Essay on Shakespeare's Macbeth as Tragic Hero

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the story of an ambitious royal turns into the followings of a murderous tyrant. The Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth, is motivated by his fear that his deep desires will not come true, and his tyrant, gender role-breaking wife, Lady Macbeth, to kill off various successors to the throne. Macbeth is introduced as an ambitious heir to the the throne, but is quickly displayed as a raging king. In William E. Cain’s essay “Murderous Thinking in Macbeth”, he describes the relationship between the audience and Macbeth as “sympathetically connected.” Macbeth is seen as a vicious tyrant to the rest of the characters, but his deep desires are seen by the audience or readers. The audience is shown Macbeth’s guilt and remorse throughout the play, up until he kills Macduff’s family. Macbeth obtains the mindset of a power hungry, murderous tyrant when he kills Macduff’s family.

     In Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of Macbeth the main character Macbeth is driven from his status as a well respected warrior and lord of not one, but two Scottish regions to a dishonest, unloyal murderer. Macbeth gets caught in a web of lies and vile acts of murder in which he brings about his own demise. His criminal actions lead up to his tragic ending of life. ‘ They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But bearlike I must fight the course.’ His great ambition and gullibility of the witches predictions are two of the biggest factors of his downfall;however, Lady Macbeth was probably the biggest influence in the whole tragedy.

The last prophecies that Macbeth hears are meant to assure his safety; however, he can not be too sure. The first apparition warns him of MacDuff, but the second and third apparitions counter that by making the illusion that Macbeth is perfectly safe and that nobody can harm him. Shakespeare highlights Macbeth’s continuous desire to be safe and to remain in power in his response to

"Macbeth" is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600’s. It revolved around the character Macbeth and his urge to become king of Scotland. Macbeth had to do anything possible to become the king including murder, lying, and deception. However, Macbeth committed these evil deeds due to some influential people in his life. Between Macbeth’s wife persuading him to do anything to become king and the witches prophesying over him causes Macbeth to try and bury the past and control the future.

     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.

     The character Macbeth in the story of Shakespeare’s Macbeth faces decisions that affect his morals. He begins as an innocent soul, dedicated to serve his kingdom and its king, Duncan. As time passes and opportunities present themselves combined with the deception of the evil witches, Macbeth begins his descent into madness. Macbeth’s innocence and loyalty are completely corrupted due to his over confidence, guilty conscience, and the inevitability of human nature. Macbeth looses sight of what is morally right to do in life because his logical choices are changed by these factors.

First and foremost, Macbeth demonstrates the trait of Aristotle’s tragic hero through hamartia represented by Macbeth’s tragic flaw ambition. The witches prophecy is fulfilled and Macbeth thinks to himself “I am thane of Cawdor” and the power that he retains as king pleases him (Mac. 1.3.135). Macbeth receives a slight taste of power, and he succumbs to the feeling it gives him. He demands to obtain all the power he can land his hands on, and will do whatever is necessary to grasp it. Macbeth wants more authority and he dares fate to come “into the list,/ and champion me to th’ utterance” (Mac.3.1.72-73). The thane assumes that he can defy

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.

They poison his mind with these prophecies, making him greedy and bringing out the evil qualities in his soul. When the first of the prophecies is proven true, Macbeth then considers the idea of murdering Duncan for the first time. This is his first step on the journey to his downfall, as the Three Witches had planned. The Three Witches plan has succeeded, they had brought out the greed in Macbeth, allowing him to make the most important decision - to kill King Duncan. Macbeth's malevolence and deceptiveness are sown further when he becomes so obsessed with the witches prophecies to his own friend Banquo, that he decides to hire men to kill him and his son Fleance. After Macbeth went through the murder of Duncan and Banquo, he slowly lost his sanity, it is at this point that the witches were easily able to control his mind. They have succeeded in bringing out the Evil qualities in Macbeth and are ready to finish their game and make sure Macbeth continues to spiral downward. With Hecates' lead, the witches plan to bring Macbeth to his death by making him overconfident, they do this by presenting him with three apparitions. The first appears as an armed head that speaks,

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

Macbeth’s major flaws are his ambition and impressionability. Due to their flaws, a Tragic Hero’s actions are often atrocious and cause them to battle with their conscience after their desires have been accomplished. These battles with their conscience evoke empathy from the audience. A Shakespearean Tragic Hero will always lose their life in the end of the play as a result of re-establishment of what is good in the play. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title

Today was the day I so patiently had been waiting for, coronation day! As a commoner it was almost unheard of to be able to visit the castle amongst the royals. I walked up to the tall door and entered the grand dining hall. The dining hall was dark and cold sending a shiver up my spine. The sound of laughter and conversation bounced off the walls overpowering the room. That was when I saw him, Macbeth, our future King, accompanied by his wife. Macbeth looked even taller and wiser in person, he was the type of man anyone would want as their king. At least that was what I had thought.

Macbeth is the leading character of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, in which he struggles to deal with the consequences of his actions. Is he a Tragic Hero? His brutal actions make it very questionable, but yes, Macbeth is a Hero in his own Tragedy.

An individual’s imagination is an incredible and persuasive influence on his or her actions. Imagination is defined by Google as “the. . . action of forming new images or concepts . . . not present to the senses.” Many tales and stories have a protagonist with a game-changing imagination. Imagination often persuades people to think one way or another, even though it is often obvious that the reality is much different from their perception. In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the main character is often influenced by his imaginative mind, and evidence of this can be found in three scenes: act 2, scene 2 after the murder of king Duncan; act 3, scene 4 when banquo’s ghost haunts the feast; and act 5, scene 3 before the final battle.

   William Shakespeare has written many literary works - from his sonnets to his plays, each has it's own individual characteristics.  One popular characteristic that comes from his plays is the tragic hero.  The audience can always relate to the tragic hero and the many trials he faces.  Macbeth and Hamlet are just two of Shakespeare's plays that involve the tragic hero.  Through their nobility, tragic flaws, and dignity Macbeth and Hamlet prove to be tragic heroes.