, Thane of Glamis, soon to be king, the noble Macbeth from William Shakespeare's Macbeth, is the classical definition of a tragic hero. Macbeth possesses a tragic flaw, which causes him to fall from a great height. Similarly, Shakespeare used the tragic hero literary concept for Romeo, from another work of his, Romeo and Juliet. Where Romeo’s tragic flaw was his impetuosity. During the play, Macbeth sets his fate through his own action, rather than letting life make his fate. The virtuous Macbeth sets his fate through his actions. Macbeth is of noble birth, he was born into a high-status family. He is doomed from the start and falls from a great height due to his vaulting ambition, a tragic end for such a gentleman. Macbeth is the definitive example of a tragic hero, he creates his own fate, comes from a noble house, and falls from great height due to his ambitions.

     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.

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

Most people would consider a hero as someone who has impacted the world in a positive fashion, but doing a single positive action does not abolish all of the bad deeds that a person has committed. The great philosopher, Aristotle classifies a tragic hero through the principals hamartia and hubris, meaning a character in a dramatic tragedy who expresses a tragic flaw and excessive pride, conclusively leading to their downfall. In the tragic play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth is a considered a tragic hero since he represents the principal hamartia through his tragic flaw of ambition and he exhibits the principal hubris through his excessive pride.

     The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Macbeth’s achieves his long time desire to be king, but his tragic flaw brings him to ruin. His character changes drastically during the play. At

Furthermore, the number one thing that shows Macbeth as a more tragic hero is his overconfident trait. In an article by Paul Case says, “A tragic hero is described as a noble character you can empathize with, and whose flaw leads to his demise.” Macbeth is a tragic hero because he was born of a noble birth, as well as Hamlet. Also Macbeth has that tragic flaw of being overconfident that leads to his demise while Hamlet couldn’t decide if he should kill his father's murderer. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth states, “Let them fall all Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, I cannot taint with fear.”(Shakespeare, Macbeth 3.5.39) Macbeth is stating that he couldn't care less if the greater part of his men abandon him and is demonstrating to the readers that when he is pompous he settles on hurried choices that are exceptionally rash that end up gnawing him in the butt. This makes Macbeth the tragic hero because Macbeth is being the only one fighting while his men are running away like cowards leaving him to fend for himself. Albeit one may contend that Hamlet additionally had a sad blemish of being uncertain which is expressed in the play Hamlet, “Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. Soft, now to my mother.”(Shakespeare, Hamlet, 5.2.45) Hamlet is by and by going to slaughter his dad's killer, however then chooses, he needs to converse with his mother demonstrating to us that he is too ambivalent to execute Claudius. This makes Macbeth look more of a tragic hero because

“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.” The words that slipped through the lips of three witches plotting their next unnatural disaster. This disaster is unlike any other. It takes place on a 2D surface in a cottage late at night on the desk of William Shakespeare. The candle wax drips on the floor and he scribbles MacBeth’s next mistake and murder. The faults of MacBeth flow through the hard paper and bold ink revealing MacBeth has now turned his Hero’s Journey into a tragedy. A Hero’s Journey is a series of steps and events that happen to a main character through their time in the palms of our hands under a glowing light. The Hero’s Journey explains allies, enemies, tests and more. However, MacBeth, was no hero.

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 was a hero, that allowed his fatal flaws of greed and ambition to control him, but if the witches had not told Macbeth his “fate” then he would not have gone down such a dark path. In the Beginning, Macbeth was a good man, wanting to help his king and country. He,”...disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,...carved out his passage till he faced the slave” (Shakespeare 9). This says that, Macbeth puts a stop to a rebellion which allowed peace and justice to prevail. Then, Macbeth allowed his greed and ambition to control him. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o’erleap, for in my way it lies” (Shakespeare 29). Macbeth expressed that he must accept his place or get rid of the obstacle

Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy”~Scott Fitzgerald, this marks the tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth is probably the most debated character in literature history when it comes to a tragic hero. Macbeth is a brave nobleman of the Kind of Scotland, whom is given prophecies from witches along with his friend Banquo. At the end he is to be king and his friend’s son will be king, but both men doubt it until a prophecy comes true. Upon this and telling his wife Macbeth is dragged into the murder of King Duncan. When the natural heirs disappear all is set for the Macbeths, but all else changes drastically.In the end Macbeth is notable tragic hero, his own flaws lead to his tragic downfall.

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.

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.

The tragic hero has been a major storytelling tool in recent years that makes the audience relate to, respect, and feel sympathy for a character which is undone by the end of the story. But can this title be given to Macbeth, the titular hero of the Shakespeare play by the same name? Yes, absolutely- Shakespeare’s Macbeth follows this plot path in numerous ways. Throughout the play, we are introduced to Macbeth’s belovedness, the crushing of said established belovedness, and his own undoing.

Macbeth is a tragic hero for the following reasons that will be listed in this paragraph, please take these reasons into consideration. At the start of Macbeth, you see him kill a traitor that threatened the king of Scotland (Duncan), from the beginning we all see Macbeth is a hero. However, in Act 1 Scene 3 on line 86 Macbeth runs into witches which tell him he shall be king and this leads to the following dialogue of “Malcom your children shall be kings” which signals Macbeths start as a tragic hero. Now if we go even further into the story of Macbeth you also hear Macbeth say “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself” (Act 1 scene 7 lines 26-29). This line from the story shows you Macbeth’s greatest character flaw which is essential to a tragic hero. However, even with strong evidence like this there are still people who refuse to believe Macbeth is a tragic hero for the following reasons.