Shakespeare's Macbeth: A Tragic Hero

To believe that everything in the universe has a specific place and rank in order of their hierarchy importance created by God is known as the concept of The Great Chain of Being. The order of this concept consisted of God, angels, humanity, animals, vegetation life, leading all the way down to crud. Within each category, more specific classification existed, in a way that still placed these subcategories in a specific order. As this was believed during Elizabethan times, William Shakespeare also believed in the Great Chain of Being, as many of his plays are prominently based on this concept. Some of his plays include characters that accept their place on the Chain, but others do not react so smoothly. By examining 3 different characters from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, Macbeth, and Lear, it is obvious who is content with their place on the Chain and who have a difficult time accepting their place.

Many people who have read William Shakespeare’s Macbeth know that Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play, but there another character stands out as a much greater protagonist. Macbeth is the type of character who turned from a loyal warrior to the king into a violent, tyrannical, and conflicted person as he progressively commits crimes inside the kingdom without anyone’s notice, except for one person, who is Macduff. Macduff doesn’t have any flaws and remains sinless and heroic throughout the play. As Macbeth progressively gains power and prestige in exchange for the lives of his king, his friends, and his countrymen, Macduff meanwhile goes through great personal loss in his attempts to stop Macbeth’s tyrannical ruling and to restore justice and freedom to Scotland. It is ironic how Macduff acts so much more nobly than his king. Throughout the tragic events that have occurred in the play, Macduff serves as a heroic figure through his demonstrations of intelligence, loyalty, and righteousness.

     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.

As works of literature mature, the line between good and bad begins to become unclear. With Shakespeare’s works especially, things are usually not what they initially seem; a character may reveal to be the protagonist, antagonist, or even an anti-hero. A character may take actions that border on the antagonistic side, but still be the protagonist in which the audience is emotionally, though not always ethically, invested in. An anti-hero can be viewed simply as a protagonist who lies somewhere on the spectrum of villain and hero; never quite touching each end. In his play, Macbeth, Shakespeare makes it clear that Macbeth is really an anti-hero through his changing public appearance, his encounters with the witches, and his feelings concerning his own actions.

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.

When William Shakespeare created "Macbeth" he included in the title character all the key elements of a tragic hero. Macbeth has a decline from his good standing, reaches a lowest point and soon after turns himself around, the epiphany, and finally rises in his morals and standing; however it is too late and his death is apparent. Macbeth's decline begins when he heeds the witches prophecies. His lowest point is reached when he decides that life does not matter to him anymore, soon followed by his epiphany when he decides that he will fight honorably even if it means his death. He then raises his moral standing and regains his honor. Through well written literature, William

“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.

The Macbeth character in Macbeth by William Shakespeare can be played many ways. Macbeth 's relationship with other characters in the play and Aristotle 's theory of a tragedy are ways in which Macbeth is shown as a tragic hero I am going to explain to you how Macbeth is a true tragic hero.

Mac winced as the steady sound of water dripping from the cave roof was interrupted by the shuffling of waddled footsteps. A hand reached out to him and he shied away, drawing into himself both physically and mentally. He bit his lip and prepared himself for what was to come. He would not give up, he would not give them what they wanted.

In the book Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth is a power-hungry, and intrepid man who desires to be king. After killing King Duncn, Macbeth goes on a killing frenzy. He kills his best friend Banquo and many other people. Macduff, who was a nobleman of Duncan, later kills Macbeth. Macbeth had let all of his power get to his head, therefore, he was tempted by The Witches, Ignoring the advice of Banquo and letting all the greed and ambition get in the way of making very important decisions.

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is a classic example of a tragic hero who is constantly struggling with his fate. In the opening scene of the play Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches. They proclaim that he will be the thane of Cawdor. He responds by saying, “By Sinel’s death I know that I am thane of Glamis/ but how of Cawdor”(I, iii, 70-73)? At first, he does not realize to earn this title what he must do, but when he realizes he is taken aback. His bewilderment prefigures his perpetual struggle with his fate. Macbeth also is excessively ambitious which constantly affects him throughout the play. He is too determined to become king and will kill anyone to ensure that this will transpire. Macbeth’s struggle and

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.

In order for a character to be a Tragic Hero, he has to have four major components occur throughout the story. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth goes through all four of these parts which allows readers to define Macbeth as a Tragic Hero. These four elements include the following: high status, tragic flaw, downfall, face it with courage. These four pieces are portrayed throughout the play which grants readers the ability to classify Macbeth as a Tragic Hero.

Macbeth is a very complex character whom reflects man's thirst for power through the drastic changes of his personality; thus being one of the slightest reasons in which make this intriguing character, greatest of all Shakespearean’s well-known works.

Macbeth (He is once again indirectly introduced, he was already named in the previous scene) – Introduced as a warrior hero, killed the traitor Macdonwald by splitting him open. He has Motive to win. The audience is now intrigued to know who this character is, and he is given a new title.