Macbeth: Aristotelian Tragic Hero

    Aristotle and Shakespeare lived ages apart, but Aristotle had a great affect on Shakespeare's plays. In Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth, the character of Macbeth is consistent with Aristotle's definition of the 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

     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 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.

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

According to the Aristotelian view of tragedy, a tragic hero must fall through his or her own error. This is typically called the "tragic flaw", and can be applied to any characteristic that causes the downfall the hero. Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark can be seen as an Aristotelian tragedy and Hamlet as it's tragic hero. Hamlet's flaw, which in accordance with Aristotle's principles of tragedy causes his demise, is his inability to act. This defect of Hamlet's character is displayed throughout the play.

The tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s most popular and greatest tragedy, presents his genius as a playwright and includes many numbers of themes and literary techniques. In all tragedies, the main character, called a tragic hero, suffers and usually dies at the end. Prince Hamlet is a model example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Every tragedy must have a tragic hero. A tragic hero must own many good traits, but has a flaw that ultimately leads to his downfall. If not for this tragic flaw, the hero would be able to survive at the end of the play. A tragic hero must have free will and also have the characteristics of being brave and noble. In addition, the audience must feel some sympathy for the tragic hero.

Throughout my study of “Othello”, I have learnt of the many aspects of Othello’s character. He is noble and strong, yet he has many insecurities and is recognised for trusting others too easily. This causes him to obtain the famous title of ‘tragic hero’. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle there are certain characteristics of a tragic hero. These include a noble birth, a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s tragic flaw, his actions results in an increase of self-awareness and the audience must feel pity or fear for the character.

An Aristotelian’s tragic hero is a person of nobility who is ill-fated by a defect - seemingly intertwined with attributes that make him/her prosperous - in his/her character. Usually the protagonist, a tragic hero is commended for his/her honorable traits and is depicted to be the victim in most works of literature. In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the traditional portrayal of a tragic hero is defied: in lieu of being the victim, the tragic hero becomes the culprit of the play. By instilling the antagonist, King Claudius, with honorable qualities like that of a tragic hero, Shakespeare demonstrates that a person is never at the extreme ends of the moral spectrum but rather at the center: a person can never be solely good or evil but

People always ask, “What is a tragic hero?” The question that should be asked is, “Who is more of a tragic hero, Macbeth or Hamlet?” Macbeth is the more tragic hero when compared to Hamlet because Hamlet had nothing to lose the whole time. The three things that make Macbeth a more a lamentable legend than Hamlet is his appalling blemish of being presumptuous, being vanquished toward the end and decapitated by Macduff and losing the greater part of his Fortune, and ultimately his acknowledgment of his results of his executing Macduff's family toward the end of the play. These are the reasons that will be used to make evident why Macbeth is more of a tragic hero than Hamlet.

A tragic hero in literature is a type of character who has fallen from grace, where the downfall suggests feelings of misfortune and distress among the audience. The tragic flaw of the hero leads to their demise or downfall that in turn brings a tragic end. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as “a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment.” The characteristics of a tragic hero described by Aristotle are hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis and catharsis which allows the audience to have a catharsis of arousing feelings.

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, born in the year 1564, is often considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, writer in the English language. His works range from ingenious poems, such as Fear No More, to plays, such as The Tragedy of Othello. In The Tragedy of Othello, Shakespeare details the story of a celebrated military hero who falls victim to the machinations of a conniving villain who goes by the name of Iago. In his play, he portrays Othello like a tragic hero, a type of literary character. A tragic hero has many characteristics, 3 of them being that they must have an error in judgement, they must have a reversal of fortune, and they must recognize that the reversal of fortune was brought about by their own actions. Furthermore, they must also have a fatal flaw, that eventually leads to their downfall. Othello demonstrates all of these characteristics in the play, proving him to be a tragic hero. Othello makes an error in judgement, which leads to his change in fortune, and later realizes that his actions are what caused said change in fortune.

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.

As defined by Aristotle, A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. In the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet is the tragic hero. Prince Hamlet can even be considered a quintessential tragic hero due to how closely he relates to Aristotle’s definition. Initially he has noble motives which were to avenge his father’s death but by the end, his flaws and bad decisions lead him to his death. The fact that Prince Hamlet’s best trait is also his downfall makes him one of the most tragic heroes in Shakespeare’s work. In these ways and more, Prince Hamlet fulfills Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero.